Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/39

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Yet let me not descend to trivial song,
Nor vulgar circumstance my verse prolong—
Why should I teach the maid, when torrents pour,
Her head to shelter from the sudden show'r?
Nature will best her ready hand inform,305
With her spread petticoat to fence the storm.
Does not each walker know the warning sign,
When wisps of straw depend upon the twine
Cross the close street, that then the pav'or's art
Renews the ways, denied to coach and cart?310
Who knows not that the coachman, lashing by,
Oft with his flourish cuts the heedless eye?
And when he takes his stand, to wait a fare,
His horses' foreheads shun the winter's air
Nor will I roam when summer's sultry rays315
Parch the dry ground, and spread with dust the ways:
With whirling gusts the rapid atoms rise,
Smoke o'er the pavement, and involve the skies.
Winter my theme confines, whose nitry wind
Shall crust the slabby mire, and kennels bind:
She bids the snow descend in flaky sheets,321
And in her hoary mantle clothe the streets.