th their poison, doctors with their drug,
the priest and hedgehog, in their robes, are snug:
e'en silly women have defes,
their eyes, their tongues—and nameless other parts.
but o thou cruel stepmother and hard,
to thy poor fenceless, naked child, the bard!
a thing unteachable in worldly skill,
and half an idiot too, more helpless still:
no heels to bear him from the op'ning dun,
no cws to dig, his hated sight to shun:
no horns, but those by luckless hymen worn,
and those, as! not amalthea's horn:
no nerves olfact'ry, true to mammon's foot,
The Poets Progress(2/8)