An Inscription On Inscriptions
THE following lines were written on seeing a farrago of rhymes that had
been scribbled with a diamond on the window of an inn:--
Ye who on windows thus prolong your shames,
And to such arrant nonsense sign your names,
The diamond quit--with me the pencil take,
So shall your shame but short duration make;
For lo, the housemaid comes, in dreadful pet,
With red right hand, and with a dishclout wet,
Dashes out all, nor leaves a wreck to tell
Who 't was that wrote so ill!--and loved so well!