it's very plain that if a thing's the fashion—

too much the fashion—if the people leap

to do it, or to be it, in a passion

of haste and crowding, like a herd of sheep,

why then that thing becomes through imitation

vulgar, excessive, obvious, and cheap.

no gentleman desires to be pursuing

what every tom and dick and harry's doing.

stranger, do you write books? i ask the question,

because i'm told that everybody writes

that what with scribbling, eating, and digestion,

and proper slumber, all our days and nights

are wholly filled. it seems an odd suggestion—

but if you do write, stop it, leave the masses,

read me, and join the small selected classes.