Page:Thrummy cap (2).pdf/23

 23                  For white one wheel one stall engag'd,                     Its fellow took the other; Dire was the clash, down fell the booths And made a dreadful pother.

Nuts, oranges, and ginger-bread, And figs here roll'd around, And scissars, knives, and thimbles there Bestrewed the glittering ground.

The fall of boards, the shouts and cries, Urg'd on the horses faster; And as they flew, at every step They caus'd some new disaster.

Here lay o'erturn'd in woeful plight A pedlar and his pack, There in a showman's broken box, All London went to rack.

But now the fates decreed to stop The ruin of the day, And make the gig and driver too A heavy reckoning pay.

A ditch there lay both broad and deep, Where streams as black as Styx From every quarter of the town Their muddy currents mix.

Down to its brink in heedless haste The frantic horses flew, And in the midst, with sudden jerk, Their burden overthrew.