Habits of close attention, thinking heads,
Become more rare as dissipation spreads,
Till authors hear at length read more

Habits of close attention, thinking heads,
Become more rare as dissipation spreads,
Till authors hear at length one general cry
Tickle and entertain us, or we die!

Oh! rather give me commentators plain,
Who with no deep researches vex the brain;
Who from the read more

Oh! rather give me commentators plain,
Who with no deep researches vex the brain;
Who from the dark and doubtful love to run,
And hold their glimmering tapers to the sun.

None but an author knows an author's cares,
Or Fancy's fondness for the child she bears.

None but an author knows an author's cares,
Or Fancy's fondness for the child she bears.

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the
point of a diamond: it read more

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the
point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart,
and upon the horns of your altars;
Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by
the green trees upon the high hills.

Apt Alliteration's artful aid.

Apt Alliteration's artful aid.

But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew, upon a thought produces
read more

But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew, upon a thought produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions think.

Will you have all in all for prose and verse? Take the miracle
of our age, Sir Philip Sidney.

Will you have all in all for prose and verse? Take the miracle
of our age, Sir Philip Sidney.

That writer does the most, who gives his reader the most
knowledge, and takes from him the least time.

That writer does the most, who gives his reader the most
knowledge, and takes from him the least time.

Write to the mind and heart, and let the ear
Glean after what it can.

Write to the mind and heart, and let the ear
Glean after what it can.