Excerpt from Rowton House Rhymes Apologia Pro Suis Carminibus. O what a royal thing is Reticence! And Silence, O how god-like splendid! Yet, We that are singers, and have need of pence To buy our babies bread, why should we let Aught of the god or king our tongues up-tie If men will toss us coppers for the song, And Goldilocks and Dimplechin to die Forbear? Sure, Silence, then, were hellish wrong. So to the market-place! If the crowd pay, Bread's won, and Bread's an honourable cause. And what care I if some sad critic say: "Another heart for pecking of the daws!" Let the daws peck! But let them pay - sesterce, Sovereign, or cent! All that is grist is good ... Shall I be less to mine than is to hers The pelican that gives her breast for food ? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.