While the dustman, with his din,
Bawls and rings to be let in,
And at the fore or the back door,
Slowly plods his jades before.
Oft hearing the sow-gelder's horn
Harshly rouse the snoring morn,
From the side of some large square,
Through the long street grunting far.
Sometimes walking I'll be seen
By Tower-hill, or Moorfields' green,
Right against old Bedlam gate,
Where the mock king begins his state,
Crown'd with straw, and rob'd with rags,
Cover'd o'er with jags and tags;

While the keeper, near at hand,

Bullies those that leave their stand;

And milk-maids' screams go through your ears,

And grinders sharpen rusty shears,

And every crier squalls his cry

Under each window he goes by.

Strait mine eye hath caught new gambols, While round and round this town it rambles

Sloppy streets, and foggy day,

Where the blundering folks do stray;
Pavements, on whose slippery flags
Swearing coachmen flog their nags;

Barbers jostled 'gainst your side,
Narrow streets, and gutters wide.

Grub-street garrets now it sees,

To the Muse open, and the breeze,
Where, perhaps, some scribbler hungers,
The hack of neighbouring news-mongers.
Hard by, a tinker's furnace smokes,
From betwixt two pastry-cooks,
Where dingy Dick and Peggy, met,
Are at their scurvy dinner set,
Of cow-heel, and such cellar-messes,
Which the splay-footed Rachael dresses;
And then in haste the shop she leaves,
And, with the boy, the bellows heaves;
Or, if 'tis late, and shop is shut,

Scrubs, at the pump, her face from smut.

Sometimes, all for fights agog,
To t'other end o'the town I jog,
When St. James's bells ring round,
And the royal fiddles sound,
When every lord and lady's bum
Jigs it in the drawing-room;

And young and old dance down the tune,
In honour of the fourth of June;

Till candles fail, and eyes are sore,
Then home we hie, to talk it o'er,
With stories told of many a treat,
How lady Swab the sweetmeats eat;
She was pinch'd, and something worse,
And she was fobb'd, and lost her purse;
Tells how the drudging Weltjie sweat,
To bake his custards duly set,

When, in one night, ere clock went seven,
His 'prentice-lad had robb'd the oven
Of more than twenty hands had put on,
Then lies him down, the little glutton,
Stretch'd lumbering 'fore the fire, they tell ye,
And bakes the custards in his belly;
Then, crop-sick, down the stairs he flings,
Before his master's bell yet rings.
Thus done the tales, to bed they creep,
By hoofs and wheels soon lull'd asleep.

But the City takes me then,
And the hums of busy men,

Where throngs of train-band captains bold,
In time of peace, fierce meetings hold,
With stores of stock-jobbers, whose lies
Work change of stocks and bankruptcies;
While bulls and bears alike contend
To get that cash they dare not spend.
Then let aldermen appear,

In scarlet robe, with chandelier,
And city-feasts and gluttony,

With balls upon the lord-mayor's-day;
Sights that young 'prentices remember,
Sleeping and waking, all November.

Then to the playhouses anon, If Quick or Bannister be on,

While the dustman, with his dir
Bawls and rings to be let in,
And at the fore or the back do
Slowly plods his jades before.
Oft hearing the sow-gelder's
Harshly rouse the snoring m
From the side of some large
Through the long street gri
Sometimes walking I'll be
By Tower-hill, or Moorfic
Right against old Bedlam:
Where the mock king be
Crown'd with straw, and
Cover'd o'er with jags a
While the keeper, nea
Bullies those that leav
And milk-maids' scr
And grinders sharpe
And every crier squ
Under each window

Strait mine eye
While round and
Sloppy streets, a

Where the blu

Pavements, on

Swearing coac

Barbers jostle

Narrow stree

A

property. He was thus the , or in the world, without ends, or exciting any envy. He with the fewest enemies, and rer from conspiracies and rebel..hich were wrecked, he took no inquiries, but was beyond measure a vessel came safe into port, with a He lived a long time in this flatterone of his brothers, who had a tender arrived from Sicily. By his direcattended by a skilful physician, who estoring him to the sound possession of This was no sooner effected, than his In a great measure abandoned him; and ever after to declare, that he had never appy as when he drove a trade with all world from his own port, the Pyræus. e of this happy madman in some degree my own; for the truth is, I have so long the privilege of dictating to my countryat I sometimes feel as if every thing I saw .ne was my own property; and whatever my urs enjoyed, was held under me on condition good behaviour. Let no good-natured friend ore endeavour to disenchant my mind from so ng an error, as long as they think it may conto give me spirit in an undertaking that may be wholly useless to the public and to posterity. erhaps another little story which I have in my v, may serve to represent my situation better. Wa a certain carpenter in a little town of

1

was famous for dispatch and skill in his as besides a man of a most facetious ould often amuse himself with contriving whimsical machines. It happened that

Or drollest Parsons, child of Drury,
Bawls out his damns with comic fury.

And ever, against hum-drum cares,
Sing me some of Dibdin's airs;
Married to his own queer wit,
Such as my shaking sides may split,
In notes, with many a jolly bout,

Near Beaufort's Buildings oft roar'd out,
With wagging curls, and smirk so cunning,
His rig on many a looby running,
Exposing all the ways and phizzes,

Of "Wags, and Oddities, and Quizzes;"
That Shuter's self might heave his head
From drunken snoozes on a bed

Of pot-house benches sprawl'd, and hear
Such laughing songs as won the ear
Of all the town, his slip to cover,
Whene'er he met 'em half seas over.

Freaks like these if thou canst give,
Fun, with thee I wish to live.

N° 54. SATURDAY, MAY 25.

Civitatem quis deceat status
Curo, et urbi solicitus timeo.

The care of this great city is upon my mind, and occasions me much anxiety and alarm.

THERE lived an Athenian, of the name of Thrasilus, who was mad in the pleasantest manner imaginable. He cherished a conceit that the gods had bestowed upon him the empire of the ocean, and maintained stoutly that every ship which put to shore in the