To His Royal Highness, William, Duke of Cumberland.
The Lion, Tiger, and Traveller.
ACCEPT, young Prince, the moral lay,
And in these tales mankind survey;
With early virtue plant your breast,
The specious arts of vice detest.
Princes, like beauties, from their youth
Are strangers to the voice of truth;
Learn to contemn all praise betimes;
For flattery's the nurse of crimes;
Friendship by sweet reproof is shewn
(A virtue never near a throne);
In courts such freedom must offend,
There none presumes to be a friend.
To those of your exalted station
Each courtier is a dedication.
Must I too flatter like the rest,
And turn my morals to a jest?
The Muse disdains to steal from those
Who thrive in courts by fulsome prose.
But shall I hide your real praise,
Or tell you what a nation says?
They in your infant bosom trace
The virtues of your royal race;
In the fair dawning of your mind
Discern you gen'rous, mild, and kind;
They see you grieve to hear distress,
And pant already to redress.
Go on! the height of good attain,
Nor let a nation hope in vain.
From hence we justly may presage
The virtues of a riper age.
True courage shall your bosom fire,
And future actions own your sire.
Cowards are cruel, but the brave
Love mercy, and delight to save.
A Tiger roaming for his prey,
Sprung on a Trav'ller in the way;
The prostrate game a Lion spies,
And on the greedy tyrant flies;
With mingled roar resounds the wood,
Their teeth, their claws distil with blood;
Till vanquish'd by the Lion's strength,
The spotted foe extends his length.
The Man besought the shaggy lord,
And on his knees for life implor'd.
His life the gen'rous hero gave;
Together walking to his cave,
The Lion thus bespoke his guest:
'What hardy beast shall dare contest
My matchless strength? You saw the fight,
And must attest my pow'r and right.
Forc'd to forego their native home,
My starving slaves at distance roam.
Within these woods I reign alone,
The boundless forest is my own.
Bears, wolves, and all the savage brood,
Have dy'd the regal den with blood;
These carcasses on either hand,
Those bones that whiten all the land,
My former deeds and triumphs tell,
Beneath these jaws what numbers fell."
'True (says the Man), the strength I saw
Might well the brutal nation awe:
But shall a monarch, brave like you,
Place glory in so false a view?
Robbers invade their neighbour's right:
Be lov'd; let justice bound your might.
Mean are ambitious heroes' boasts
Of wasted lands and slaughter'd hosts.
Pirates their power by murders gain,
Wise kings by love and mercy reign.
To me your clemency hath shewn
The virtue worthy of a throne,
Heav'n gives you pow'r above the rest,
Like Heav'n to succour the distress'd.'
The case is plain,' the Monarch said;
False glory hath my youth misled;
For beasts of prey, a servile train,
Have been the flatt'rers of my reign.
You reason well. Yet tell me, friend,
Did ever you in courts attend?
For all my fawning rogues agree
That human heroes rule like me.'
The Spaniel and the Chameleon.
A SPANIEL, bred with all the care
That waits upon a fav'rite heir,
Ne'er felt Correction's rigid hand:
Indulg'd to disobey command,
In pamper'd ease his hours were spent;
He never knew what learning meant.
Such forward airs, so pert, so smart,
Were sure to win his lady's heart;
Each little mischief gain'd him praise-
How pretty were his fawning ways!
The wind was south, the morning fair,
He ventures forth to take the air,
He ranges all the meadow round,
And rolls upon the softest ground:
When near him a Chameleon seen,
Was scarce distinguish'd from the green:
'Dear emblem of the flatt'ring host,
What, live with clowns! a genius lost!
To cities and the court repair;
A fortune cannot fail thee there:
Preferment shall thy talents crown,
Believe me, friend, I know the town.'
Sir,' says 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 success;
The Ladies prais'd me for address.
I knew to hit each courtier's passion,
And flatter'd every vice in fashion.
But Jove, who hates the liar's ways,
At once cut short my prosp'rons days,
And sentenc'd to retain my nature,
Transform'd me to this crawling creature.
Doom'd to a life obscure and mean,
I wander in the sylvan scene.
For Jove the heart alone regards;
He punishes what man rewards.
How diff'rent is thy case and mine!
With men at least you sup and dine;
While I, condemn'd to thinnest fare,
Like those I flatter'd, feed on air.'
The Mother, the Nurse, and the Fairy. 'GIVE me a son!'-The blessing sent, Were ever parents more content? How partial are their doting eyes! No child is half so fair and wise.
Wak'd to the morning's pleasing care, The mother rose, and sought her heir. She saw the Nurse, like one possess'd, With wringing hands and sobbing breast. 'Sure some disaster has befel:
Speak, Nurse! I hope the boy is well?' 'Dear Madam, think not me to blame; Invisible the Fairy came:
Your precious babe is hence convey'd, And in the place a changeling laid. Where are the father's mouth and nose, The mother's eyes as black as sloes? See here, a shocking awkward creature, That speaks a fool in ev'ry feature!' 'The woman's blind!' the Mother cries; 'I see wit sparkle in his eyes." 'Lord, Madam! what a squinting leer! No doubt the Fairy hath been here.'
Just as she spoke, a pigmy Sprite Pops through the key-hole swift as light; Perch'd on the cradle's top she stands, And thus her folly reprimands:
'Whence sprung the vain-conceited lie, That we the world with fools supply? What! give our sprightly race away, For the dull helpless sons of clay! Besides, by partial fondness shewn, Like you we dote upon our own. Where yet was ever found a mother Who'd give her booby for another? And should we change with human breed, Well might we pass for fools indeed.'
The Eagle, and the Assembly of Animals. As Jupiter's all-seeing eye
Survey'd the worlds beneath the sky,
From this small speck of earth were sent
Murmurs and sounds of discontent;
For ev'ry thing alive complain'd
That he the hardest life sustain'd.
Jove calls his Eagle. At the word
Before him stands the royal bird.
The bird, obedient, from heav'n's height,
Downward directs his rapid flight;
Then cited ev'ry living thing,
To bear the mandates of his king.
'Ungrateful creatures! whence arise
These murmurs which offend the skies?
Why this disorder? say the cause;
For just are Jove's eternal laws.
Let each his discontent reveal;
To yon sour Dog I first appeal.'
'Hard is my lot,' the Hound replies, 'On what fleet nerves the Greyhound flies! While I, with weary step and slow, O'er plains, and vales, and mountains, go. The morning sees my chase begun,
Nor ends it till the setting sun.'
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