[Footnote 13: As late as the turn of the century the trick was still in a manner feasible. The anonymous author of _Literary 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 Artfulness and Embellishments of the _Romans_ in their Way of Writing, _yet cannot fail to please all such Readers as are not unqualify'd for the Entertainment by their Affectation or Ignorance_.