"Were I that man, (the Peasant cry'd) What bleffing could I afk befide?"
"Hold, fays the God; firft learn to know True happiness from outward show. This optic glass of intuition
Here, take it, view his true condition."
He look'd, and faw the mifer's breaft
A troubled ocean, ne'er at reft;
Want ever stares him in the face,
And fear anticipates difgrace:
With confcious guilt he faw him start;
Extortion gnaws his throbbing heart;
And never, or in thought or dream,
His breast admits one happy gleam.
"May Jove, he cries, reject my prayer,
And guard my life from guilt and care!
My foul abhors that wretch's fate.
O keep me in my humble state!
But fee, amidst a gawdy crowd,.
Yon' minifter fo gay and proud; :
On him what happiness attends,
Who thus rewards his grateful friends !”
"Firft take the glafs, the God replies;
Man views the world with partial eyes."
"Good Gods! exclaims the ftartled wight, 105
Defend me from this hideous fight!
Corruption with corrofive fmart
Lies cankering on his guilty heart :
I fee him with polluted hand
Spread the contagion o'er the land.
Now Avarice with infatiate jaws,
Now Rapine with her harpy claws,
His bofom tears. His confcious breaft
Groans with a load of crimes oppiest.
See him, mad and drunk with power,
Stand tottering on Ambition's tower.
Sometimes, in fpeeches vain and proud,
His boafts infult the nether crowd;
Now, feiz'd with giddinefs and fear,
He trembles left his fall is near."
"Was ever wretch like this! he cries;
Such mifery in fuch difguife!
The change, O Jove! I difavow;
Still be my lot the fpade and plough.”
He next, confirm'd by fpeculation,
Rejects the lawyer's occupation;
For he the ftatefman feem'd in part,
And bore fimilitude of heart.
Nor did the foldier's trade inflame
His hopes with thirst of fpoil and fame.
The miferies of war he mourn'd;
Whole nations into deferts turn'd.
By thefe have laws and rights been brav'd; By thefe was free-born man enflav'd:
When battles and invafion ceafe,
Why fwarm they in the lands of peace?
Such change (fays he) may I decline;
The fcythe and civil arms be mine !"
Thus, weighing life in each condition,
The Clown withdrew his rafh petition.
When thus the God: "How mortals err !
If you true happiness prefer,
'Tis to no rank of life confin'd,
But dwells in every honest mind.
Be juftice then your fole purfuit:
Plant virtue, and content's the fruit."
So Jove, to gratify the Clown,
Where firft he found him, fet him down.
THE MAN, THE CAT, THE DOG, AND THE FLY.
Το my native Country.
HAIL, happy land! whofe fertile grounds
The liquid fence of Neptune bounds;
By bounteous Nature fet apart,
The feat of Industry and Art!
O Britain! chofen port of trade,
May luxury ne'er thy fons invade !
May never minifter (intent
His private treasures to augment)
Corrupt thy ftate! If jealous foes
Thy rights of commerce dare oppose,
Shall not thy fleets their rapine awe ?
Who is 't prefcribes the ocean law?
Whenever neighbouring states contend,
'Tis thine to be the general friend. What is 't who rules in other lands? On trade alone thy glory ftands;
That benefit is unconfin'd,
Diffufing good among mankind:
That firft gave luftre to thy reigns,
And scatter'd plenty o'er thy plains:
"Tis that alone thy wealth fupplies,
And draws all Europe's envious eyes.
Be commerce, then, thy fole defign;
Keep that, and all the world is thine..
When naval traffic plows the main,
Some the swift-fliding shuttle throw;
Some, ftudious of the wind and tide,
From pole to pole our commerce guidė :
Some (taught by induftry) impart
With hands and feet the works of art;
While fome, of genius more refin'd,
With head and tongue affift mankind.
Each, aiming at one common end,
Proves to the whole a needful friend.
Thus, born each other's ufeful aid,
By turns are obligations paid.
The monarch, when his table 's spread.
Is to the clown oblig'd for bread;
And, when in all his glory dreft,
Owes to the loom his royal veft.
Do not the mafon's toil and care
Protect him from th' inclement air?
Does not the cutler's art fupply
The ornament that guards his thigh?
All thefe, in duty to the throne,
Their common obligations own.
'Tis he (his own and people's caufe)
Protects their properties and laws.
Thus they their honeft toil employ,
And with content the fruits enjoy.
In every rank, or great or fmall,.
'Tis induftry fupports us all.
The animals, by want opprefs'd,
To man their fervices addrefs'd:
While each purfued their felfish good,
They hunger'd for precarious food:
Their hours with anxious cares were vext;
One day they fed, and ftarv'd the next :
They faw that plenty, fure and rife,
Was found alone in focial life;
That mutual industry profefs'd,
The various wants of man redrefs'd..
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