The Borough. Letter Xxiv: Schools Poem Rhyme Scheme

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To every class we have a School assign'd	A
Rules for all ranks and food for every mind	A
Yet one there is that small regard to rule	B
Or study pays and still is deem'd a School	B
That where a deaf poor patient widow sits	C
And awes some thirty infants as she knits	C
Infants of humble busy wives who pay	D
Some trifling price for freedom through the day	D
At this good matron's hut the children meet	E
Who thus becomes the mother of the street	E
Her room is small they cannot widely stray	D
Her threshold high they cannot run away	D
Though deaf she sees the rebel heroes shout	F
Though lame her white rod nimbly walks about	F
With band of yarn she keeps offenders in	G
And to her gown the sturdiest rogue can pin	G
Aided by these and spells and tell tale birds	H
Her power they dread and reverence her words	H
To Learning's second seats we now proceed	I
Where humming students gilded primers read	J
Or books with letters large and pictures gay	D
To make their reading but a kind of play	D
'Reading made easy ' so the titles tell	K
But they who read must first begin to spell	K
There may be profit in these arts but still	L
Learning is labour call it what you will	L
Upon the youthful mind a heavy load	M
Nor must we hope to find the royal road	M
Some will their easy steps to science show	N
And some to heav'n itself their by way know	N
Ah trust them not who fame or bliss would share	O
Must learn by labour and must live by care	O
Another matron of superior kind	A
For higher schools prepares the rising mind	A
Preparatory she her Learning calls	P
The step first made to colleges and halls	P
She early sees to what the mind will grow	N
Nor abler judge of infant powers I know	N
She sees what soon the lively will impede	I
And how the steadier will in turn succeed	I
Observes the dawn of wisdom fancy taste	Q
And knows what parts will wear and what will	L
	-
waste	Q
She marks the mind too lively and at once	R
Sees the gay coxcomb and the rattling dunce	R
Long has she lived and much she loves to trace	R
Her former pupils now a lordly race	R
Whom when she sees rich robes and furs bedeck	S
She marks the pride which once she strove to check	S
A Burgess comes and she remembers well	K
How hard her task to make his worship spell	K
Cold selfish dull inanimate unkind	A
'Twas but by anger he display'd a mind	A
Now civil smiling complaisant and gay	D
The world has worn th' unsocial crust away	D
That sullen spirit now a softness wears	R
And save by fits e'en dulness disappears	R
But still the matron can the man behold	T
Dull selfish hard inanimate and cold	T
A Merchant passes 'Probity and truth	U
Prudence and patience mark'd thee from thy youth '	-
Thus she observes but oft retains her fears	R
For him who now with name unstain'd appears	R
Nor hope relinquishes for one who yet	V
Is lost in error and involved in debt	V
For latent evil in that heart she found	W
More open here but here the core was sound	W
Various our Day Schools here behold we one	X
Empty and still the morning duties done	X
Soil'd tatter'd worn and thrown in various	R
	-
heaps	R
Appear their books and there confusion sleeps	R
The workmen all are from the Babel fled	J
And lost their tools till the return they dread	J
Meantime the master with his wig awry	Y
Prepares his books for business by and by	Y
Now all th' insignia of the monarch laid	Z
Beside him rest and none stand by afraid	Z
He while his troop light hearted leap and play	D
Is all intent on duties of the day	D
No more the tyrant stern or judge severe	A2
He feels the father's and the husband's fear	A2
Ah little think the timid trembling crowd	B2
That one so wise so powerful and so proud	B2
Should feel himself and dread the humble ills	R
Of rent day charges and of coalman's bills	R
That while they mercy from their judge implore	C2
He fears himself a knocking at the door	C2
And feels the burthen as his neighbour states	R
His humble portion to the parish rates	R
They sit th' alloted hours then eager run	X
Rushing to pleasure when the duty's done	X
His hour of leisure is of different kind	A
Then cares domestic rush upon his mind	A
And half the ease and comfort he enjoys	R
Is when surrounded by slates books and boys	R
Poor Reuben Dixon has the noisiest school	B
Of ragged lads who ever bow'd to rule	B
Low in his price the men who heave our coals	R
And clean our causeways send him boys in shoals	R
To see poor Reuben with his fry beside	D2
Their half check'd rudeness and his half scorn'd	E2
	-
pride	D2
Their room the sty in which th' assembly meet	E
In the close lane behind the Northgate street	E
T'observe his vain attempts to keep the peace	R
Till tolls the bell and strife and troubles cease	R
	-
	-
Calls for our praise his labour praise deserves	R
But not our pity Reuben has no nerves	R
'Mid noise and dirt and stench and play and	F2
	-
prate	F2
He calmly cuts the pen or views the slate	F2
But Leonard yes for Leonard's fate I grieve	G2
Who loaths the station which he dares not leave	G2
He cannot dig he will not beg his bread	F2
All his dependence rests upon his head	F2
And deeply skill'd in sciences and arts	R
On vulgar lads he wastes superior parts	R
Alas what grief that feeling mind sustains	R
In guiding hands and stirring torpid brains	R
He whose proud mind from pole to pole will move	H2
And view the wonders of the worlds above	I2
Who thinks and reasons strongly hard his fate	F2
Confined for ever to the pen and slate	F2
True he submits and when the long dull day	F2
Has slowly pass'd in weary tasks away	F2
To other worlds with cheerful view he looks	R
And parts the night between repose and books	R
Amid his labours he has sometimes tried	F2
To turn a little from his cares aside	F2
Pope Milton Dryden with delight has seized	F2
His soul engaged and of his trouble eased	F2
When with a heavy eye and ill done sum	J2
No part conceived a stupid boy will come	J2
Then Leonard first subdues the rising frown	K2
And bids the blockhead lay his blunders down	K2
O'er which disgusted he will turn his eye	Y
To his sad duty his sound mind apply	Y
And vex'd in spirit throw his pleasures by	Y
Turn we to Schools which more than these afford	F2
	-
	-
The sound instruction and the wholesome board	F2
And first our School for Ladies pity calls	R
For one soft sigh when we behold these walls	R
Placed near the town and where from window high	Y
The fair confined may our free crowds espy	L2
With many a stranger gazing up and down	K2
And all the envied tumult of the town	K2
May in the smiling summer eve when they	F2
Are sent to sleep the pleasant hours away	F2
Behold the poor whom they conceive the bless'd	F2
Employ'd for hours and grieved they cannot rest	F2
Here the fond girl whose days are sad and few	M2
Since dear mamma pronounced the last adieu	M2
Looks to the road and fondly thinks she hears	R
The carriage wheels and struggles with her tears	R
All yet is new the misses great and small	N2
Madam herself and teachers odious all	N2
From laughter pity nay command she turns	R
But melts in softness or with anger burns	R
Nauseates her food and wonders who can sleep	O2
On such mean beds where she can only weep	O2
She scorns condolence but to all she hates	R
Slowly at length her mind accommodates	R
Then looks on bondage with the same concern	P2
As others felt and finds that she must learn	P2
As others learn'd the common lot to share	O
To search for comfort and submit to care	O
There are 'tis said who on these seats attend	F2
And to these ductile minds destruction vend	F2
Wretches to virtue peace and nature foes	R
To these soft minds their wicked trash expose	R
Seize on the soul ere passions take the sway	F2
And lead the heart ere yet it feels astray	F2
Smugglers obscene and can there be who take	Q2
Infernal pains the sleeping vice to wake	Q2
Can there be those by whom the thought defiled	F2
Enters the spotless bosom of a child	F2
By whom the ill is to the heart conveyed	F2
Who lend the foe not yet in arms their aid	F2
And sap the city walls before the siege be laid	F2
Oh rather skulking in the by ways steal	R2
And rob the poorest traveller of his meal	R2
Burst through the humblest trader's bolted door	C2
Bear from the widow's hut her winter s	R

George Crabbe

The Borough. Letter Xxiv: Schools Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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