Now hardly here and there a hackney-coach
Appearing, show'd the ruddy morn's approach.
Now Betty from her master's bed had flown,
And softly stole to discompose her own.
The slip-shod 'prentice from his master's door
Had par'd the dirt, and sprinkled round the floor.
Now Moll had whirl'd her mop with dext'rous airs,
Prepar'd to scrub the entry and the stairs.
The youth with broomy stumps began to trace
The kennel-edge, where wheels had worn the place.
The small-coal man was heard with cadence deep;
Till drown'd in shriller notes of "chimney-sweep."
Duns at his lordship's gate began to meet;
And brickdust Moll had scream'd through half a street.
The turnkey now his flock returning sees,
Duly let out a-nights to steal for fees.
The watchful bailiffs take their silent stands;
And schoolboys lag with satchels in their hands.
Notes
NOTES
Form:
couplets
1.
The poem is introduced as follows: "the town has, this half age, been
tormented with insects called easy writers .... Such jaunty scribblers
are so justly laughed at for their sonnets on Phillis and Chloris,
and fantastical descriptions in 'em, that an ingenious kinsman of mine, of the
family of the Staffs, Mr. Humphrey Wagstaff by name, has, to avoid their
strain, run into a way perfectly new, and described things exactly as they
happen: he never forms trees, or nymphs, or groves, where they are not,
but makes the incidents just as they really appear. For an example of it:
I stole out of his manuscript the following lines: they are a description
of the morning, but of the morning in town\; nay, of the morning at this
end of the town, where my kinsman at present lodges."
9.
broomy stumps: worn-out broom.
9-10.
to trace/The kennel-edge: to sweep down the gutter.
14.
brickdust Moll: painted prostitute.
16.
In return for privileges, jailers demanded fees from their prisoners.
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Comments
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ok poetry
From guest Jonathan Argent (contact)
hey this is my first article. i found this poetry realy inspirering. my freind dieter doesnt like it. but it hits me on an emotional level. -
good
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