button to main menu  Dr Syntax in Search of the Picturesque, plate 23
button NOTES from DR SYNTAX'S TOUR, 1812
Plate 23 opposite p.180:-

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DOCTOR SYNTAX READING HIS TOUR.
sitting on a settle by the kitchen fire at the Dun Cow.

...
Syntax now felt a strong desire
To smoke his pipe by kitchen fire,
Where many a country neighbour sat;
Nor did he fail to join the chat:
When, having supp'd and drunk his ale,
And silence seeming to prevail,
He slowly from his pocket took
His trav'lling memorandum book;
And, as he turn'd the pages o'er,
Revolving on their curious lore,
Th' exciseman, a right village sage,
(For he could cast accounts and gauge,)
Spoke for the rest - who would be proud
To hear his rev'rence read aloud.
He bow'd assent, and straight began
...

...
But, as he read, tho' full of grace,
Tho' strong expression mark'd his face -
Tho' his feet struck the sounding floor,
And his voice thunder'd thro' the door -
Each hearer as th' infection crept
O'er the numb'd sense, unconscious slept!
One dropp'd his pipe - another snor'd -
His bed of down an oaken board;-
The cobbler yawn'd, then sunk to rest,
His chin reclining on his breast.
All slept at length but Tom and Sue,
For they had something else to do.
Syntax heard nought: th' enraptur'd elf
Saw and heard nothing but himself:
...
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