Or, box’d within the Chair, contemncontemn: to scorn or disdain.
the Street,
And trust their Safety to another’s Feet,
Still let me walk; for oft’ the sudden Gale
Ruffles the Tide, and shifts the dang’rous Sail,
Then shall the Passenger, too late, deplore
The whelming Billow, and the faithless Oar;
The drunken Chairman in the Kennel spurns,
The Glasses shatters, and his Charge o’erturns.
Who can recount the Coach’s various Harms;
The Legs disjointed, and the broken Arms?
I’ve seen a Beau, in some ill-fated Hour,
When o’er the Stones choak’d Kennels swell the Show’r,
In gilded Chariot loll; he with Disdain,
Views spatter’d Passengers, all drench’d in Rain;
With Mud fill’d high, the rumbling Cart draws near,
Now rule thy prancing Steeds, lac’d Charioteer!
The
The Dustman lashes on with spiteful Rage,
His pond’rous Spokes thy painted Wheel engage,
Crush’d is thy Pride, down falls the shrieking Beau,
The slabbyslabby: “wet; floody: in low language” (Johnson). Pavement crystal Fragments strow,
Black Floods of Mire th’ embroider’d Coat disgrace,
And Mud enwraps the Honours of his Face.
So when dread Jove, the Son of Phoebus hurl’d, Scarr’d with dark Thunder, to the nether World;
The headstrong CoursersCoursers: large and powerful horses that are usually ridden into battle. tore the silver Reins,
And the Sun’s beamy Ruin gilds the Plains.So when ... gilds the Plains: these lines allude to the story of Phaethon which appears in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Phoebus (Apollo) is Phaethon’s father. In the story, Jove (Zeus) strikes Phaethon with one of his lightning bolts after Phaeton drives Phoebus’s chariot too close to the earth.
If the pale Walker pants with weak’ning Ills,
His sickly Hand is stor’d with friendly Bills:
From hence, he learns the seventh-born Doctor’s Fame,seventh-born Doctor’s Fame: an allusion to the commonly accepted belief that the seventh son of a seventh son was to be born a physician.
From hence, he learns the cheapest Tailor’s Name.
Shall the large Mutton smoak upon your Boards?
Such Newgate’s copious Market best affords;
Would’st