They write to say that 'they have met
This writer 'at a garden party,
And though' this writer 'MAY forget,'
THEIR recollection's keen and hearty.
'And will you praise in your reviews
A novel by our distant cousin?'
These letters from Provincial Blues
Assail us daily by the dozen!

O friends with time upon your hands,
O friends with postage-stamps in plenty,
O poets out of many lands,
O youths and maidens under twenty,
Seek out some other wretch to bore,
Or wreak yourselves upon your neighbours,
And leave me to my dusty lore
And my unprofitable labours!



BALLADE OF DIFFICULT RHYMES



With certain rhymes 'tis hard to deal;
For 'silver' we have ne'er a rhyme.
On 'orange' (as on orange peel)
The bard has slipped full many a time.
With 'babe' there's scarce a sound will chime,