And Reputation Bleeds In Ev'ry Word.

Constant Attention Wears The Active Mind, Blots Out Our Pow'rs, And Leaves A Blank Behind.

To Copy Faults Is Want Of Sense.

Who Often, But Without Success, Have Prayed For Apt Alliteration's Artful Aid.

Most Of Those Evils We Poor Mortals Know From Doctors And Imagination Flow.

The Stage I Chose--a Subject Fair And Free-- 'tis Yours--'tis Mine--'tis Public Property. All Common Exhibitions Open Lie, For Praise Or Censure, To The Common Eye. Hence Are A Thousand Hackney Writers Fed; Hence Monthly Critics Earn Their Daily Bread. This Is A General Tax Which All Must Pay, From Those Who Scribble, Down To Those Who Play.