While gin and snuff their female neighbours share, And the black beverage in the fractured ware. On swinging shelf are things incongruous stored, - Scraps of their food,--the cards and cribbage-board, - With pipes and pouches; while on peg below, Hang a lost member's fiddle and its bow; That still reminds them how he'd dance and play, Ere sent untimely to the Convicts' Bay. Here by a curtain, by a blanket there, Are various beds conceal'd, but none with care; Where some by day and some by night, as best Suit their employments, seek uncertain rest; The drowsy children at their pleasure creep To the known crib, and there securely sleep. Each end contains a grate, and these beside Are hung utensils for their boil'd and fried - All used at any hour, by night, by day, As suit the purse, the person, or the prey. Above the fire, the mantel-shelf contains Of china-ware some poor unmatched remains; There many a tea-cup's gaudy fragment stands, All placed by vanity's unwearied hands; For here she lives, e'en here she looks about, To find some small consoling objects out: Nor heed these Spartan dames their house, not sit 'Mid cares domestic,--they nor sew nor knit; But of their fate discourse, their ways, their wars, With arm'd authorities, their 'scapes and scars: These lead to present evils, and a cup, If fortune grant it, winds description up. High hung at either end, and next the wall, Two ancient mirrors show the forms of all, In all their force;--these aid them in their dress, But with the good, the evils too express, Doubling each look of care, each token of distress. LETTER XIX. THE POOR OF THE BOROUGH. Nam dives qui fieri vult, Et cito vult fieri; sed quae reverentia legum, Quis metus, aut pudor est unquam properantis avari? JUVENAL, Satire xiv. Nocte brevem si forte indulsit cura soporem, Et toto versata thoro jam membra quiescunt, Continuo templum et violati Numinis aras, Et quod praecipuis mentem suboribus urget, Te videt in somnis; tua sacra et major imago Humana turbat pavidum, cogitque fateri. JUVENAL, Satire xiii. ------------------------ THE PARISH-CLERK. The Parish-Clerk began his Duties with the late Vicar, a grave and austere Man; one fully orthodox; a Detecter and Opposer of the Wiles of Satan--His opinion of his own Fortitude--The more frail offended by these Professions--His good advice gives further Provocation-- They invent stratagems to overcome his Virtue--His Triumph--He is yet not invulnerable: is assaulted by fear of Want, and Avarice--He gradually yields to the Seduction--He reasons with himself, and is persuaded--He offends, but with Terror; repeats his Offence; grows familiar with Crime: is detected--His Sufferings and Death.