Fleas

"A blockhead, bit by fleas, put out the light, And chuckling cried, "Now you cant see to bite."

"Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum. And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on; While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on."

"To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried it."

"It was many and many a year ago, In a District styled E. C., That a monster dwelt whom I came to know By the name of Cannibal Flea, And the brute was possessed with no other thought Than to live — and to live on me."

"I do honour the very flea of his dog."

"Then mimickd my voice with satyrical sneer, And sent me away with a Flea in my ear."

"Panurge auoyt la pulee en loreille."

"So, naturalists observe, a flea Has smaller fleas that on him prey; And these have smaller still to bite em, And so proceed ad infinitum. Thus every poet in his kind Is bit by him that comes behind."