Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/64

---

---

How short is life! how frail is human trust!— 235
Is all this pomp for laying dust to dust?. . . .
Where the nail'd hoop defends the painted stall,
Brush not thy sweeping skirt too near the wall:
Thy heedless sleeve will drink the colour'd oil,
And spot indelible thy pocket soil.240
Has not wise Nature strung the legs and feet
With firmest nerves, design'd to walk the street?
Has she not given us hands to grope aright,
Amid the frequent dangers of the night?
And thinkst thou not the double nostril meant245
To warn from oily woes by previous scent?
Who can the various city frauds recite,
With all the petty rapines of the night!
Who now the guinea-dropper's bait regards?
Trick'd by the sharper's dice? or juggler's cards?250
Why should I warn thee ne'er to join the fray,
Where the sham quarrel interrupts the way?
Lives there in these our days so soft a clown,
Brav'd by the bully's oaths or threat'ning frown?
I need not strict enjoin the pocket's care,255
When from the crowded play thou lead'st the fair:—