_Annual Register_
VERSION
I lately thought no man alive
Could e'er improve past forty-five,
And ventured to assert it;
The observation was not new,
But seem'd to me so just and true,
That none could controvert it.
'No, Sir,' says Johnson, ''tis not so;
'Tis _That's_ your mistake, and I can show
An instance, if you doubt it;
You who perhaps are _You, Sir, who are near_ forty-eight,
still May _much_ improve, 'tis not too late;
I wish you'd set about it.'
Encouraged thus to mend my faults,
I turn'd his counsel in my thoughts,
could Which way I _should_ apply it:
Genius I knew was _Learning and wit seem'd_ past my reach,
what none can For who can learn _where none will_ teach? when
And wit--I could not buy it.
Then come, my friends, and try your skill,
may You _can improve me, if you will; inform
(My books are at a distance).
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