The Porter sits down on the weight which he bore; The Lass with her barrow wheels hither her store;-- If a thief could be here he might pilfer at ease; She sees the Musician, 'tis all that she sees! He stands, backed by the wall; he abates not his din; His hat gives him vigour, with boons dropping in, From the old and the young, from the poorest; and there! The one-pennied Boy has his penny to spare. O blest are the hearers, and proud be the hand Of the pleasure it spreads through so thankful a band; I am glad for him, blind as he is!--all the while If they speak 'tis to praise, and they praise with a smile. That tall Man, a giant in bulk and in height, Not an inch of his body is free from delight; Can he keep himself still, if he would? oh, not he! The music stirs in him like wind through a tree. Mark that Cripple who leans on his crutch; like a tower That long has leaned forward, leans hour after hour!-- That Mother, whose spirit in fetters is bound, While she dandles the Babe in her arms to the sound. Now, coaches and chariots! roar on like a stream; Here are twenty souls happy as souls in a dream: They are deaf to your murmurs--they care not for you, Nor what ye are flying, nor what ye pursue! What is this but a glorified version of a portion of Epigram 38? Here it is:-- "As doth the Ballad-singer's auditory, Which hath at Temple-barre his standing chose, And to the vulgar sings an Ale-house story: First stands a Porter: then, an Oyster-wife Doth stint her cry, and stay her steps to heare him; Then comes a Cut-purse ready with a knife, And then a Countrey-clyent passeth neare him; There stands the Constable, there stands the whore, And, listening to the Song, heed not each other; There by the Serjeant stands the debitor, And doth no more mistrust him than his brother: Thus Orpheus to such hearers giveth musick And Philo to such patients giveth physic." Any charge of plagiarism were an outrage on Genius: but the coincidence is remarkable. It is just possible that the later Poet may have found the 'Epigrams' in his bookish friend SOUTHEY'S library, and that the rough lines lingered semi-unconsciously in his memory. The earlier is to the later, as a photograph of the actual coarse street-group to the idealizations of the Artist: nevertheless it has its own interest and value, neither are the Characters ill-chosen, nor without humour. But on the other hand Davies, in his 47th Epigram, was no doubt influenced by a remembrance of Sidney's 30th Stella sonnet. The likeness as to the countries mentioned is remarkable.[52] [Footnote 52: See my edition of Sidney, Vol. I.]