If true that notion, which but few contest, That in the way of wit, short things are best; Then in good EPIGRAMS two virtues meet, For 'tis their glory to be short and sweet. PREFACE. IN this little volume an attempt has been made, for the first time, it is thought, to combine in one small collection specimens of the Epigram proper -the short poem, clear, concise, elegant in expression, and pointed in application; and of the Literary follies and whims of the learned,-the nonsense verse, crostic, cross acrostic, double acrostic, shaped poem, quip poem; vowel, verbal, and alliterative folly; palindrome, telestick, double-faced, echo, syllabic, and other whimsies -in short, more varieties of literary and ingenious trifling than Polonius said there were of stageplaying, or very few would suppose. |