Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/34

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See them puff off the froth, and gulp amain,
While, with dry tongue, I lick my lips in vain."
While thus he fervent prays, the heaving tide
In widen'd circles beats on either side;
The goddess rose amid the inmost round:195
With wither'd turnep tops her temples crown'd;
Low reach'd her dripping tresses, lank, and black
As the smooth jet, or glossy raven's back;
Around her waist a circling eel was twin'd,199
which bound her robe that hung in rags behind:
Now, beck'ning to the boy, she thus begun:—
"Thy pray'rs are granted; weep no more, my son:
Go, thrive! At some frequented corner stand:
This brush I give thee, grasp it in thy hand;
Temper the soot within this vase of oil,205
And let the little tripod aid thy toil:
On this methinks I see the walking crew,
At thy request, support the miry shoe;
The foot grows black that was with dirt imbrown'd,
And in thy pocket jingling halfpence sound."210
The goddess plunges swift beneath the flood,
And dashes all around her show'rs of mud. . . . .