Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/32

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While the rich infant, nurs'd with care and pain,
Thirsts with each heat, and coughs with ev'ry rain!
The goddess long had mark'd the child's distress,
And long had sought his suff'rings to redress;150
She prays the gods to take the fondling's part,
To teach his hands some beneficial art
Practis'd in streets: the gods her suit allow'd,
And made him useful to the walking crowd,
To cleanse the miry feet, and o'er the shoe155
With nimble skill the glossy black renew.
Each power contributes to relieve the poor:—
With the strong bristles of the mighty boar
Diana forms his brush; the god of day
A tripod gives, amid the crowded way160
To raise the dirty foot, and ease his toil;
Kind Neptune fills his vase with fetil oil
Prest from th' enormous whale; the god of fire,
From whose dominions smoky clouds aspire,
Among these generous presents joins his part,165
And aids with soot the new japanning art.
Pleas'd she receives the gifts; she downward glides,
Lights in Fleet-ditch, and shoots beneath the tides.