Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/44

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Learn hence the periods of the week to name:
Mondays and Thursdays are the days of game.
When fishy stalls with double store are laid,
The golden-bellied carp, the broad-finn'd maid,
Red-speckled trouts, the salmon's silver jowl,415
The jointed lobster, and unscaly sole;
And luscious 'scallops, to allure the tastes
Of rigid zealots to delicious fasts;
Wednesdays and Fridays you'll observe from hence,
Days when our sires were doom'd to abstinence.
When dirty waters from balconies drop,421
And dextrous damsels twirl the sprinkling mop,
|And cleanse the spatter'd sash, and scrub the stairs,
Know Saturday's conclusive morn appears.
Successive cries the season's change declare,425
And mark the monthly progress of the year.—
Hark! how the streets with treble voices ring,
To sell the bounteous product of the spring!
Sweet-smelling flow'rs, and elder's early bud,429
With nettle's tender shoots, to cleanse the blood.
And when June's thunder cools the sultry skies,
Ev'n Sundays are profan'd by mack'rel cries.