You keep such a twattling with you and your bottling;
But I see the sum total, we shall ne'er have a bottle;
The long and the short, we shall not have a quart,
I wish you would sign't, that we have a pint.
For all your colloguing,[3] I'd be glad for a knoggin:[4]
But I doubt 'tis a sham; you won't give us a dram.
'Tis of shine a mouth moon-ful, you won't part with a spoonful,
And I must be nimble, if I can fill my thimble,
You see I won't stop, till I come to a drop;
But I doubt the oraculum, is a poor supernaculum;
Though perhaps you may tell it, for a grace if we smell it.
STELLA.
[Footnote 1: In this letter, though written in prose, the reader, upon
examining, will find each second sentence rhymes to the former.--_H._]
[Footnote 2: Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Dingley.--_F._]
[Footnote 3: A phrase used in Ireland for a specious appearance of
kindness without sincerity.--_F._]
[Footnote 4: A name used in Ireland for the English quartern.--_F._]