Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/46

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Judiciously thy halfpence are bestow'd455
Where the laborious beggar sweeps the road.
Whate'er you give, give ever at demand,
Nor let old age long stretch his palsied hand.
Those who give late, are importun'd each day;
And still are teas'd, because they still delay.460
If e'er the miser durst his farthings spare,
He thinly spreads them through the public square,
Where, all beside the rail, rang'd beggars lie,
And from each other catch the doleful cry:
With Heav'n, for two-pence, cheaply wipes his score,
Lifts up his eyes, and hastes to beggar more.466
Where the brass-knocker, wrapp'd in flannel band,
Forbids the thunder of the footman's hand,
Th' upholder. rueful harbinger of death,
Waits with impatience for the dying breath:470
As vultures o'er a camp, with hov'ring flight,
Snuff up the future carnage of the fight.
Here canst thou pass unmindful of a pray'r,
That Heav'n, in mercy, may thy brother spare?. . . . .
⁠Come, F***! sincere, experienc'd friend!475
Thy briefs, thy deeds, and ev'n thy fees, suspend;