Leisure, or the Recreations of Solomon Saunter, Esq._ (1799-1800)
divides two numbers, VIII and XV, between other affairs and a
Shandyesque argument about the nursery charm for the hiccup "Peter
Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper." This author was most
likely not Byron's assailant Hewson Clarke (born 1787, author of
_The Saunterer in 1804_), as asserted in the _Catalogue_ of the
Hope Collection (Oxford, 1865), p. 128.

A historical interest may be not only retrospective but
contemporary. The reader of the present volume will appreciate
"How to Criticize a Poem (In the Manner of Certain Contemporary
Poets)", a critique of the mnemonic rhyme "Thirty days hath
September," in the _New Republic_, December 6, 1943.]

* * * * *
* * * *

A

COMMENT

upon the

HISTORY

of

Tom Thumb.

----Juvat immemorata ferentem
Ingenuis oculis[que] legi manibus[que] teneri._
Hor.

_LONDON_,

Printed for _J. Morphew_ near _Stationers-Hall_.
1711. Price 3 _d._

A
COMMENT

upon the
HISTORY

of
_TOM THUMB_.

It is a surprising thing that in an Age so Polite as this, in which we
have such a Number of Poets, Criticks and Commentators, some of the best
things that are extant in our Language shou'd pass unobserv'd amidst a
Croud of inferiour Productions, and lie so long buried as it were, among
those that profess such a Readiness to give Life to every thing that is
valuable. Indeed we have had an Enterprising Genius of late, that has
thought fit to disclose the Beauties of some Pieces to the World, that
might have been otherwise indiscernable, and believ'd to have been
trifling and insipid, for no other Reason but their unpolish'd
Homeliness of Dress. And if we were to apply our selves, instead of the
Classicks, to the Study of Ballads and other ingenious Composures of
that Nature, in such Periods of our Lives, when we are arriv'd to a
Maturity of Judgment, it is impossible to say what Improvement might be
made to Wit in general, and the Art of Poetry in particular: And
certainly our Passions are describ'd in them so naturally, in such
lively, tho' simple, Colours, that how far they may fall short of the
Ar