Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/15

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May Providence o'ershade me with her wings,
While the bold muse experienc'd dangers sings!
Not that I wander from my native home,
And (tempting perils) foreign cities roam.
Let Paris be the theme of Gallia’s muse,85
Where Slav'ry treads the streets in wooden shoes.
Nor do I rove in Belgia's frozen clime,
And teach the clumsy boor to skaite in rhyme;
Where, if the warmer clouds in rain descend,
No miry ways industrious steps offend—90
The rushing flood from sloping pavements pours,
And blackens the canals with dirty show’rs.
Let others Naples' smoother streets rehearse,
And with proud Roman structures grace their verse,
Where frequent murders wake the night with groans,
And blood in purple torrents dyes the stones.96
Nor shall the muse through narrow Venice stray,
Where gondolas their painted oars display:
O happy streets to rumbling wheels unknown—
No carts, no coaches, shake the floating town!100
Thus was, of old, Britannia's city bless'd,
Ere pride and luxury her sons possess'd;