[Thomas Haynes Bayly, English poet.] Holograph Poem (signed 'Thomas Haynes Bayly') titled 'A ditty!', with note explaining that it has been 'written in the shortest minute of the longest day'.

2pp., 4to. In fair condition, on aged paper. An unpublished jeux d'esprit on the well-known poem by Isaac Watts (also parodied by Lewis Carroll), the poem consists of twenty-four lines arranged in six four-line stanzas, followed by: 'written in the shortest minute of the longest day by | Thomas Haynes Bayly | June 22nd. 1835.' The first two stanzas read: 'As "doth the little busy Bee | "Improve each shining hour, | "And gather honey all the day | "From every opening flower." | So doth the busy T. H. B. | From bud to blossom hop, | In search of sweets incessantly | And seldom finds a drop!' Of the woman or girl to whom he is addressing the poem he writes in the fourth stanza: 'And oh most happy T. H. B. | When sick of common features, | To look upon a prodigy! | Most fair of human creatures!'