I know nothing of grammar;
At school they never could hammer
Or beat it into my head.
The bare word made me stammer,
And turn pale as if I were dead.
And here I may as well be telling
I’m often damned out in my spelling.
And this is all the apology
I offer for my chronology,
And biographical sketches
Of mighty men, and lubberly wretches,
From seventeen hundred and seventy-seven—
Their rank, their titles, and their names are given.