The hint alarm'd the forward crew: Sure of success, away they flew. They share the dainties of the day, Round her with airy music play; And now they flutter, now they rest, Now soar again, and skim her breast. Nor were they banish'd, till she found That Wasps have stings, and felt the wound.
The Bull and the Mastiff.
SEEK you to train your fav'rite boy,
Each caution, ev'ry care employ;
And ere you venture to cor.fide,
Let his preceptor's heart be tried;
Weigh well his manners, life, and scope;
On these depend thy future hope.
As on a time, in peaceful reign,
A Bull enjoy'd the flow'ry plain,
A Mastiff pass'd: inflam'd with ire,
His eye-balls shot indignant fire;
He foam'd, he rag'd with thirst of blood:
Spurning the ground the monarch stood,
And roar'd alond, Suspend the fight:
In a whole skin go sleep to-night:
Or tell me, ere the battle rage,
What wrongs provoke thee to engage?
Is it ambition fires thy breast,
Or avarice that ne'er can rest?
From these alone unjustly springs
The world-destroying wrath of kings.'
The surly Mastiff thus returns:
Within my bosom glory burns:
Like heroes of eternal name,
Whom poets sing, I fight for fame.
The butcher's spirit-stirring mind
To daily war my youth inclin'd;
He train❜d me to heroic deed,
Taught me to conquer or to bleed.'
'Curs'd dog!' the Bull replied, 'no more
I wonder at thy thirst of gore;
For thou (beneath a butcher train'd,
Whose hands with cruelty are stain'd,
His daily murders in thy view)
Must, like thy tutor, blood pursue.
Take then thy fate.' With goring wound,
At once he lifts him from the ground,
Aloft the sprawling hero flies,
Mangled he falls, he howls, and dies.
The Elephant and the Bookseller.
THE man who with undaunted toils
Sails unknown seas to unknown soils,
With various wonders feasts his sight:
What stranger wonders does he write!
We read, and, in description, view
Creatures which Adam never knew:
For when we risk no contradiction,
It prompts the tongue to deal in fiction.
Those things that startle me or you,
I grant are strange; yet may be true.
Who doubts that Elephants are found,
For science and for sense renown'd?
Borri records their strength of parts,
Extent of thought, and skill in arts;
How they perform the law's decrees,
And save the state the hangman's fees,
And how by travel understand
The language of another land.
Let those who question this report,
To Pliny's ancient page resort.
How learn'd was that sagacious breed!
Who now, like them, the Greek can read?
As one of these, in days of yore,
Rummag'd a shop of learning o'er;
Not, like our modern dealers, minding
Only the margin's breadth and binding;
A book his curious eye detains,
Where with exactest care and pains,
Were ev'ry beast and bird pourtray'd,
That e'er the search of man survey'd;
Their natures and their powers were writ,
With all the pride of human wit,
The page he with attention spread,
And thus remark'd on what he read:
'Man with strong reason is endow'd,
A beast scarce instinct is allow'd:
But let this author's worth be try'd,
'Tis plain that neither was his guide.
Can he discern the diff'rent natures,
And weigh the pow'r of other creatures,
Who by the partial work hath shewn
He knows so little of his own?
How falsely is the spaniel drawn?
Did man from him first learn to fawn?
A dog proficient in the trade!
He the chief flatt'rer Nature made!
Go, man! the ways of courts discern,
You'll find a spaniel still might learn.
How can the fox's theft and plunder
Provoke his censure or his wonder?
From courtiers' tricks, and lawyers' arts,
The fox might well improve his parts.
The lion, wolf, and tiger's brood,
He curses for their thirst of blood;
But is not man to man a prey?
Beasts kill for hunger, men for pay.'
The Bookseller who heard him speak,
And saw him turn a page of Greek,
Thought,'What a genius have I found!'
Then thus address'd with bow profound:
"Learn'd Sir, if you'd employ your pen
Against the senseless sons of men,
Or write the history of Siam,
No man is better pay than I am:
Or, since you're learn'd in Greek, let's see
Something against the Trinity.'
When wrinkling with a sneer his trunk, 'Friend,' quoth the Elephant, 'you're drunk: F'en keep your money, and be wise:
Leave man on man to criticise;
For that you ne'er can want a pen
Among the senseless sons of men.
They unprovok'd will court the fray
Envy's a sharper spur than pay.
No author ever spar'd a brother;
Wits are game-cocks to one another.'
The Peacock, Turkey, and Goose. IN beauty faults conspicuous grow; The smallest speck is seen on snow. As near a barn, by hunger led, A Peacock with the poultry fed, All view'd him with an envious eye, And mock'd his gaudy pageantry. He, conscious of superior merit, Contemns their base reviling spirit; His state and dignity assumes, And to the sun displays his plumes; Which, like the heav'n's o'er-arching skies, Are spangled with a thousand eyes. The circling rays, and varied light, At once confound their dazzled sight On ev'ry tongue detraction burns, And malice prompts their spleen by turns. 'Mark, with what insolence and pride, The creature takes his haughty stride,' The Turkey cries. Can spleen contain ? Sure never bird was half so vain! But were intrinsic merit seen,
We Turkeys have the whiter skin.'
From tongue to tongue they caught abuse;
And next was heard the hissing Goose.
'What hideous legs! what filthy claws!
I scorn to censure little flaws.
Then what a horrid squalling throat!
E'en owls are frighted at the note.'
True: those are faults,' the Peacock cries;
My scream, my shanks you may despise:
But such blind critics rail in vain;
What, overlook my radiant train?
Know, did my legs (your scorn and sport)
The Turkey or the Goose support,
And did ye scream with harsher sound,
Those faults in you had ne'er been found;
To all apparent beauties blind,
Each blemish strikes an envious mind.'.
Thus in assemblies have I seen
A nymph of brightest charms and mien,
Wake envy in each ugly face;
And buzzing scandal fills the place.
FABLE XII.
Cupid, Hymen, and Plutus.
As Cupid in Cythera's grove
Employ'd the lesser powers of love;
Some shape the bow or fit the string;
Some give the taper shaft its wing,
Or turn the polish'd quiver's mould,
Or head the darts with temper'd gold.
Amidst their toil and various care,
Thus Hymen, with assuming air,
Address'd the god: 'Thou purblind chit,
Of awkward and ill-judging wit,
If matches are not better made,
At once I must forswear my trade.
You send me such ill coupled folks,
That 'tis a shame to sell them yokes.
They squabble for a pin, a feather,
And wonder how they came together.
The husband's sullen, dogged, shy,
The wife grows flippant in reply:
He loves command, and due restriction,
And she as well likes contradiction:
She never slavishly submits:
She'll have her will, or have her fits.
He this way tugs, she t'other draws;
The man grows jealous, and with cause.
Nothing can save him but divorce;
And here the wife complies of course.'
'When,' says the boy,' had I to do
With either your affairs or you?
I never idly spend my darts;
You trade in mercenary hearts.
|