"Like you, a courtier born and bred,
"Kings lean'd their ear to what I faid.
"My whisper always met fuccefs;
"The ladies prais'd me for address."
"I knew to hit each courtier's paffion,
"And flatter'd every vice in fashion.
"But Jove, who hates the liar's ways,
"At once cut fhort my profperous days,
* And, sentenc'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."

;

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THE MOTHER, THE NURSE, AND THE FAIRY.

G

IVE me a fon. The bleffing fent,

Were ever parents more content?
How partial are their doating eyes!
No child is half fo fair and wife.

Wak'd to the morning's pleafing care,
The mother rofe, and fought her heir.

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She

She faw the Nurfe like one poffeft,
With wringing hands and fobbing breaft.
"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 feature!"

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

"Lord! Madam, what a fquinting leer!
No doubt the Fairy hath been here."
Juft as he spoke, a pigmy fprite
Pops through the key-hole fwift as light;
Perched on the cradle's top he ftands,
And thus her folly reprimands.

"Whence fprong the vain conceited lye,
That we the world with fools fupply?
What! give our fprightly race away
For the dull helpless fons of clay!
Befides, by partial fondnefs fhewn,
Like you, we dat upon our own.
Where vet was ever found a Mother
Who'd give her booby for another?

And, fhould we change with human breed,
Well might we pafs for fools indeed."

FABLE

FABLE

IV.

THE EAGLE AND THE ASSEMBLY OF ANIMALS.

AS

S Jupiter's all-feeing eye

Survey'd the worlds beneath the sky,
From this fmall fpeck of earth were fent
Murmurs and founds of difcontent;
For every thing alive complain'd,
That he the hardeft life fuftain'd.

Jove calls his Eagle. At the word,
Before him ftands the royal bird.

The bird, obedient, from Heaven's height,
Downward directs his rapid flight;

Then cited every living thing,

To hear the mandates of his king.

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Ungrateful creatures! whence arise

Thefe murmurs which offend the skies?

Why this disorder? fay the cause;
For juft are Jove's eternal laws.
Let each his difcontent reveal;

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 ftep and flow,
O'er plains, and vales, and mountains, go.
The morning fees my chace begun,

Nor ends it till the fetting-fun."

D 2

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"When

"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,
Jove ne'er had heard my difcontent."
The Lion crav'd the Fox's art;

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The Fox the Lion's force and heart:

The Cock implor'd the Pigeon's flight,

Whofe wings were rapid, ftrong, and light:

The Pigeon ftrength of wing defpis'd,

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And the Cock's matchless valour priz’d.
The Fishes with'd to graze the plain;
The Beafts, to fkim beneath the main.
Thus, envious of another's ftate,
Each blam'd the partial hand of Fate.

The Bird of Heaven then cry'd aloud :
"Jove bids difperfe the murmuring crowd ;
The God rejects your idle prayers.
Would ye, rebellious Mutineers!

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Entirely change your name and nature,
And be the very envy'd creature?

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What! filent all, and none consent ?
Be happy, then, and learn content;
Nor imitate the restlefs mind,
And proud ambition, of mankind.”

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FABLE

A

GAINST an elm a fheep was ty'd,
The butcher's knife in blood was dy'd;

The patient flock, in filent fright,
From far beheld the horrid fight.
A favage Boar, who near them stood,
Thus mock'd to fcorn the fleecy brood.
"All cowards fhould be ferv'd like you.
See, fee your murderer is in view:
With purple hands, and reeking knife,
He ftrips the fkin yet warm with life.
Your quarter'd fires, your bleeding dams,
The dying bleat of harmlefs lambs,
Call for revenge. O ftupid Race!

The heart that wants revenge is base."

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"I grant, an ancient Ram replies,

We bear no terror in our eyes;
Yet think us not of foul fo tame,
Which no repeated wrongs inflame;
Infenfible of every ill,

Because we want thy tusks to kill.
Know, thofe, who violence purfue,
Give to themselves the vengeance due;
For in these maffacres they find

The two chief plagues that waste mankind.

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