Mr. Lear is careful
to disclaim the credit of having created this type, for he tells us in the
preface to his third book that "the lines beginning, 'There was an old man
of Tobago,' were suggested to me by a valued friend, as a form of verse
leading itself to limitless variety for Rhymes and Pictures." Dismissing
the further question of the authorship of "There was an old man of Tobago,"
we propose to give a few specimens of Mr. Lear's Protean powers as
exhibited in the variation of this simple type. Here, to begin with, is a
favorite verse, which we are very glad to have an opportunity of giving, as
it is often incorrectly quoted, "cocks" being substituted for "owls" in the
third line:
"There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, 'It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!'"
With the kindly fatalism which is the distinctive note of the foregoing
stanza, the sentiment of our next extract is in vivid contrast:--
"There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was terribly bored by a bee;
When they said, 'Does it buzz?' he replied, 'Yes, it does!
It's a regular brute of a Bee.'"
To the foregoing verse an historic interest attaches, if, that is, we are
right in supposing it to have inspired Mr.
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