Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Sanitation, Agriculture

    Written from the perspective of Father Thames, who begins by pondering the benefits of clearing his 'tide' of 'feculence' or conveying his 'outfall [...] to the disinfecting main'. Ridicules such towns as Barnes and Mortlake, whose 'fertilising filth' he has to carry, and Windsor, whose 'sordes' has made him 'Infectious'. Goes on to ponder his future, including his 'current' that will become 'heavy, thick, and slab' and be diverted 'to agricultural affairs'. Concludes by asking that he be no longer corrupted with 'base alloy', which he hopes will be spread 'o'er the field'.