Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/39

Rh
 * Yet let me not descend to trivial song,

Nor vulgar circumstance my verse prolong— Why should I teach the maid, when torrents pour, Her head to shelter from the sudden show'r? Nature will best her ready hand inform, With her spread petticoat to fence the storm. Does not each walker know the warning sign, When wisps of straw depend upon the twine Cross the close street, that then the pav'or's art Renews the ways, denied to coach and cart? Who knows not that the coachman, lashing by, Oft with his flourish cuts the heedless eye? And when he takes his stand, to wait a fare, His horses' foreheads shun the winter's air Nor will I roam when summer's sultry rays Parch the dry ground, and spread with dust the ways: With whirling gusts the rapid atoms rise, Smoke o'er the pavement, and involve the skies.
 * Winter my theme confines, whose nitry wind

Shall crust the slabby mire, and kennels bind: She bids the snow descend in flaky sheets, And in her hoary mantle clothe the streets.