You don't let a shoemaker who has become a member of this club turn the library sofas into benches and go pegging away at boot-making, so why should you let the poets turn the place into a verse factory?
That's what I'd like to know." "I don't know but what your point is well taken," said Blackstone, "though I can't say I think your parallels are very parallel.

A shoemaker, my dear Confucius, is somewhat different from a poet." "Certainly," said Doctor Johnson.

"Very different--in fact, different enough to make a conundrum of the question--what is the difference between a shoemaker and a poet?
One makes the shoes and the other shakes the muse--all the difference in the world.

Still, I don't see how we can exclude the poets.

It is the very democracy of this club that gives it life.