Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). A Description of the Morning. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1910. The Book of Restoration Verse

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.

A Description of the Morning

By Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)


NOW hardly here and there a hackney-coach
Appearing, show’d the ruddy morn’s approach.
The slip-shod ’prentice from his master’s door
Had pared the dirt, and sprinkled round the floor.
Now Moll had whirl’d her mop with dext’rous airs,	5
Prepared to scrub the entry and the stairs.
The youth with broomy stumps began to trace
The kennel’s edge, where wheels had worn the place.
The small-coal man was heard with cadence deep,
Till drown’d in shriller notes of chimney-sweep;	10
Duns at his lordship’s gate began to meet;
And brickdust Moll had scream’d through half the street.
The turnkey now his flock returning sees,
Duly let out a-nights to steal for fees:
The watchful bailiffs take their silent stands,	15
And schoolboys lag with satchels in their hands.