Page:Modern literature (1804 Volume 2).djvu/297

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Deliver'd after the dire fall of rug,
In Molly's garret, to his rival Jones;
Acts there are most fitting to be done,
Which are not fitting to be made a boast;
Therefore, again, we say good Mother, mum,
The proverb calls, dead men tell no tales,
(To the virgins thus replied their mam)
But must dead women also hold their tongues,
And e'en when frailties of friends are known?
'Tis very hard; but since it must be,—mum"

"I think, doctor, your ghosts speak blank verse." "Oh yes, you would not have a ghost speak plain prose, would you?" "But when the Moors had Andalusia, how came the ladies to be acquainted with Tom Jones, which was not written for several centuries after? Are you not out in chronology?" "Pshaw, who the devil ever expected chronology in German literature; you might as well expect history, geography, or probability, which would entirely destroy the gigantesque." "I admit