Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/47

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
BOOK II.
TRIVIA.
37


Come, let us leave the Temple's silent walls,
Me bus'ness to my distant lodging calls:
Through the long Strand together let us stray;
With thee conversing, I forget the way.480
Behold that narrow street which steep descends,
Whose building to the slimy shore extends—
Here Arundel's fam'd structure rear'd its frame;
The street alone retains an empty name.484
Where Titian's glowing paint the canvas warm'd,
And Raphael's fair design with judgment charm'd,
Now hangs the bellman's song; and pasted here
The colour'd prints of Overton appear.
Where statues breath'd, the works of Phidias' hands,
A wooden pump or lonely watchhouse stands.490
There Essex' stately pile adorn'd the shore;
There Cecil's; Bedford's; Villiers', now no more. . . .
Yet Burlington's fair palace still remains:
Beauty within; without, proportion reigns:
Beneath his eye declining Art revives,495
The wall with animated picture lives.
There Handel strikes the strings; the melting strain
Transports the soul, and thrills through ev'ry vein: