Philo the Lawyer[96] and the Fortune-teller;
The Schoole-master, the Midwife, and the Bawd,
The conjurer, the buyer, and the seller
Of painting, which with breathing will be thaw'd,
Doth practise Physicke; and his credit growes,
As doth the Ballad-singer's auditory,[97]
Which hath at Temple-barre his standing chose,
And to the vulgar sings an Ale-house story:
First stands a Porter; then an Oyster-wife
Doth stint her cry, and stay her steps to heare him;
Then comes a Cut-purse ready with a[98] knife,
And then a Countrey clyent passeth neare him;
There stands the Constable, there stands the whore,
And, listening[99] to the song, heed[100] not each other;
There by the Serjeant stands the debitor,[101]
And doth no more mistrust him then his brother:
Thus Orpheus to such hearers giueth musick,
And Philo to such patients giueth physick.
[Footnote 96: Isham 'Gentleman.' G.]
[Footnote 97: See our Memorial-Introduction with reference to
Wordsworth's splendid filling up of this earlier sketch. G.]
[Footnote 98: Isham 'his.' G.]
[Footnote 99: Isham 'hearkening.' G.]
[Footnote 100: 1st edition and Isham, 'marke.' G.]
[Footnote 101: Isham 'debter poore.' G.]