Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Pollution, Sanitation, Public Health, Disease

    Opens by asking why, despite the sewerage system under London, 'millions of money' is still being spent on sending 'our dregs to the Brine'. Questions whether such locations as Hampton and Twickenham can supply pure water to the Metropolis: to 'afford the Thames prettier / Tributaries of unspeakable mud / Than those which now by the turtle-fed City are / Rendered'. Concludes by urging 'Father Thames' to 'Pour, from [...] an elegant urn / Water of crystalline diaphaneity' and to derive all his water from rural sources.