Page:A happy half-century and other essays.djvu/125

 Rh which Mr. Kipling has unconsciously parodied:—

The wonderful thing about the "Sugar-Cane" is that it was read;—nay, more, that it was read aloud at the house of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and though the audience laughed, it listened. Dodsley published the poem in handsome style; a second edition was called for; it was reprinted in Jamaica, and pirated (what were the pirates thinking about!) in 1766. Even Dr. Johnson wrote a friendly notice in the London "Chronicle," though he always maintained that the poet might just as well have sung the beauties of a parsley-bed or of a cabbage garden. He took the same high ground when Boswell called his attention to Dyer's "Fleece."—"The subject, Sir, cannot be made poetical. How can a man write poetically of serges and druggets?"

It was not for the sake of sentiment or story that the English public read "The Fleece." Nor could it have been for practical guidance; for farmers, even in 1757, must have had some