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CHARLES JENNER.

1774.

Rector of Claybrooke, Leicestershire;

ECLOGUE II.

Time was.

THE spring had now enliven'd every scene,
And clad the dusky park in partial green;
Gay opening buds peep'd through the winter rust,
And kindly showers had half wash'd off their dust.

On a dull day which, every week, affords
A glut of 'prentices, in bags and swords;

When sober families resort to prayer,

And cits take in their weekly meal of air; Whilst, eastward of St. Paul's, the well-dress' spark

Runs two long miles, to saunter in the Park:

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Prudentio strolling down the mall was seen,
To loll upon a bench, and vent his spleen:
He meets Avaro on the accustom'd seat,

And thus, in grumbling strains, the veterans greet,

AVARO.

Well met, Prudentio- - - Come man, sit you

down;

How fare you?

PRUDENTIO.

Sick, of this confounded town.

AVARO.

Aye, so am I; time was when it was said,
A penny buys a pennyworth of bread;
But now, engrossers meet with no controul,
Your penny scarce will buy a farthing roll.
Time was, when evening markets fed the poor,
And good cheap things were cried from door to

door;

But now, the bakers get each week a rise,
And all provisions double in their price.

PRUDENTIO.

How should it happen otherwise? look here
What shoals of puppies every where appear !

That fellow with the tarnish'd suit of lace,
With insolence and folly in his face,
Must raise his soap and candles, to afford

To dress himself on Sundays, like a lord;
Whilst that pert puppy, with the powder'd queue,
Must pay his barber out of me or you.

AVARO.

Time was, when sattin waistcoats and scratch wigs, Enough distinguished all the city prigs,

Whilst every sunshine Sunday saw them run

To club their sixpences, at Islington;

When graver citizens, in suits of brown,
Lined every dusty avenue to town,

Or led the children and the loving spouse,
To spend two shillings at White-Conduit-house:
But now, the 'prentices, in suits of green,
At Richmond or at Windsor may be seen;
Where in mad parties they run down to dine,
To play at gentlefolks, and drink bad wine:
Whilst neat post-chariots roll their masters down
To some snug box, a dozen miles from town.

PRUDENTIO.

I grant, that even prudence' self allows

The man of wealth his coach and country house;

By common justice every man is taught,
To taste those blessings which his labour bought;
But, say, if candour can forbear to scoff,
When men begin just where their sires left off?
But trade to gain is now too slow a way ;
Fortunes must rise, like mushrooms, in a day;
Hence sprung that most destructive mode of robbing,
By dangerous under-writing, and stock-jobbing;
Even merchants now, laborious trade despise,
And find that money is best merchandize;
Hence springs the irrecoverable debt,

Hence, whereas fills each page of the Gazette.

AVARO.

Time was, when tradesmen laid up what they gain'd,

And frugally a family maintain'd;

When they took stirring house-wives for their

spouses,

To keep up prudent order in their houses;

Who thought no scorn, at night to sit them down, And make their childrens cloaths, or mend their

own;

Would Polly's coat to younger Bess transfer,
And make their caps without a milliner :
But now a shopping half the day they're gone,
To buy five hundred things, and pay for none;

Whilst Miss despises all domestick rules,
But lisps the French of Hackney boarding-schools;
And every lane around Whitechapel bars
Resounds with screaming notes, and harsh guittars.

PRUDENTIO.

Time was too, when the prudent dames would stay
Till Christmas holidays to see a play,

And met at cards, at that glad time alone,
In friendly setts of loo or cheap pope-joan;
Now, every lady writes her invitations
For weekly routs, to all her wise relations,
And every morning teems with fresh delights;
They run the city over, seeing sights;
Then hurry to the play as night approaches,
And spend their precious time in hackney-coaches.

AVARO.

Hence spring assemblies with such uncouth names, At Deptford, Wapping, Rotherhithe, and ShadThames,

Where every month the powder'd white-gloved sparks,

Spruce haberdashers, pert attornies' clerks,
With deep-enamour'd 'prentices, prefer

Their suit to many a sighing millener :

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