94 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. V. 



' The Desire of Fame ; ' * but of this more hereafter, when I 

 send you the paper itself. Besides the Snowdrop verses 

 (which I shall send to you by the first parcel), those on 

 ' The Skull,' ' A Song on the Seasons/ and ' Chalybeate 

 Rhymes ' for Miss S.'s birthday, I have written a Song to 

 the Ibis on its landing in Egypt, which I hope to recover 

 from its present darkness, it having gone mysteriously amiss- 

 ing. I shall also, at some early period, send you the k Sleep 

 of the Hyacinth/ which I shall next labour at. But in the 

 meanwhile, I have forsworn all rhyming, and in proof 

 thereof have issued the following advertisement : 



" ' (Sign of the Winged Ass.) 



" ' George Wilson returns thanks to his friends and the 

 public in general for the encouragement he has received 

 since he began the rhyming business on his own account ; 

 at the same time he takes this opportunity of informing 

 them that he has just returned from a professional tour to 

 the cities of London, Birmingham, and Penicuick, from 

 which he has brought a large stock of new ideas, so that he 

 is prepared to execute orders to any amount. Every article 

 sent from the house of G. W. guaranteed perfect, and war- 

 ranted to jingle well. The strictest attention paid to points 

 and commas ; likewise to morality and grammar. 



" * At the same time G. W. thinks it proper to inform his 

 friends that he is about entirely to abandon the rhyming line, 

 and open premises in logic and mathematics; so that an 

 early application will be necessary to prevent disappoint- 

 ment. 



" ' In consequence of retiring from business, G. W. has or. 

 "hand a large stock of love-letters, consisting of proposals, 



* An Essay, read at the Physical Society. 



