Says the Pipe to the Snuff-box, 'I can't understand <br />What the ladies and gentlemen see in your face, <br />That you are in fashion all over the land, <br />And I am so much fallen into disgrace. <br /> <br />'Do but see what a pretty contemplative air <br />I give to the company,—pray do but note 'em,— <br />You would think that the wise men of Greece were all there, <br />Or, at least, would suppose them the wise men of Gotham. <br /> <br />'My breath is as sweet as the breath of blown roses, <br />While you are a nuisance where'er you appear; <br />There is nothing but snivelling and blowing of noses, <br />Such a noise as turns any man's stomach to hear.' <br /> <br />Then, lifting his lid in a delicate way, <br />And opening his mouth with a smile quite engaging. <br />The Box in reply was heard plainly to say, <br />'What a silly dispute is this we are Waging! <br /> <br />'If you have a little of merit to claim, <br />You may thank the sweet-smelling Virginian weed; <br />And I, if I seem to deserve any blame, <br />The before-mentioned drug in apology plead. <br /> <br />'Thus neither the praise nor the blame is our own, <br />No room for a sneer, much less a cachinnus; <br />We are vehicles, not of tobacco alone, <br />But of anything else they may choose to put in us.'<br /><br />William Cowper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-the-rev-mr-newton-rector-of-st-mary-woolnoth/
