"Various rude Arts the untaught Ancients knew / To fix Ideas e'er they fled away, / And Images of Thought to Sight convey. /  Brass, Wax, or Wood the Characters retain'd, / Some liv'd on Slates, and some the Canvas stain'd; /  Some trac'd in Iv'ry, or engrav'd on Stone, / Or sunk in Clay, e're Biblo's Reed was known."
To A Lady who Refus'd to Answer a Letter [from Poetical essays on Several Occasions. By Samuel Bowden]