 | Original Poems and Translations |  |
131
The STAGE-COACH.
To pay my duty to sweet Mrs. Page,A place was taken in the Stamford stage.
Our coachman Dick, the shades of night to shun,
Had yok'd his horses long before the sun:
Disturb'd I start; and drowsy all the while,
Rise to be jolted many a weary mile;
On both sides squeez'd, how highly was I bless'd!
Between two plump old women to be press'd!
A corporal fierce, a nurse and child that cried,
And a fat landlord fill'd the other side.
Scarce dawns the morning, ere the cumberous load
Rolls roughly-rumbling o'er the rugged road.
One old wife coughs, and wheezes in my ears,
Loud scolds the other, and the corporal swears;
Sour, unconcocted breath escapes my host,
The squawling child returns his milk and toast:
Ye Gods! if such the pleasures of the stage,
I chuse to walk and visit Mrs. Page.
| Original Poems and Translations | |