But soon as Coach or Cart drives rattling on,
The Rabble part, in shoals they backward run.
So Jove’sJove: poetic name for Jupiter/Zeus, god of lightning. loud Bolts the mingled War divide,And Greece
and Troy
retreat on either side.
If the rude Throng pour on with furious Pace,
Of walking with a Friend.
And hap to break thee from a Friend’s Embrace,
Stop short; nor struggle thro’ the Croud in vain,
But watch with careful Eye the passing Train.
Yet I (perhaps too fond), if chance the Tide,
Tumultuous, bear my Partner from my Side,
Impatient venture back; despising Harm,
I force my Passage where the thickest swarm.
Thus his lost Bride,lost Bride: reference to Aneas turning back to look for his wife, Creusa, in the underworld and seeing her
ghost in The Illiad Book II. the TrojanTrojan: warrior from the city of Troy. sought in vain
Through Night, and Arms, and Flames, and Hills of Slain.
Thus NisusNisus: one of a
pair of male lovers in The Aeneid. Another example of doomed lovers in this section, along with
Aneas and Creusa. wander’d oer the pathless Grove,
To find the brave Companion of his Love,
The
The pathless Grove in vain he wanders o’er;
Euryalus,
Euryalus: one of a
pair of doomed male lovers in The Aeneid, partnered with Nisus.
alas! is now no more.
Of inadvertent Walkers.
That Walker who, regardless of his Pace,
Turns oft to pore upon the Damsel’s Face,
From side to side by thrusting Elbows tost,
Shall strike his aching Breast against a post;
Or Water, dash’d from fishy Stalls, shall stain
His hapless Coat with Spirts of scaly Rain.
But if unwarily he chance to stray
Where twirling Turnstiles intercept the Way,
The thwarting Passenger shall force them round,
And beat the Wretch half breathless to the ground.
Useful Precepts.
Let constant Vigilance thy Footsteps guide,
And wary Circumspection guard thy Side;
Then shalt thou walk unarm’d the dang’rous Night,
Nor need th’ officious Link-Boy’s Link-Boy: (or Link-man)
a person employed to carry a light along London streets, so that people can see their way.
Smoky Light.
Thou