Smollett

Contradict me and I’ll try to understand

Sir, who depict us as contrariwise,

Fixed with one view of those we apprise

But to find that view we oft countermand.

The lord is an oaf, the lady feigns sad,

Nurse Jill can translate, the scholar’s a cad,

The beggar’s a saint, the parson’s gone mad,

The thief turns out good, Jack’s gone to the bad.

How I wish to join your latest journey

Sir, to share in company straight and gay

Arguing types (and terms, alas!), making hay,

Your servant, The Twenty-First Century.

Postscript: Surely there’s something called the norm

If imitation’s the sincerest form.