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Mary Darby Robinson - January, 1795.
Work rating: Low

  PAVEMENT slipp`ry, people sneezing,
  Lords in ermine, beggars freezing ;
  Titled gluttons dainties carving,
  Genius in a garret starving.

  Lofty mansions, warm and spacious ;
  Courtiers clinging and voracious ;
  Misers scarce the wretched heeding ;
  Gallant soldiers fighting, bleeding.

  Wives who laugh at passive spouses ;
 Theatres, and meeting-houses ;
 Balls, where simp`ring misses languish ;
 Hospitals, and groans of anguish.

 Arts and sciences bewailing ;
 Commerce drooping, credit failing ;
 Placemen mocking subjects loyal ;
 Separations, weddings royal.

 Authors who can`t earn a dinner ;
 Many a subtle rogue a winner ;
 Fugitives for shelter seeking ;
 Misers hoarding, tradesmen breaking.

 Taste and talents quite deserted ;
 All the laws of truth perverted ;
 Arrogance o`er merit soaring ;
 Merit silently deploring.

 Ladies gambling night and morning ;
 Fools the works of genius scorning ;
 Ancient dames for girls mistaken,
 Youthful damsels quite forsaken.

 Some in luxury delughting ;
 More in talking than in fighting ;
 Lovers old, and beaux decrepid ;
 Lordlings empty and insipid.

 Poets, painters, and musicians ;
 Lawyers, doctors, politicians :
 Pamphlets, newspapers, and odes,
 Seeking fame by diff`rent roads.

 Gallant souls with empty purses ;
 Gen`rals only fit for nurses ;
 School-boys, smit with martial spirit,
 Taking place of vet`ran merit.

 Honest men who can`t get places,
 Knaves who shew unblushing faces ;
 Ruin hasten`d, peace retarded ;
 Candour spurn`d, and art rewarded.
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