AN EPILOGUE TO ANY BOOK

"_Hic Finis chartaeque viaeque._"

"FINIS at last--the end, the End, the END!

No more of paragraphs to prune or mend;

No more blue pencil, with its ruthless line,

To blot the phrase 'particularly fine';

No more of 'slips,' and 'galleys,' and 'revises,'

Of words 'transmogrified,' and 'wild surmises';

No more of _n_'s that masquerade as _u_'s,

No nice perplexities of _p_'s and _q_'s;

No more mishaps of _ante_ and of _post_,

That most mislead when they should help the most;

No more of 'friend' as 'fiend,' and 'warm' as 'worm';

No more negations where we would affirm;

No more of those mysterious freaks of fate

That make us bless when we should execrate;

No more of those last blunders that remain

Where we no more can set them right again;

No more apologies for doubtful data;

No more fresh facts that figure as Errata;

No more, in short, O TYPE, of wayward lore

From thy most _un_-Pierian fount--NO MORE!"

So spoke PAPYRIUS. Yet his hand meanwhile

Went vaguely seeking for the vacant file,

Late stored with long array of notes, but now

Bare-wired and barren as a leafless bough;--

And even as he spoke, his mind began

Again to scheme, to purpose and to plan.

There is no end to Labour 'neath the sun;

There is no end of labouring--but One;

And though we "twitch (or not) our Mantle blue,"

"To-morrow to fresh Woods, and Pastures new."

De Libris: Prose and Verse · 第 34 / 35 题