FROM his brimstone bed at break of day A walking the Devil is gone, To visit his little snug farm the earth And see how his stock goes on. Over the hill and over the dale, And he went over the plain, And backward and forward he switched his long tail As a gentleman switches his cane. And how then was the Devil dressed? Oh! he was in his Sunday's best: His jacket was red and his breeches were blue, And there was a hole where the tail came through. He saw a Lawyer killing a Viper On a dunghill hard by his own stable; And the Devil smiled, for it put him in mind Of Cain and his brother, Abel. He saw an Apothecary on a white horse Ride by on his vocations, And the Devil thought of his old Friend Death in the Revelations. He saw a cottage with a double coach-house, A cottage of gentility! And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin Is pride that apes humility. He peeped into a rich bookseller's shop, Quoth he! we are both of one college, For I sate myself like a cormorant once Hard by the tree of knowledge. Down the river did glide, with wind and tide, A pig, with vast celerity, And the Devil looked wise as he saw how the while, It cut its own throat. 'There!' quoth he with a smile, 'Goes "England's commercial prosperity." ' As he went through Cold-Bath Fields he saw A solitary cell; And the Devil was pleased, for it gave him a hint For improving his prisons in Hell. General -- --'s burning face He saw with consternation, And back to hell his way did he take, For the Devil thought by a slight mistake It was general conflagration. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HELTER SKELTER; OR, THE HUE AND CRY AFTER THE ATTORNEYS by JONATHAN SWIFT THE LONELY STREET by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS TO THE VERS LIBRIST WHO USES ONLY THE MINOR KEY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 5. ALLAH-AL-KUDDUS by EDWIN ARNOLD PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 76. YA WALI by EDWIN ARNOLD THE BEACHCOMBER by MILDRED DOSCH BANTA |