But hark! distress with screaming voice draws

['fire!'

355

nigher. And wakes the slumbering street with cries of At first a glowing red enwraps the skies, And borne by winds the scattering sparks arise; From beam to beam the fierce contagion spreads; The spiry flames now lift aloft their heads; Through the burst sash a blazing deluge pours, And splitting tiles descend in rattling showers. 360 Now with thick crowds the enlighten'd pavement

swarms,

The fireman sweats beneath his crooked arms;
A leathern casque his venturous head defends,
Boldly he climbs where thickest smoke ascends;
Mov'd by the mother's streaming eyes and prayers,
The hepless infant through the flame he bears, 366
With no less virtue than through hostile fire
The Dardan hero bore his aged sire.

See forceful engines spout their levell'd streams,
To quench the blaze that runs along the beams;
The grappling hook plucks rafters from the walls,
And heaps on heaps the smoky ruin falls.

372

Blown by strong winds, the fiery tempest roars,
Bears down new walls, and pours along the floors;
The heavens are all a-blaze, the face of night 375
Is cover'd with a sanguine dreadful light;
'Twas such a light involv'd thy towers, O Rome!
The dire presage of mighty Cæsar's doom,
When the sun veil'd in rust his mourning head,
And frightful prodigies the skies o'erspread.

380

Hark! the drum thunders! far, ye crowds! retire:
Behold! the ready match is tipt with fire,

The nitrous store is laid, the smutty train
With running blaze awakes the barrell'd grain ;
'Flames sudden wrap the walls; with sullen sound
The shatter'd pile sinks on the smoky ground. 386
So when the years shall have revolv'd the date,
The inevitable hour of Naples' fate,

Her sapp'd foundations shall with thunders shake,
And heave and toss upon the sulphurous lake; 390
Earth's womb at once the fiery flood shall rend,
And in the abyss her plunging towers descend.

400

Consider, reader! what fatigues I've known, The toils, the perils of the wintry town; What riots seen, what bustling crowds I bor'd, 395 How oft I cross'd where carts and coaches roar'd: Yet shall I bless my labours, if mankind Their future safety from my dangers find. Thus the bold traveller, (inur'd to toil, Whose steps have printed Asia's desert soil, The barbarous Arabs' haunt, or shivering crost Dark Greenland's mountains of eternal frost, Whom Providence in length of years restores To the wish'd harbour of his native shores) Sets forth his journals to the public view, To caution, by his woes, the wandering crew. And now complete my generous labours lie, Finish'd, and ripe for immortality. Death shall entomb in dust this mouldering frame, But never reach the eternal part, my fame.

405

410

When W* and G**, mighty Names! are dead, Or but a Chelsea, under custards, read;

When critics crazy bandboxes repair,

And tragedies, turn'd rockets, bounce in air, 414 High-rais'd on Fleet-street posts, consign'd to

fame,

This work shall shine, and walkers bless my name.

INDEX.

iii, 127

AUTHOR, for whom he wrote the Poem.
Asses, their arrogance.

Ariadne's clue....

Alley, the pleasure of walking in one.
Almanacs, useless to judicious Walkers.
Autumn, what cries then in use...
Arundel-street..

Country, the Author's love of his....
Civic crown.....

Cane, the convenience of one.

an amber-headed one useless..

the abuse of it.

Camlet, how affected by rain.

.i, 161

.ii, 28

.ii, 30

ii, 43

.ii, 59

.ii, 277

.ii, 494

.ii, 523

ii, 538

.iii, 77

Coat, how to choose one for the winter.

i, 46

i, 41

Chairs and chariots prejudicial to health.

.i, 69

Coachman asleep on his box, what the sign.

Chairmen, an observation upon them.

.i, 153

.i, 154

Church monuments foretell the weather.

.i, 167

Chimney-sweeper, by whom to be avoided.

ii, 33

Carmen when unmerciful, their punishment.
Cheapside..

•

Cheese not lov'd by the Author.
Countryman perplexed to find the way
Coachman, his whip dangerous.

his care of his horses.

Coaches dangerous in snowy weather.
Chairmen, their exercise in frosty weather.
Covent-garden....

Cries of the Town, observations upon them
Christmas, what cries forerun it..

a season for general charity.

Coaches, those that keep them uncharitable.

Cloacina, goddess of common-sewers.

Charing-cross

Christmas-box..

Charity most practised by Walkers.

where given with judgment..

not to be delayed..

Chairs, the danger of them.

Coaches, attended with ill accidents.

despised by Walkers.

.ii, 40

ii, 45
.ii, 241

ibid.

.ii, 454

.ii, 456

kept by coxcombs and pimps.

Clement's-church, the pass of it described.

Cellar, the misfortune of falling into one.

Chairmen, law concerning them.

their poles dangerous.

Coachmen despise dirty shoes.
Coaches, a man surrounded by them.
Constable, his consideration...
Coach fallen into a hole described..
Critics, their fate....

D'Oily stuffs, useless in winter....
Drugget-silk, improper in cold weather.
Dress, propriety therein to be observed.
Drummers improper at a wedding..
Dustman, to whom offensive.

iii, 25
.iii, 35

ibid.

Drays, when not to be walked behind.
Doll, a melancholy story of her death.
Dustman spiteful to gilded chariots.
Drury-lane dangerous to virtue.

.ii, 37

ii, 288

.ii, 382

.ii, 527

iii, 259