Should we ftate-mysteries disclose,
'Twould lay us open to our foes.
My duty and my well-known zeal
Bid me our present schemes conceal :
But, on my honour, all th' expence
(Though vaft) was for the fwarm's defence." 120
They pafs'd th' account as fair and just,
And voted him implicit trust.
Next year again, the granary drain'd, He thus his innocence maintain'd.
"Think how our present matters stand, What dangers threat from every hand; What hosts of turkeys ftroll for food,
No farmer's wife but hath her brood..
Confider, when invafion's near,
Intelligence must cost us dear;
And, in this ticklish fituation,
A fecret told betrays the nation :
But, on my honour, all th' expence
(Though vaft) was for the fwarm's defence."Again, without examination,
They thank'd his fage adminiftration.
The year revolves. Their treafure, fpent,
Again in fecret service went.
His honour, too, again was pledg'd,
To fatisfy the charge alledg`d.
When thus, with panic fhame poffefs'd, An auditor his friends addrefs'`d.
What are we? minifterial tools! We little knaves are greater fools.
At last this fecret is explor'd,
'Tis our corruption thins the hoard.
For every grain we touch'd, at least
A thoufand his own heaps increas'd.
Then for his kin and favourite fpies,
A hundred hardly could fuffice.
Thus, for a paltry fneaking bribe,.
We cheat ourselves and all the tribe;
For all the magazine contains
Grows from our annual toil and pains."
They vote, th' account fhall be infpected;
The cunning plunderer is detected;
The fraud is fentenc'd; and his hoard,
As due, to public ufe reftor'd,
HAT man muft daily wifer grow,
Whofe fearch is bent himself to know;
Impartially he weighs his fcope,
And on firm reafon founds his hope;
He tries his ftrength before the race,
And never feeks his own difgrace;
He knows the compafs, fail, and oar,
Or never launches from the fhore;
Before he builds, computes the coft,
And in no proud purfuit is loft :-
He learns the bounds of human fenfe,
And fafely walks within the fence.
Thus, conscious of his own defect,
Are pride and felf-importance check'd.
If then, felf-knowledge to purfue,
Direct our life in every view,
Of all the fools that pride can boast,
A Coxcomb claims diftinction most.
Coxcombs are of all ranks and kind;
They 're not to fex or age confin'd,
Or rich, or poor, or great, or small,
And vanity befots them all.
By ignorance is pride increas'd :
By dress diftinguishes the ape;
Th' other with learning crams his shelf,
Knows books, and all things but himself.
All these are fools of low condition,
Compar'd with Coxcombs of ambition :
For thofe, puff'd up with flattery, dare
Affume a nation's various care.
They ne'er the grossest praise mistrust,
Their fycophants feem hardly juft;
For thefe, in part alone, atteft
The flattery their own thoughts fuggest.
In this wide sphere a Coxcomb's shown`
In other realms befides his own :
The felf-deem'd Machiavel at large
By turns controls in every charge.
Does Commerce füffer in her rights ?
'Tis he directs the naval flights.
What failor dares difpute his fkill?
< He'll be an admiral when he will.
Now, meddling in the foldier's trade,
Troops must be hir'd, and levies made.
He gives ambaffadors their cue,
His cobbled treaties to renew ';
And annual taxes muft fuffice
The current blunders to difguife.
-When his crude fchemes in air are loft,
And millions scarce defray the coft,
His arrogance (nought undifmay'd)
* Trusting in felf-füfficient aid,
On other rocks mifguides the realm,
And thinks a pilot at the helm.
He ne'er fufpects his want of skill,
But blunders on from ill to ill;
¿ And, when he fails of all intent,
Blames only unforeseen event.
Left you mistake the application,
The Fable calls me to relation.
A Bear of fhag and manners rough, :
At climbing trees expert enough;
For dextrously, and safe from harm,
Year after year he robb'd the fwarm.
He thought no enterprise too great..
Alike in fciences and arts,
He boafted univerfal parts :
Pragmatic, bufy, bustling, bold,
His arrogance was uncontrol'd :·
And thus he made his party good,.
dictator of the wood.
The beafts, with admiration, ftare,. And think him a prodigious Bear. Were any common booty got,
"Twas his each portion to allot :
For why he found there might be picking,
Ev'n in the carving of a chicken..
Intruding thus, he by degrees.
Claim'd, too, the butcher's larger fees.
And now his, over-weening pride
In every province will prefide.
No talk too difficult was found:
His blundering nofe mifleads the hound..
In ftratagem and fubtle arts
He over-rules the fox's parts..
It chanc'd as, on a certain day,
Along the bank he took his way,
A Boat, with rudder, fail, and oar,
At anchor floated near the fhore.
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