The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 7/A Description of the Morning

←

The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 7
(1709)
by Jonathan Swift, edited by Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, John Boyle, Patrick Delany, John Hawkesworth, Deane Swift, William Bowyer, John Birch, and George Faulkner

A Description of the Morning

A Description of a City Shower

→

1560378The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 7
— A Description of the Morning1709Jonathan Swift

A DESCRIPTION of the MORNING.

1709.

NOW hardly here and there a hackney coach
Appearing, show'd the ruddy morn's approach.
Now Betty from her master's bed had flown,
And softly stole to discompose her own;
The slipshod 'prentice from his master's door
Had par'd the dirt, and sprinkled round the floor.
Now Moll had whirl'd her mop with dextrous airs,
Prepar'd to scrub the entry and the stairs.
The youth with broomy stumps began to trace
The kennel's edge, where wheels had worn the place.
The smallcoal man was heard with cadence deep,
Till drown'd in shriller notes of chimneysweep:
Duns at his lordship's gate began to meet;
And brickdust Moll had scream'd through half the street.
The turnkey now his flock returning sees,
Duly let out anights to steal for fees:
The watchful bailiffs take their silent stands,
And schoolboys lag with satchels in their hands.