ABSTRACT
The text survives as a two-page typescript in the Library of Worcester College, Oxford. There is no record of any corresponding manuscript. The typescript resembles others made at the instigation of A. H. Japp, but it was never published. Although the piece is catalogued as by De Quincey, the style does not seem especially characteristic of his work. It is possible that an original De Quincey fragment was heavily revised by Japp before the typescript was made, but until some manuscript evidence is found the status of this piece must remain doubtful. The passage at the end, after the rule, appears to be properly a footnote on the ‘famous copy of verses’.
