Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/42

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Here the fat cook piles high the blazing fire,
And scarce the spit can turn the steer entire.
Booths sudden hide the Thames, long streets appear,
And num'rous games proclaim the crowded fair.
So when a general bids the martial train371
Spread their encampment o'er the spacious plain,
Thick rising tents a canvas city build,
And the loud dice resound through all the field.
'T was here the matron found a doleful fate:
Let lay elegiac the woe relate376
Soft as the breath of distant flutes, at hours
When silent ev'ning closes up the flowers;
Lulling as falling water's hollow noise;
Indulging grief, like Philomela's voice—380
Doll ev'ry day had walk'd these treach'rous roads:
Her neck grew warpt beneath autumnal loads,
Of various fruit; she now a basket bore:
That head, alas shall basket bear no more.384
Each booth she frequent past, in quest of gain,
And boys with pleasure heard her shrilling strain.
Ah, Doll! all mortals must resign their breath,
And industry itself submit to death. . . . .