Noodle, Noodle, Noodle, Eh Mr. Garcia?

1/22/78 (1)

1/22/78 (2)

The Duke of Gloucester,
brother of King George III,
permitted Edward Gibbon
to present to him
the first volume of
The History of the Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire.
When the second volume
of that work appeared,
it was quite in order
that it should be presented
to His Royal Highness
in like manner.
The prince received the author
with much good nature
and affability,
saying to him,
as he laid the weighty tome
on the table,
Another damned thick, square book!
Always, scribble, scribble, scribble!
Eh! Mr. Gibbon?