Let their own fervile creatures rife,
By screening fraud, and venting lyes;
Give me, kind Heaven, a private station *,
A mind ferene for contemplation:
Title and profit I refign;
The post of honour shall be mine.
My Fable read, their merits view,
Then herd who will with fuch a crew.
In days of yore (my cautious rhymes
Always except the present times)
A greedy Vulture, skill'd in game,
Inur'd to guilt, unaw'd by shame,
Approach'd the throne in evil hour,
And ftep by step intrudes to power:
When at the royal Eagle's ear,
He longs to eafe the monarch's care.
The monarch grants. With pride elate,
Behold him minifter of ftate!
Around him throng the feather'd rout;
Friends must be ferv'd, and fome muft out:
Each thinks his own the best pretenfion;
This asks a place, and that a penfion.
The Nightingale was set aside.
A forward Daw his room fupply'd.
"This bird (fays he), for business fit,
Hath both fagacity and wit:
With all his turns, and fhifts, and tricks,
He's docile, and at nothing flicks :
*-When impious men bear fway, The poft of honour is a private flation.
Then with his neighbours one fo free
At all times will connive at me."
The Hawk had due diftinction fhown,
For parts and talents like his own.
Thousands of hireling Cocks attend him,
As bluftering bullies, to defend him.
At once the Ravens were difcarded,
And Magpies with their pofts rewarded.
Thofe fowls of omen I deteft,
That pry into another's nest.
State-lyes muft lofe all good intent,
For they forefee and croak th' event.
My friends ne'er think, but talk by rote,
Speak what they're taught, and fo to vote.
"When rogues like thefe (a Sparrow cries)
To honours and employments rife,
I court no favour, ask no place;
From fuch, preferment is difgrace.
Within my thatch'd retreat I find
(What these ne'er feel) true peace of mind."
THE BABOON AND THE POULTRY.
To a Levee-hunter.
E frequently mifplace efteem,"
By judging men by what they feem.
To birth, wealth, power, we fhould allow
Precedence, and our loweft bow:
In that is due diftinction fhown;
Efteem is Virtue's right alone.
With partial eye we 're apt to fee
The man of noble pedigree:
We 're prepoffeft my Lord inherits,
In fome degree, his grandfire's merits ;
For those we find upon record,
But find him nothing but my Lord.
When we, with fuperficial view,
Gaze on the rich, we 're dazzled too.
We know that wealth, well understood,
Hath frequent power of doing good;
"Then fancy that the thing is done,
As if the power and will were one.
Thus oft' the cheated crowd adore
The thriving knaves that keep them poor.
The cringing train of power furvey;
What creatures are fo low as they !
With what obfequioufnefs they bend!
To what vile actions condefcend!
Their rife is on their meanness built,
And flattery is their smallest guilt.
What homage, reverence, adoration,
In every age, in every nation,
Have fycophants to power addrefs'd!
No matter who the power poffefs'd.
Let ministers be what they will,
You find their levees always fill:
Ev'n those who have perplex'd a state,
Whole actions claim contempt and hate,
Had wretches to applaud their schemes,
Though more abfurd than madmen's dreams.
When barbarous Moloch was invok'd,
The blood of infants only fmok'd!
But here (unless all history lyes)
Whole realms have been a facrifice.
Look through all courts 'tis power we find
The general idol of mankind;
There worship'd under every fhape:
Alike the lion, fox, and ape,
Are follow'd by time-ferving flaves,
Rich prostitutes and needy knaves.
Who then fhall glory in his post?
How frail his pride, how vain his boast!
The followers of his profperous hour
Are as unstable as his power.
Power, by the breath of Flattery nurst,
The more it fwells is nearer burst;
The bubble breaks, the gewgaw ends,
And in a dirty tear defcends.
Once on a time an ancient maid,
By wishes and by time decay'd,
To cure the pangs of restless thought,
In birds and beafts amufement fought:
Dogs, parrots, apes, her hours employ'd;
With thefe alone fhe talk'd and toy'd.
A huge Baboon her fancy took
(Almost a man in fize and look),
He finger'd every thing he found,
And mimick'd all the fervants round;
Then, too, his parts and ready wit
Show'd him for every business fit.
With all these talents 'twas but just
That Pug fhould hold a place of truft;
So to her favourite was affign'd
The charge of all her feather'd kind.
'Twas his to tend them eve and morn, And portion out their daily corn.
Behold him now, with haughty stride,
Affume a minifterial pride.
The morning rofe. In hope of picking,
Swans, turkeys, peacocks, ducks, and chicken,
Fowls of all ranks furround his hut,
To worship his important ftrut.
The minifter appears. The crowd,
Now here, now there, obfequious bow'd.
This prais'd his parts, and that his face,
Th' other his dignity in place.
From bill to bill the flattery ran:
He hears and bears it like a man ;
For, when we flatter Self-conceit,
We but his fentiments repeat.
If we 're too fcrupulously juft,
What profit 's in a place of truft?
The common practice of the great
Is to fecure a fnug retreat.
So Pug began to turn his brain
(Like other folks in place) on gain.
An apple-woman's ftall was near,
Well ftock'd with fruits through all the year;
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