Explore "Description of an Author's Bedchamber" by Oliver Goldsmith on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
WHERE the Red Lion flaring o'er the way, / Invites each passing stranger that can pay; / Where Calvert's butt, and Parsons' black champagne, / Regale the drabs and bloods of Drury-lane; / There in a lonely room, from bailiffs snug, / The Muse found Scroggen stretch'd beneath a rug; / A window, patch'd with paper, lent a ray, / That dimly show'd the state in which he lay; / The sanded floor that grits beneath the tread; / The humid wall with paltry pictures spread: / The royal game of goose was there in view, / And the twelve rules the royal martyr drew; / The seasons, fram'd with listing, found a place, / And brave prince William show'd his lamp-black face: / The morn was cold, he views with keen desire / The rusty grate unconscious of a fire; / With beer and milk arrears the frieze was scor'd, / And five crack'd teacups dress'd the chimney board; / A nightcap deck'd his brows instead of bay, / A cap by night-a stocking all the day!