The Pell-mell celebrated.
O bear me to the Paths of fair
Pell-Mell,Pell-mell: a street in Westminster (also spelled Pall Mall). The word also means
confusion, disorder, and indiscriminate mingling.
Safe are thy Pavements, grateful is thy Smell!
At distance, rolls along the gilded Coach,
Nor sturdy Carmen on thy Walks encroach;
No Lets would bar thy Ways, were Chairs deny’d,
The soft Supports of Laziness and Pride;
Shops breathe Perfumes, thro’ Sashes Ribbons glow,
The mutual Arms of Ladies, and the Beau.
Yet still ev’n Here, when Rains the Passage hide,
Oft’ the loose Stone spirts up a muddy Tide
Beneath thy careless Foot; and from on high,
Where Masons mount the Ladder, Fragments fly;
Mortar, and crumbled Lime in Show’rs descend,
And o’er thy Head destructive Tiles impend.
The Pleasure of walking through the Alley.
But sometimes let me leave the noisie Roads,
And silent wander in the close Abodes
Where
Where Wheels ne’er shake the Ground; there pensive stray,
In studious Thought, the long uncrouded Way.
Here I remark each Walker’s diff’rent Face,
And in their Look their various Bus’ness trace.
The Broker here his spacious BeaverSpacious Beaver: a beaver hat that a business-man might have worn.
wears,
Upon his Brow sit Jealousies and Cares;
Bent on some Mortgage, to avoid Reproach,
He seeks bye Streets, and saves th’ expensive Coach.
Soft, at low Doors, old Letchers tap their Cane,
For fair Recluse, that travels
Drury-lane.fair Recluse, that travels Drury-lane: a prostitute. Drury Lane was infamous for its streetwalkers.
Here roams uncomb’d, the lavish Rake, to shun
His
Fleet-Street Draper’sDraper: one whose occupation is to sell cloth.
everlasting Dun.Dun: insistent demands that the rake pay his debt owing.
Inconveniences that attend those who are unacquainted with the Town.
Careful Observers, studious of the Town,
Shun the Misfortunes that disgrace the Clown.
Untempted, they contemn the Jugler’sJugler: a jester or conjurer, one who performs magic tricks by sleight of hand. Feats,
Pass by the
Meuse,Meuse: or Mews, a group of stables and carriage houses built around an open yard or alley to accommodate horses, carriages, etc. nor try the *Thimble’s Cheats
When