She frequent look'd behind, and chang'd her hue,
While fancy tipt the candle's flame with blue.
And now they gain'd the winding stairs' afcent,
And to the lonefome room of terrors went.
When all was ready, fwift retir'd the maid,

The watch-lights burn, tuck'd warm in bed was laid
The hardy stranger, and attends the sprite
Till his accuftom'd walk at dead of night.

At first he hears the wind with hollow roar
Shake the loofe lock, and fwing the creaking door;
Nearer and nearer draws the dreadful found
Of rattling chains, that dragg'd upon the ground:
When to, the spectre came with horrid ftride,
Approach'd the bed, and drew the curtains widel
In human form the ghaftful phantom stood,
Expos'd his mangled bosom dy'd with blood.
Then, filent pointing to his wounded breaft,
Thrice wav'd his hand. Beneath the frighted gueft
The bsd-cords trembled, and with fhuddering fear,
Sweat chill'd his limbs, high rofe his briftled hair;
Then muttering hafty prayers, he mann'd his heart,
And cry'd aloud; Say, whence and who thou art?
The stalking ghoft with hollow voice replies,
Three years are counted fince with mortal eyes
I faw the fun, and vital air respir'd.
Like thee benighted, and with travel tir'd,
Within these walls I flept. O thirst of gain!
See, till the planks the bloody mark retain.
Stretch'd on this very bed, from fleep I start,
And fee the steel impending o'er my heart;
The barbarous hoftefs held the lifted knife,
The floor ran purple with my gushing life.
My treasure now they feize, the golden spoil
They bury deep beneath the grafs-grown foil,
Far in the common field. Be bold, arife,
My steps fhall lead thee to the fecret prize;
There dig and find; let that thy care reward:
Call loud on juftice, bid her not retard
To punish murder; lay my ghost at rest:
So fhall with peace fecure thy nights be bleft;
And, when beneath these boards my bones are found,
Decent inter them in fome facred ground.
Here ceas'd the ghoft. The ftranger fprings from

bed,

And boldly follows where the phantom led: The half-worn ftony ftairs they now defcend, Where paffages obfcure their arches bend. Silent they walk; and now through groves they pafs, Now through wet meads their steps imprint the grafs. At length amidst a spacious field they came: There stops the spectre, and afcends in flame. Amaz'd he flood, no bush or brier was found, To teach his morning search to find the ground. What could he do? the night was hideous dark, Fear fhook his joints, and nature dropt the mark: With that he starting wak'd, and rais'd his head, But found the golden mark was left in bed.

What is the ftatesman's vast ambitious scheme, But a fhort vision and a golden dream? Power, wealth, and title, elevate his hope; He wakes: but for a garter, finds a rope,

VOL. VIIS

THE MAD-DOG.

A TALE.

A PRUDE, at morn and evening prayer,
Had worn her velvet-cushion bare;
Upward the taught her eyes to roll,
As if the watch'd her foaring foul;
And, when devotion warm'd the crowd,
None fung, or fmote their breaft fo loud:
Pale Penitence had mark'd her face

With all the meagre figns of grace.
Her mafs-book was compleatly lin'd
With painted Saints of various kind:
But, when in every page the view'd

Fine Ladies who the flesh subdu'd,
As quick her beads the counted o'er,
She cry'd Such wonders are no more!
She chofe not to delay confeffion,
To bear at once a year's tranfgreffion;
But every week fet all things even,
And balanc'd her accounts with Heaven.

Behold her now in humble guife, Upon her knees with down-caft eyes Before the Priest: fhe thus begins, And, fobbing, blubbers-forth her fins : "Who could that tempting man refift; "My virtue languish'd, as he kiss'd; "Iftrove-till I could ftrive no longer : "How can the weak fubdue the stronger?"

The Father afk'd her where and when?
How many? and what fort of men?
By what degrees her blood was heated?
How oft' the frailty was repeated?
Thus have I feen a pregnant wench
All flush'd with guilt before the bench:
The Judges (wak'd by wanton thought)

Dive to the bottom of her fault;
They leer, they fimper at her fhame,
And make her call all things by name.

And now to fentence he proceeds,
Prefcribes how oft' to tell her beads;
Shews her what Saints could do her good,

Doubles her fafts, to cool her blood.
Eas'd of her fins, and light as air,
Away the trips, perhaps to prayer.
'Twas no fuch thing. Why then this hafte?
The clock has ftruck, the hour is past;
And, on the fpur of inclinon,
She fcorn'd to bilk her affignation.

Whate'er the did, next week the came,
And piously confeft the fare.
The Priest, who female frailties pity'd,
First chid her, then her fins remitted.

But did the now her crime bemoan
In penitenti I fheets alone?

And was no bold, no beattly-fellow
The nightly partner of her pillow?
No, none: for next time in the grove
A bank was confcious of her love.
34

Confeffion-day was come about,

And now again it all muft out.

She feems to wipe her twinkling eyes:
"What now, my child?" the Father cries.
"Again!" fays fhe.-With threatening looks,
He thus the proftrate dame rebukes :

"Madam, I grant there 's fomething in it,
"That virtue has th' unguarded minute;
"But pray now tell me what are whores,
"But women of unguarded hours?
"Then you must fure have loft all shames
"What! every day, and fill the fame,
"And no fault elfe! 'tis ftrange to find
"A woman to one fin cenfin'd!

"Pride is this day her darling paffion,
"The next day Slander is in fashion;
"Gaming fucceeds; if Fortune croffes,
"Then Virtue's mortgag'd for her loffes;
And loves new follies, like new cloathes:
"By ufe her favourite vice he loaths,

But you, beyond all thought unchaste,
Have all fin center'd near your waist!
"Whence is this appetite fo ftrong?
"Say, Madam, did your mother long?
Or is it luxury and high diet
"That won't let virtue fleep in quiet?"
She tells him now, with meekeit voice,
That the had never err'd by choice;
Nor was there known a virgin chafter,
Till ruin'd by a faid difalter.

That the a favourite lap-dog had,
Which (as the ftroak'd and kifs'd) grew mad;
And on her lip a wound indenting,
First fet her youthful blood fermenting.

The Prieft reply'd, with zealous fury,

"You should have fought the means to cure ye.
"Doctors by various ways, we find,
"Treat these diftempers of the mind.

"Let gaudy ribbends be deny'd
"To her who raves with fcornful pride;
"And, if religion crack her notions,
"Lock up her volumes of devotions;
But, if for man her rage prevail,
Bar her the fight of creatures male.
"Or elfe, to cure fuch venom❜d bites,
"And fet the fhatter'd thoughts arights;
"They fend you to the ocean's thore,
"And plunge the patient o'er and o'er."
The dame reply'd,'" Alas! in vain
My kindred forc'd me to the main;
"Naked, and in the face of day:
"Look not, ye fishermen, this way!
"What virgin had not done as I did?
"My modeft hand, by nature guided,
"Debarr'd at once from human eyes
"The feat where female honour lies;
"And, though thrice dipt from top to toe,
"I till fecur'd the pot below,
"And guarded it with grasp so fast
"Not one drop through my fingers past.
Thus owe 1 to my buthful care,
"That all the rage is fettled there."

Weigh well the projects of mankind;
Then tell me, Reader, canft thou find
The man from madness wholly free?
They all are mad-fave you and me,

Do not the ftatefman, fop, and wit,
By daily feliies prove they're bit?
And, when the briny cure they try'd,
Some part till kept above the tide?

Some men (when drench'd beneath the wave)
High o'er their heads their fingers fave:
Thofe hands by mean extortion thrive,
Or in the pocket lightly dive:
Or, more expert in pilfering vice,
They burn and itch to cog the dice.

Plunge-in a courtier; ftrait his fears
Direct his hands to ftop his ears.
And now truth feems a grating noise,
He loves the fanderer's whispering voice;
He hangs on flattery with delight,
And thinks all fulfome praife is right.
All women dread a watery death:
They fhut their lips, to hold their breath;
And, though you duck them ne'er fo long,
Not one falt drop e'er wets their tongue:
'Tis hence they fcandal have at will,
And that this member ne'er lies till.

THE QUIDNUNKI's:

A TALE.

OCCASIONED

By the Death of the DUKE REGENT OF FRANCE

HOW vain are mortal man's endeavours?

(faid, at dame Elliot's, mafter Travers)
Good Orleans dead in truth 'tis hard:
Oh, may all flatesmen die prepar'd!
I do foresee (and for fore-feeing
He equals any man in being)

The army ne'er can be disbanded.
-I with the King were fafely landed.
Ah, friends! great changes threat the land;
All France and England at a stand ]
There's Meroweis-mark! ftrange work!
And there's the Czar, and there's the Turk;
The Pope-An India Merchant by,
Cut short the fpeech with this reply:

10

"All at a stand? You fee great changes? 15 "Ah, Sir 1 you never faw the Ganges. "There dwell the nations of Quidnunki's "(So Monomotapa calls monkies):

On their bank, from bough to bough, "They meet and chat (as we may now). "Whispers go round, they grin, they fhrug, They bow, they fnarl, they fcratch, they bug, And just as chance or whim provoke them, They either bite their friends, or stroke then,

A coffee-house near St. Jamu's

"There have I feen fome active prig, "To fhew his parts, beftride a twig: "Lord! how the chattering tribe admire, "Not that he 's wifer, but he's higher : "All long to try the venturous, thing "(For power is but to have one's swing); "From fide to fide he fprings, he fpurns, "And bangs his foes and friends by turns. "Thus, as in giddy freaks he bounces, "Crack goes the twig, and in he flounces! "Down the swift ftream the wretch is borne; "Never, ah never, to return!

"Zounds! what a fall had our dear brother; "Morbleu! cries one; and Damme

t'other.

The nations give a general fcreech; "None cocks his tail none claws his breech; "Each trembles for the public weal, "And for a while forgets to steal.

"A while, all eyes, intent and fteddy, "Purfue him, whirling down the eddy. "But, out of mind when out of view, "Some other mounts the twig anew; "And bufinefs, on each monkey-shore, "Runs the fame track it went before."

FABLES.

For man is practis'd in disguise,

He cheats the most difcerning eyes: Who by that fearch shall wifer grow, When we ourselves can never know? The little knowledge I have gain'd, Was all from fimple Nature drain'd; Hence my life's maxims took their rife, Hence grew my fettled hate to vice.

IN TWO PARTS.

"Shall not my Fables cenfure vice,
"Because a knave is over-nice?—
"If I lah vice in general fiction,
"Is 't I apply, or felf-conviction?
"Brutes are my theme. Am I to blame,
"if men in morals are the fame?

"I no man call or ape or afs;

"'Tis his own confcience holds the glass.
"Thus void of all offence I write :
"Who claims the Fable, knows his right."

PROL. TO SHEP. WEEK.

INTRODUCTION TO THE FABLES.

PART THE FIRST.

THE SHEPHERD AND THE PHILOSOPHER.

REMOTE from cities liv'd a Swain,

Unvex'd with all the cares of gain; His head was filver'd o'er with age, And long experience made him fage;

The daily labours of the bee
Awake my foul to indultry:
Who can obferve the careful ant,
And not provide for future want?
My dog (the truftieft of his kind)
With gratitude inflames my mind:
I mark his true, his faithful way,
And in my fervice copy Tray.
In conftancy and nuptial love,
I learn my duty from the dove..
The hen, who from the chilly air,
With pious wing, protects her care,
And every fowl that flies at large,
Inftructs me in a parent's charge.
From Nature, too, I take my rule
To fhun contempt and ridicule.
I never, with important air,
In converfation overbear.
Can.grave and formal pafs for wife,
When men the folemn owl defpife?
My tongue within my lips I rein;
For who talks much muft talk in vain
We from the wordy torrent fly:
Who liftens to the chattering pye?
Nor would I, with felonious flight,
By stealth invade my neighbour's right.
Rapacious animals we hate:

Kites, hawks, and wolves, deserve their fate.
Do not we just abhorrence find
Against the toad and ferpent-kind?

But Envy, Calumny, and Spite,
Bear Aronger venom in their bite.

312

ACCEPT, young Prince! the moral lay,

And in thefe TALES mankind furvey; With early virtues plant your breast, The fpecious arts of vice deteft.

Princes, like beauties, from their youth
Are strangers to the voice of Truth.
Learn to contémn all praife betimes,
For flattery 's the nurfe of crimes:
Friendship by fweet reproof is shown
(A virtue never near a throne) :
In courts fuch freedom muit offend;
There none prefumes to be a friend.
To thofe of your exalted station,
Each courtier is a dedication.
Muft I, too, fiatter like the reft,
And turn my morals to a jest?

The Mufe difdains to fteal from thofe
Who thrive in courts by fulfome profe.

But shall I hide your real praife,

Or tell you what a nation fays?
They in your infant bofom trace
The virtues of your royal race;
In the fair dawning of your mind,
Difcern you generous, mild, and kind:
They fee you grieve to hear diftrefs,
And pant al.eady to redrefs.
Go on, the height of good attain,
Nor let a nation hope in vain:
For hence we justly may prefage
The virtues of a riper age.
True courage hall your bofom fire.
And future actions own your fire.
Cowards are cruel; but the brave
Love mercy, and delight to fave.

A Tyger, roaming for his prey,
Sprung on a Traveller in the way,
The proftrate game a Lion fpies,
And on the greedy tyrant flies:

With mingied roar refounds the wood,

"Bears, wolves, and all the favage brood, "Have dy'd the regal den with blood. "Thefe carcaffes on either hand,

"Thofe bones that whiten all the land, "My former deeds and triumphs tell, "Beneath thefe jaws what numbers fell."

45

True," fays the Man, "the ftrength I saw "Might well the brutal nation awe i "But fhall a monarch, brave, like you, "Place glory in fo false a view? "Robbers invade their neighbour's right. "Be lov'd; let juttice bound your might. "Mean are ambitious heroes' boasts "Of wafted lands and flaughter'd hofts. "Pirates their power by murders gain;

50

35

60

"Wife kings by love and mercy reign.

5

"To me your clemency hath fhown "The virtue worthy of a throne,

"Heaven gives you power above the reft, "Like Heaven, to fuccour the diftreft."

"The cafe is plain," the monarch faid; "Falfe glory hath my youth mifled; "For beafts of prey, a fervile train,

"Have been the flatterers of my reign.

"You reafon well. Yet tell me, friend, "Did ever you in courts attend?

For all my fawning rogues agree. "That human heroes rule like me."

FABLE II.

THE SPANIEL AND THE CAMELEON.

Their teeth, their claws, diftil with blood;

40 Was fcarce distinguish'd from the green.

5 Dear emblem of the flattering host! What, live with clowns! a genius loft, "To cities and the court repairz "A fortune cannot fail thee there: "Preferments fhall thy talents crown; "Believe me, Friend; I know the Town." "Sir," fays the Sycophant, "like you, "Of old, politer life I knew. "Like you, a courtier born and bred, "Kings lean'd their ear to what I said. "My whisper always met fuccefs; "The ladies prais'd me for address. "I knew to hit each courtier's paffion, "And flattered every vice in fashion. "But Jove, who hates the liar's ways, "At once cut short my profperous days, "And, fenteric'd to retain my nature, "Transform'd me to this crawling creature. "Doom'd to a life obfcure and mean, "I wander in the fylvan fcene: "For Jove the heart alone regards; "He punishes what man rewards. "How different is thy cafe and mine! "With men at least you fup and dine; "While I, condemn'd to thinnest fare, "Like those I flatter'd, feed on air.”

FABLE III.

"Ungrateful creatures! whence arife These murmurs which offend the skies? Why this diforder? fay the cause; For just are Jove's eternal laws.

15

GIVE me a fon. The bieffing fent,
Were ever parents more content?
How partial are their doting eyes!
No child is half fo fair and wife.

Wak'd to the morning's pleafing care,
The mother rose, and fought her heir.
She faw the Nurfe like one poffeft,
With wringing hands and fobbing breast.
"Sure fome difafter has befell!

"Speak, Nurfe; I hope the boy is well."
"Dear Madam, think not me to blame ;

Invifibly the Fairy came:

Your precious babe is hence convey 'd,
And in the place a changeling laid.
Where are the father's mouth and nofe?
The mother's eyes, as black as floes?
See, here, a fhocking aukward creature,
That fpeaks a fool in every festure !"

"The woman's blind, the mother cries; I fee wit fparkle in his eyes."

"Lord! Madam, what a squinting leer! No doubt the fairy hath been here." Juft as the fpoke, a pigmy sprite Pops through the key-hole fwift as light; Perch'd on the cradle's top he ftands, And thus her folly reprimands.

"Whence fprung the vain conceited lye, That we the world with fools fupply? What give our sprightly race away For the dull helpless fons of clay! Befides, by partial fondness shown, Like you, we doat upon our own

To yon' four Dog I first appeal."

"Hard is my lot, the Hound replies; On what fleet nerves the Greyhound flies! While I, with weary step and flow, O'er plains, and vales, and mountains, go. The morning fees my chace begun, Nor ends it till the fetting fun."

<<When (fays the Greyhound) I pursue, My game is loft, or caught in view; Beyond my fight the prey's fecure; The Hound is flow, but always fure; And, had I his fagacious fcent,

The Lion crav'd the Fox's art;

20

25

39

Jove ne'er had heard my difcontent.”

The Fox the Lion's force and heart:
The Cock implor'd the Pigeon's flight,"

15

Whofe wings were rapid, ftrong, and light: The Pigeon ftrength of wing defpis'd,

35

And the Cock's matchlefs valour priz'd

The fishes with'd to graze the plain;

20

The Beasts, to skim beneath the main.

Thus, envious of another's ftate,
Each biam'd the partial hand of Fate.

The bird of Heaven then cry'd aloud: "Jove bias difperfe the murmuring crowd; The God rejects your idle prayers,

rebellious Mutineers!

40

25

Would ye,

Entirely change your name and nature,

45

And be the very envy'd creature?

What! filent all, and none confent?

გი

Be happy, then, and learn content; Nor imitate the restlefs mind,

And proud ambition, of mankind.”