FABLŁ XXIX.

And took his leave with signs or sorrow,

His invocation thus began: Despairing of his fee to-morrow.

Parent of light, all-seeing Sun! When thus the Man, with gasping breath; Prolific beam, whose rays dispense I feel the chilling wound of death.

The various gifts of Providence ? Since I must bid the world adieu,

Accept our praise, our daily pray'r, Let me my former life review.

Smile on our fields, and bless the year! I grant my bargains well were made,

A Cloud, who mock'd his grateful tongrie, But all men over-reach in trade;

The day with sudden darkness hung; 'Tis self-defence in cach profession :

With pride and envy swell'd aloud, Sure self-defence is no transgression.

A voice thus thunder'd froin the Cloud: The little portiou in my hands,

Weak is this gaudy god of thine, By good security on lands,

Wlvom I at will forbid to shine. Is well increas d. If, unawares,

Shall I nor vows por incense know! My justice to myself and heits

Where praise is due, the praise bestow. Hath let my debtor rot in jail,

With fervent zeal the Persian movid, For want of good. suílicient bail ;

Thus the proud calumny reprov'd: li I by writ, or bond or deed,

It was that god, who claims my pray’r, Reducid a family to need,

Who gave thee birth, and rais'd thee there; My will hath made the world amends;

When o'er his beams the veil is thrown, My hope on charity depends.

Thy substance is but plainer shown. When I am uumber d with the dead,

A pissing sale, a puti'of wind,
And all my pious gifts are read,

Dispets :hy thickest troops combin'd.
Bs heren and earılı 'twill then be known, The gale arose; the vapor, tost
Me cvarities were amply shown.

(The sport of winds) in air, was lost.
An Angel rame. Áh friend! he cried, The glorioris orb the day retines;
No more in fatt'ring hope confide.

Thus

enry breaks, thus merit skincs.
Can thy good deeds in former times
Outweigh the balance of thy crimes?
What widow or wliat orphan pray;

$ 119.

The Fox at the point of

Death.
To crown thy life with length of days?
A pious action's in thy pow'r,

A Fox in life's extreme decay,
Embrace with joy the happy hour.

Weak, sick, ane faint, expiring lay; Now, while you draw the vital air,

All appetite Led left his maw, Prove your intention is sizcere.

And age disaroid his muinbling jaw. This instant give a hundred pound:

His nunı'rous race around him stand, Your neighbours want, and you abound. To learn their dying sire's command :

But why such haste : the sick Man whíves; Ile rais'd his head with whining moan, Who knows as yet what licaven designs?

And thus was leard the feeble tone : Perhaps I may recoser still;

Ah, sons! from evil ways depart;
That sum and more are in my will.

My crimes lie heavy on my heart.
Fonl! says the Vision, now 'tis plain, See, see, the inurder'd geese appear!
Your life, your soul, your heaven was gain. Why are those bleeding turkeys there?
Froin ev'ry side, with all your might,

Why all around this cackling train,
You scrap'd, and scrap'd beyond your rigt; Who haunt my ears for chickens slain?
And after death would fain atone,

The hungry Foxes round them stard,
By giving what is not your own.

And for the promis'd feast prepard. While there is life there's hope, he cried; Where, Sir, is all this dainty cheer? Then why such haste? So groan'd and died. Xor turkey, goose, nor hen is here ;

These are the phantoins of your brain, $118. FABLE XXVIII. The Persian, the Sun, 1nd your sons lick their lips in vain. and the Cloud.

Oglutions ! says the drooping sire,

Restrain inordinaie desire ; Is there a bard whom genius fires,

Your liquorish taste you shall deplore,
Whose ev'ry thought the god inspires ? When peace of conscience is no inore.
When envy reads the viervous lines,

Does not the hound betray our pace,
She frets, she rails, she raves, she pines ; And gins and guns destroy our race?
Her hissing snakes with venom swell; Thieves dread the searching eye of pow'r,
She calls her yenal train from hell:

And never feel the quiet hour.
The servile fiends her nod obev,

Old age (which few of us shall know) And all Curl's authors are in par.

Vow puts a period to my woe. Fame calls up calunny and spite;

Would you true happiness attain, Thus shadow owes its birth to light.

Let honesty pour passions rein; As prostrate to the god of day,

So live in credit and estrem, With heart des out, a Persian lay,

and the good naine you lost redeem.

I 4

The

The counsel's good, a Fox replios,

With secret ills at home he pines, Could we perform what you

advise.

And, like infirm oldage, declines. Think what our ancestors have done;

As twing'd with pain he pensive sits; A line of thieves from son to son:

And raves, and prays, and swears by fits; To us descends the long disgrace,

A ghastly phantom, lean and wan, And infamy hath mark'd our race.

Before him rose, and thus began : Though we, like harmless sheep, should feed, My name, perhaps, hath reach'd your ear; Honest in thought, in word, and deed, Attend, and be advis'd by Care. Whatever hen-roost is decreas'd,

Nor love, nor honor, wealth, nor'pow'r, We shall be thought to share the feast.

Can give the heart a cheerful hour The change shall never be believ'd;

When health is lost. Be timely wise : A lost good name is ne'er retriev'd.

With health all taste of pleasure flies. Nay, then, replies the feeble Fox,

Thus said, the phantom disappears ; (But, hark! I hear a hen that clocks !) The wary counsel wak'd his fears ; Go, but be moderate in your food;

He now from all excess abstains ; A chicken too might do ine good.

With physic purifies his veins;

And, to procure a sober life, $ 120. FABLE Xxx. The Setting Dog and Resolves to venture on a wife. the Partridge.

But now again the Sprite ascends : The raging Dog the stubble tries,

Where'er he walks his ear attends; And searches ev'ry breeze that flies;

Insinuates that beauty's frail; The scent grows warm; with cautious fear That perseverance must prevail ; He creeps, and points the covey near;

With jealousies his brain inflames, The men, in silence, far behind,

And whispers all her lovers' names.
Conscious of game, the net unbind.

In other hours she represents
A Partridge, with experience wise, His household charge, his annual rents,
The fraudful preparation spies:

Increasing debts, perplexing duns,
She mocks their toils, alarms her brood ; And nothing for his younger sons.
The covey springs, and seeks the wood; Straight all his thought to gain he turns,
But ere her certain wing she tries,

And with the thirst of fucre burns. Thus to the creeping Spaniel cries :

But, when possess'd of fortune's store, Thou fawning slave io man's deceit, The Spectre haunts him more and more, Thou pimp of lux'ry, sneaking cheat, Sets want and misery in view, Of thy whole species thou disgrace;

Bold thieves, and all the murd'ring crew; Dogs shall disown thee of their race!

Alarms him with eternal frights, For, if I judge their native parts,

Infests his dream, or wakes his nights. They're born with open, honest hearts ;

How shall he chase this hideous guest? And ere they serv'd inan's wicked ends, Pow'r may perhaps protect his rest. Were gen'rous foes, or real friends.

To pow'r he rose : again the Sprite When thus the Dog, with scornful smile! Besets him morning, noon, and night; Secure of wing, thou dar'st revile.

Talks of Anibition's tott'ring seat, Clowns are to polish'd manners blind;

How envy persecutes the great; How ign'rant is the rustic mind!

Of rival hate, of treach'rous friends, My worth sagacious courtiers see,

And what disgrace his fall attends. And to prefermenı rise, like me.

The court he quits, to fly from Care, The thriving pimp, who beauty sets,

And seeks the peace of rural air: Hath oft enhanc'd a nation's debts :

His groves, his fields, amusid his hours ; Friend seis his friend, without regard ; He prun'd his trees, he rais'd bis flow'rs. And minister, his skill reward :

But Care again his steps pursues ; Thus train'd by man, I learnt his ways, Warns him of blasts, or blighting dews, and growing favor fcasts my days.

Of plund'ring insects, snaili, and rains, I might have guess'd, the Partridge said, And droughts that starvd the labor'd plains. The place where you were traind and fed ; Abroad, at home, the Specire's there : Servants are apt, and in a trice,

In vain we seek to fly froin Care. Ape to a hair their master's vice..

At length he thus the Ghost address'd: You came from court, you say? adieu ! Since thou inust be my constant guest, She said, and to the corey flew.

Be kind, and follow me no more ;

For Care by right should go before. § 121.

The Universal Appa-
Tition.

FABLE XXXII. The Two Owls and the
A RAKE, by ev'ry passion rul'd,
With ev'ry ice his youth had coold;

Sportow. Disease his tainted blood assailş ;

Two formal Owls together sat, Ilis spirits droop, his vigor fails:

Conferring thus in solemn chat :

How

FABLE XXXI.

S 122.

How is the modern taste decay'd !

Thus said a snake, with hideous trail,
Where's the respect to wisdom paid ? Proteus extends his scaly mail.
Our worth the Grecian sages knew;

Know, says the man, though proud in place, They gave our sires the honor due;

All courtiers are of reptile race. They weigh'd the dignity of fowls,

Like you, they take that dreadful form, And pried into the depth of Owls.

Bask in the sun, and fly the storm; Athens, the seat of learned fame,

With malice hiss, with envy glote, i With gen'ral voice rever'd our name;

And for convenience change their coat; On merit title was conferr'il,

With new got lustre rear their head, And all ador'd tho Athenian bird.

Though on a dunghill born and bred. Brother, you reason well, replies

Sudden the god a lion stands; The solemn mate, with half-shut eyes :

He shakes his nane, he spurns the sands; Right - Athens was the seat of learning;

Now a fierce lynx, with fiery glare, And truly wisdom is discerning.

A wolf, an ass, a fox, a bear. Besides, on Pallas' helaf we sit,

Had I ne'er lived at court, he cries, The type and ornament of wit;

Such transformation might surprise; But now, alas ! we're quite neglected,

But there, in quest of daily game, And a pert sparrow's more respected !

Each abler courtier acts the same.

Wolves, lions, lynxes, while in place, A sparrow, who was lodg'd beside,

Their friends and fellows are their chace. O'erhears them sooth each other's pride,

They play the bear's and fox's part ; And thus he nimbly vents his heat:

Now rob'by force, now steal with art. Who meets a fool must find conceit.

They sometimes in the senate bray; I grant, you were at Athens gracd :

Or, chang'd again to beasts of prey, And on Minerva's helm were plac'd :

Down from the lion to the ape
But ev'ry bird that wings the sky,

Practise the frauds of ev'ry shape.
Except án Owl, can tell you why.
From hence they taught their schools to know In cords the struggling captive uies.

So said, upon the god he flies;
How false we judge by outward show;

Now, Proteus, now, (to truth compelled) That we should never looks esteem,

Speak, and confess thy art excell'd.
Since fools as wise as you might seem. Use, strength, surprise, or what you will,
Would ye contempt and scorn avoid,

The courtier finds evasions still ;
Let your vainglory be destroy'd :

Not to be bound by any ties,
Huable your arrogance of thought;

And never forc'd to leave his lies.
Pursue the ways by Nature taught :
So shall your delicious fare,
And graieful farmers praise your care;
So shall sleek mice your chace reward,

§ 124. FABLE XXXIV. The Mastiffs. And so keen cat find more regard.

Those who in quarrels interpose,

Must often wipe a bloody, nose. f 123. FABLB XXXIII. The Courtier and

A Mastiff, of true English blood,
Proteus.

Lov'd fighting better than his food.
Waexe'er a courtier's out of place,

When dogs were snarling for a bone,
The country shelters his disgrace;

He long'd to make the war his own;
Where, doom'd to exercise and health, And often found (when two contend)
Hie house and gardens own his wealth, To interpose obtain'd his end :
He builds new schemes, in hope to gain

He glory'd in his limping pace;
The plunder of another reiga;

The scars of honor seam'd his face; Like Philip's son, would fain be doing,

In ev'ry limb a gash appears, And sighs for other realms to ruig..

And freqnent fights retrench'd his ears., As one of these (without his wand)

As on a time he heard from far Pensive, along the winding strand

Two Dogs engag'd in noisy war, Employ'd the solitary hour,

Away he scours, and lays about him, In projects to regain his pow'r,

Resolv'd no fray should be without him The waves in spreading circles ran,

Forth from his yard a tanner flies,
Proteus arose, and thus began :

And to the bold intruder cries :
Came you from court? for in you mien A cudgel shall correct your manners ;
A self-important air is szen.

Whence sprung this cursed hate to tanners ? He frankly own'd his friends had trick'd him, while on my dog you

fent your spite, And how he fell his party's

' victim.

Sirrah! 't is me you dare not bite,
Know, says the god, by matchless skill, To see the battle thus perplex'd,
I change to ev'ry shape at will ;

With equal rage a butcher vex'd,
But yet I'm told, at court you see

Hoarse screaming from the circled crowd : Those whe presume to rival me.

To the curs'd Mastiff cries aloud:

Both

Both IIockley-hole and Mary-bone In musing contemplation warm,
The combats of my Dog have known, His steps misled him to a farm,
Ile ne'er, like bullies coward-hearted, Where, on the ladder's topmost round,
Attacks in public to be parted.

A peasant stood : the hammer's sound
Think 1101, rash fool, to share his fame; Shook the weak barn. Say, friend, what care
Be his the honor or ihe shame.

Calls for thy honest labor there?
Thus said, they swore, and rav'd like thunder; The Clown, with surly voice, replies :
Then draggd their fasten'd Dogs asunder ; Vengeance aloud for justice cries.
While clubs and kicks from ev'ry side

This kite, by daily rapine fed,
Rebounded from the Mastiff's hide.

My hens' annoy, my turkjes' dread, All reeking now with sweat and blood, At length his forfcit life hath paid Awhile the parted warriors stood,

See on the wall his wings display di Then pour'd upon the meddling foc,

Ilere vaild, a terror to his kind, Who, worried, howld and sprawld below! My fowls shall future safety find ; lle rose; and limping from ihe fray,

My vard the thriving pauliry fecd. By both sides manglet, sneak'd away.

Anda

my barn's refuge fat the breed. Friend, says the Sage, the doom is wise,

For public good the murd'rer dies. $ 125. FABLE Xxxv. The Barley Maw and But if these tyrants of the air the Dunghill,

Demand a sentence so severe; How many saucy airs we meet

Think how the glution man devours; From Temple-bar to Aldgate-strect !

What bloody feasts segale his hours ! Proud rogues, who shard the South-sez prey, O, impudence of pow'r and might, And spring like mushrooms in a day! Thus to condemna hawk or kite, They think it mean to condescend

When thou perlaps, carniv'rous sinuer, To know a brother or a friend;

Hadst pullets yesterday for dinner! They blush to hear a mother's name,

Hold! cried the Clown, with passion bcated, And by their pride expose their shaine. Shall kites and men aljke be treated ? As 'cross his yard, at early day,

When Heaven the world with creatures stord, A careful farmer took his way,

Man was ordain'd their sov'reign lord. He stopp d, and, leaning on his fork,'

Thus tyrants boast, the sage replied, Obser'd the flail's incessant work.

Whose murders spring froin power and pride, In thought he measur'd all his store,

Own then this manlike kite is slain His geese, his hogs, he number'd o'er

Thy greates lux'ry to sustain ; In fancy weigli'd the fleece's shorn,

For " Petty rogues submit to fate, And multiplied the next year's corn.

” That great ones may enjoy thcir, state;" A Barley-mow, which stood beside, Thus to its musing master cried ; Say, good Sir, is it or right

§ 127 FABLE XXXVII. The Farmer's Wife To treat me with neglect and slight?

and the Raven. Me, who contribute to your cheer,

Wxy are those tears? why droops your head;
And raise your unirth with ale and beer, Is then your other husband dead:
Why thus insulted, thus disgrac'd,

Or does a worse disgrace betide;
And that vile Dunghill near me plac'd? Hath no one since his death applied ?
Are those poor sweepings of a groom,

Alas!

you

know the cause too well ;
That filtlry sight, that nauseous fume, The salt is spilt, to me it fell.
Meet objects here? Command it hence ; Then to contribute to my loss,
A thing so mean must give offence.

My knife and fork were laid across;
The humble Dunghill thus replied: On Friday too! the day I dread!
Thy master hears, and mocks tliy pride ; Would I were safe at home in bed!
Insult not thus the meek and low;

Last night (t vow to licaven 'tis true) In me thy benefactor know:

Bounce froin the fire a coftin Hew. My warın assistance gave thee birth,

Next post some fatal news shall tell ; Or thou hadst perish'd low in carth ;

God send my Cornish friends be well! But upstarts to support their station,

Unhappy widow, cease thy tears,
Cancel at once all obligation.

Nor feel afiction in thy fears ;
Let not thy stomach be suspended ;

Eat now, and weep when dinner's ended! § 136. FABLE XXXVI. Pythagoras and the And when the butler clears the table, Counttyman.

For thy desert I'll read

my

fable. Pythag'ras rose at carly dawn,

Betwixt her swagging panniers' load By soaring meditation drawn,

A fariner's wife to market rode, To breathe the fragrance of the day,

And jogging on, with thoughtful care, Through flow'ry fields lic took his way Summ'd up the profits of her ware;

• Garth's Dispensary:

W!ica

When starting from her silver dream,

No more solicitous he grew, Thus far and wide was heard her scream: And set their future lives in view; That Raven on yon left-hand oak

He saw that all respect and duty (Curse on his ill-betiding croak!)

Were paid to wealth, to pow'r, and beauty,
Bodes me no good. No more she said,

Once more he cries, Accept my pray'r ;
When poor blind Ball, with stumbling trcad, Make iny lov'd progeny thy care.
Fell prone ; o'erturn'd the panniers lay, Let ine first hope my fav'rite boy,
And her mash'd eggs bestrew'd the way. All fortune's richest gifts enjoy,
She, sprawling in the yellow road,

My next with strong ambitiou fire :
Raifd, swore, and curs d': Thou croaking toad, Máy favor teach him to aspire,
A murrain take thy whoreson throat!

Till he the step of pow'r ascend,
I knew misfortune in the note:

And courtiers to their idol bend! Dame, quoth the Raven, spare your oaths, With ev'ry grace, with er’ry charin, Unclench your fist, and wipe your clothes. My daughter's perfect

features arm, But why on me those curses thrown?

If heaven approve, a Farlier's blest: Goody, the fault was all your own;

Jove siniles, and grants his full request,
For had

you
laid this britile ware

The first, a iniser at the heart,
On Dun, the old sure-footed mare,

Studious of ev'ry griping art,
Throagh all the Ravens of the hundred Heaps hoards on hoards with anxious pain,
With croaking had your tongue out-thunder'd, and all his life devotes to gain.
Sure-footed Dun had kept his legs,

He feels no joy, his cares increase,
And you, good woman, sav'd your eggs.

He neither wakes nor sleeps in peace;

In fancied want (a wretch complete!) $ 128. FABLE XXXVII. The Turkey and the Ant. He starves, and yet he dares not eat. 1x other men we faults can spy,

The next to sudden honors grew : And blame the inoat that dims their eye; The thriving art of courts he knew : Each little speck and blemish find;

He reach'd the height of pow'r and place, To our own stronger errors blind.

Then fell the viction of disgrace.
A Turkey, tir'd of common food,

Beanty with early bloom supplies
Forsook the batn, and sought the wood; His daughter's check, aud points der eyes.
Behind her ran her infant train,

The vain coquette each suit disdains,
Collecting here and there a grain.

And glories in her lover's

paius: Draw near, my birds, the mother cries, With age she fades, each lover flies, This hill delicious fare supplies ;

Conteni’d, forlorn, she pines and dies. Behold, the busy Negro race:

When Jove the Father's grief survey'd, See, millions blacken all the place!

And heard him Heaven and Fate uphraid, Fear not. Like me with freedom cat;

Thus spoke the god: By outward show An Ant is inost delightful ineat.

Men judge of happiness and woe How bless'd, how envied were our life, Shall ignorance of good and ill Could we but 'scape the poult'rer's knife! Dare to direct th: Eternal Will ? But man, cursid man! on Turkey preys,

Seek virtue : and, of that possest,
And Christinas shortens all our days;

To Providence resign the rest.
Sometimes with oysters we coinbine,
Sometimes assist the sav'ry chine.

$ 130.

The Two Monkeys. From the low peasant to the lord,

The learned, full of inward pride, The Turkey smokes on ev'ry board.

The Fops of outward show deride : Sure igen for gluttony are curs'd:

The Fop, with learning at defiance, of the seven deadly sins the worst.

Scoffs at the pedant, and the science : An Ant, who climb'd beyond his reach, The Don, a forinal, solemn strålter, Thus answer'd from the neighb'ring beach : Despises Monsieur's airs and Autter; Ere you remark another's sin,

While Monsieur mocks the formal fool, Bid thy own conscience look within ; Who looks, and speaks, and walks by rule, Control thy more voracious bill,

Britain, a medley of the twain, Not for a breakfast nations kill:

As pert as France, as grave as Spain,

In fancy wiser than the rest,
$ 129. FABLE XXXIX. The Father and Jupiter. Laughs at them both, of both the jest.
TKE Man to Jove his suit preferr'd :

Is not the poet's chiming close
He beggd a wife ; his pray'r was heard. Censur'd by all the sons of prose?
Jove wonder dat his bold addressing:

While bards of quick imagination
For how precarious is the blessing!

Despise the sleepy prose narration.
A wife he takes. And now for heirs Men laugh at apes, they men contenın;
Again he worrics Heaven with

prayers.

For what are we but apes to them? Jove nods assent. Two hopeful boys

Two Monkeys went to Soviliwark fair, And a fine girl reward his joys.

No critics had a sourcs air :

FABLE XL.

They