64

and me.

* What virgin had not done as I did ?
« My modest hand, by nature guided,,
" Debarr'd at once from human eyes
* The fear where female honour lies;
* And, though thrice dipt from top to toeg.
* I still fecur’d the post below,
* And guarded it with grafo so fast
« Not one drop through my fingers paft.
* Thus owe I to my bashful care,
“ That all the rage is settled there."

Weigh well the projects of mankind;
Then tell me, Reader, canst thou find
The man from madness wholly free?
They all are mad — save

you
Do not the statesman, fop, and wit,
By daily follies prove they ’re bit ?
And, when the briny cure they try'd,
Some

part still kept above the tide ?
Some men (when drench'd beneath the wave)
High o'er their heads their fingers fave :
Those 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; strait his fears
Direct his hands to stop his ears.
And now truth seems a grating noise,
He loves the slanderer's whispering voice;

C 3

He

He hangs on flattery with delight,
And thinks all fulsome praise is right.
All women dread a watery death :
They shut their lips, to hold their breath;
And, though you duck them ne'er so long,
Not one falt drop e'er wets their tongue':
'Tis hence they scandal have at will,
And that this member ne'er lies still

THE

THE

QUID NUN KI'S:

NK

T

A L

E.

:

OCCASION ED
By the Death of the Duke REGENT of FRANCE: -

W
How vain are mortal man's endeavours ?

(Said, at dame. Elliot's *, master Travers)
Good Orleans dead I in truth 'ris hard :
Oh, may all statesmen die prepar'd !
I do foresee (and for fore-seeing

5.
He equals any man in being)
The army ne'er can be disbanded.

I with the King were safely landed.
Ah, friends! great changes threat the land;
All France and England at a stand !
There 's Meroweis - mark ! strange work!
And there 's the Czar, and there is the Turk;
The Pope An India merchant by,
Cut short the speech with this reply:

All at a stand? You see great changes ?
“ Ah, Sir! you never saw the Ganges.
“There dwell the nations of Quidnunki's
“*(So Monomotapa calls monkies) ::

IO)

15

* A coffee-house near St. James's.

20

1

« On either bank, from bough to bough,
“ They meet and chat (as we may now).
“ Whispers go round, they grin, they shrug,
“ They bow, they fnarl, they fcratch, they hug;
“ And, just as chance or whim provoke them,

They either bite their friends, or stroke them.

“ There have I seen fome active prig, 25 “ To fhew his parts, bestride a twig : “ Lord! how the chartering tribe admire, “ Not that he 's wiser, but he's higher: “ All long to try the venturous thing “ (For power is but to have one's fwing); * From side to side he springs, he spurns, 30 “ 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 stream the wretch is borne ; “ Never, ah never, to return !

35 “ Zounds ! what a fall had our dear brother; « Morbleu! cries one; and Damme! t'other. “ The nations give a general screech; “ None cocks his tail, none claws his breech; • Each trembles for the public weal,

40 " And for a while forgets to steal.

“ A while, all eyes, intent and fieddy, “ Pursue him, whirling down the eddy. “ But, out of mind when out of view, « Some other mounts the twig anew ;

45 6 And business, on each monkey-shore, “ Runs the same track it went before."

FABLES.

a

а

j

a

* Shall not my Fables censure vice,
<< Because a knave is over-nice?
“ If I lash vice in general fi&tion,
* Is 't I apply, or self-conviction ?
“ Brutes are my theme. Am I to blamcg,
« If men in morals are the same?
“ I no man call or ape or ass;
“ 'Tis his own conscience 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 sage ;

In