Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/200

178 Here, fronts of houses, like a title-page,

With letters huge inscribed from top to toe,

Stationed above the door, like guardian saints;

There, allegoric shapes, female or male,

Or physiognomies of real men,

Land-warriors, kings, or admirals of the sea,

Boyle, Shakspeare, Newton, or the attractive head

Of some quack-doctor, famous in his day.

Meanwhile the roar continues, till at length,

Escaped as from an enemy, we turn

Abruptly into some sequestered nook,

Still as a sheltered place when winds blow loud!

At leisure, thence, through tracts of thin resort,

And sights and sounds that come at intervals,

We take our way. A raree-show is here,

With children gathered round; another street

Presents a company of dancing dogs,

Or dromedary, with an antic pair

Of monkeys on his back; a minstrel band

Of Savoyards; or, single and alone,

An English ballad-singer. Private courts,

Gloomy as coffins, and unsightly lanes

Thrilled by some female vendor's scream, belike

The very shrillest of all London cries,