In the _Tower_.

Though Guards surround me Day and Night,
Let _Celia_ be but in my Sight,
And then they need not fear my Flight.
L. N. & G. ]

The title-page of Part I of _The Merry-Thought_ states that the contents
of the pamphlet had been taken from "Original Manuscripts written in
_Diamond_ by Persons of the first Rank and Figure in _Great Britain_"
and that they had been "Faithfully Transcribed from the Drinking-Glasses
and Windows in the several noted _Taverns_, _Inns_, and other _Publick
Places_ in this Nation. Amongst which are intermixed the Lucubrations of
the polite Part of the World, written upon Walls in Bog-houses, _&c._"
These statements suggest one of the principal leveling strategies of the
pamphlet as a whole: the nobility and the rich, whatever their
advantages otherwise, must, like the lowest amongst us, make use of
privies; and, in the process, they are just as likely as their brethren
of the lower classes to leave their marks on the walls of those
conveniences.

A number of the verses included in the pamphlet continue the leveling
process. One in particular (p. 20) adopts the principal strategy
employed on the title-page:

_From the Temple Bog-House._

No Hero looks so fierce to Fight,
As does the Man who strains to sh-te.

Others suggest that sexual relations are essentially leveling
activities. Here (p. 24) is an example:

_Toy, at Hampton-Court_, 1708.

D---n _Molley H---ns_ for her Pride,
She'll suffer none but Lords to ride:
But why the Devil should I care,
Since I can find another Mare?

_L. M. August._

Another target of the pamphlet was _The Spectator_ in general and
Addison in particular. In his dedication, J. Roberts first insists that
the graffiti in his collection are notable examples of wit.[12] He next
goes out of his way to associate the contents of _The Merry-Thought_
with _The Spectator_:

_But I may venture to say, That good Things are not always respected
as they ought to be: The People of the World will sometimes overlook
a Jewel, to avoid a T--d.... Nay, I have even found some of the
_Spectator's_ Works in a Bog-house, Companions with Pocky-Bills and
Fortune-telling Advertisements...._

[Footnote 12: Roberts was almost certainly the collector of the
graffiti printed in _The Merry-Thought_ as well as the author of the
dedication, but the dedication was itself signed with the name
"Hu