Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/41

---

---

Columns with plain magnificence appear, 345
And grateful porches lead along the square;
Here oft my course I bend: when, lo! from far,
I spy the furies of the foot-ball'd war:
The 'prentice quits his shop to join the crew;
Increasing crowds the flying game pursue.350
Thus, as you roll the ball o'er snowy ground,
The gath'ring globe augments with every round. . . . .
But whither shall I run? The throng draws nigh!
The ball now skims the street, now soars on high;
The dext'rous glazier strong returns the bound,355
And jingling sashes on the penthouse sound.
O roving muse! recall that wond'rous year,
When hoary Thames, with frosted oziers crown'd,
When Winter reign'd in bleak Britannia's air:
Was three long moons in icy fetters bound.360
The waterman, forlorn along the shore,
Pensive reclines upon his useless oar,
Sees harness'd steeds desert the stony town,
And wander roads unstable, not their own;364
Wheels o'er the harden'd waters smoothly glide,
And rase with whiten'd tracks the slipp'ry tide.