222 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. V. 



Snowdrop verses (which I shall send to you by the first parcel), 

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

 Khymes' 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 amissing. I shall also, at 

 some early period, send you the ' Sleep of the Hyacinth,' which 

 I shall next labour at. But in the meanwhile, I have for- 

 sworn all rhyming, and in proof thereof have issued the follow- 

 ing 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, Bir- 

 mingham, and Penicuik, 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. gua- 

 ranteed perfect, and warranted 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 disappointment. 



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

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

 acceptances, and juste milieu, milk-and-water epistles, written 

 in the most approved style, which will be sold in lots to suit 

 intending purchasers. At the same time, a quantity of acros- 

 tics, including Christian and surname, odes to love-locks, and 

 sonnets to mistresses' eyebrows, will be disposed of at reduced 

 prices. 



" ' Country orders punctually attended to. 

 " ' No connexion with any other house. 



" ' Hill of Parnassus, Highest Cliff, 

 "'1400th Olympiad/ 



