Now of the journey: one can well conceive
The numerous incidents which tend t’relieve
The dull monotony of such a tour,
And thus make sweet the elsewise tedious hour,
That constant friend,[192] prince of the upper main,
Was scarce molested[193] from the rosy dawn
Until he rounded o’er the distant hills—
When there forth swung (as he revolving swells)
Promiscuous clouds across his fiery way
And spread, like beacon-fires, the closing day.
Thus advantageous ’neath umbrageous trees,
Which rustled in the June-time fragrant breeze,
Th’ aspiring peasantry as blithe as gay
Enjoy the intervals of making hay,—
Round went the tea, or round the home-brew’d ale,
And thus they transiently themselves regale;
And now and then, as each in turn doth quaff
The timely cup, uproarious ’rose a laugh.
A drover now, with breast bare to the sun,
Inquired the hour, and urg’d the cattle on;
His ashen beam fell sore upon their loins,
And with the lash some imprecation joins;
They, in reply to the unrighteous law,
Reluctantly obey the fellsome blow.
Again: some practised beggars plead for alms
In moanful accent, and with dirty palms;
Some kindly creature on the coach throws down
A copper coin or two; they smile or frown,
According as the gift is small or great,
And then again they lazily retreat,—
Repeating, most persistently, the cry
To whomsoever may be passing by:
Perhaps at night, some place offensive slunk,
They curse the giver and get beastly drunk.
And then th’ eccentric roadside “public” signs,[194]
Grotesquely figured, and inscribed with lines
As various writ as various the designs:—
“The Rose and Crown.” “The Stag.” “The Bull.” “The Bear.”
The “Coach and Horses.” “Horses, Hounds, and Hare.”
“The Rising Sun.” “The Seven Stars.” “Half-moon.”
“The Maid and Magpie:” and “The Old Green Man.”
Of “Heads”—The Duke’s: The Queen’s: The King’s. “King’s Arms.”—
High-colour’d frontages, whose wondrous charms—
To the unwary—oft are fraught with ill;
While he, the “landlord,” dotes upon his till.
All these[195] attend to make the trav’ler smile,
To less’ the length, as ’twere, of every mile.
[192] The sun.
[193] Obscured.
[194] Public-house signboards.
[195] The various incidents recorded in this section.