Not him whose page, if still upheld by whist,
Requires no sacred theme to bid us list.[1]
Ye! who in Granta's honours would surpass,
Must mount her Pegasus, a full-grown ass;970
A foal well worthy of her ancient Dam,
Whose Helicon[2] is duller than her Cam.[3]
There Clarke,[4] still striving piteously "to please,"[5]
- ↑ The Games of Hoyle, well known to the votaries of Whist, Chess, etc., are not to be superseded by the vagaries of his poetical namesake ["illustrious Synonime" in MS. and British Bards], whose poem comprised, as expressly stated in the advertisement, all the "Plagues of Egypt."
- ↑ [Here, as in line 391, "Fresh fish from Helicon," etc., Byron confounds Helicon and Hippocrene.]
- ↑
Yet hold—as when by Heaven's supreme behest,
If found, ten righteous had preserved the Rest
In Sodom's fated town—for Granta's name
Let Hodgson's Genius plead and save her fame
But where fair Isis, etc.—[MS. and British Bards.] - ↑ This person, who has lately betrayed the most rabid symptoms of confirmed authorship, is writer of a poem denominated The Art of Pleasing, as "Lucus a non lucendo," containing little pleasantry, and less poetry. He also acts as ["lies as" in MS.] monthly stipendiary and collector of calumnies for the Satirist. If this unfortunate young man would exchange the magazines for the mathematics, and endeavour to take a decent degree in his university, it might eventually prove more serviceable than his present salary.
Note.—An unfortunate young person of Emanuel College, Cambridge, ycleped Hewson Clarke, has lately manifested the most rabid symptoms of confirmed Authorship. His Disorder commenced some years ago, and the Newcastle Herald teemed with his precocious essays, to the great edification of the Burgesses of Newcastle, Morpeth, and the parts adjacent
- ↑
See Clarke still striving piteously to please
Forgets that Doggrel leads not to degrees.—[MS. Fragment bound up with British Bards.]
