In fummer's heat, and winter's cold,
He fed his flock, and penn'd the fold;
His hours in cheerful labour flew,
Nor envy nor ambition knew;
His wifdom and his honeft fame
Through all the country rais'd his name.
A deep Philofopher (whofe rules
Of moral life were drawn from schools)
The Shepherd's homely cottage fought,
And thus explor'd his reach of thought.
Whence is thy learning? hath thy toil
O'er books confum'd the midnight oil?
Haft thou old Greece and Rome furvey'd,
And the vaft fenfe of Plato weigh'd ?
Hath Socrates thy foul refin'd,
And haft thou fathom'd Tully's mind ?
Or, like the wife Ulyffes, thrown,
By various fates, on realms unknown,
Haft thou through many cities stray'd,
Their customs, laws, and manners, weigh'd
The Shepherd modeftly reply'd,
I ne'er the paths of learning try'd;
Nor have I roam'd in foreign parts,
To read mankind, their laws and arts;
For man is practis'd in disguise,
He cheats the moft difcerning eyes:
Who by that fearch fhall wifer grow,
When we ourselves can never know?
The little knowledge I have gain'd,
Was all from fimple Nature drain'd;
Hence my life's maxims took their rife,
Hence grew my fettled hate to vice.
The daily labours of the bee
Awake my foul to industry:
Who can observe the careful ant,
And not provide for future want?
My dog' (the trustiest of his kind)
With gratitude inflames mind:
my
I mark his true, his faithful way,
And in my fervice copy Tray.
In conftancy and nuptial love,
I learn my duty from the dove.
The hen, who from the chilly air,
With pious wing, protects her care,
And every fowl that flies at large,
Inftructs me in a parent's charge.
From Nature, too, I take my
To fhun contempt and ridicule.
I never, with important air,
In converfation overbear.
Can grave and formal pass for wife,
When men the folemn owl defpife?
My tongue within my lips I rein;
For who talks much muft talk in vain.
We from the wordy torrent fly :
Who liftens to the chattering pye?
Nor would I, with felonious flight,
By stealth invade my neighbour's right.
Rapacious animals we hate :
Kites, hawks, and wolves, deferve their fate.
Do not we just abhorrence find
Against the toad and serpent-kind ?
But Envy, Calumny, and Spite,
Bear ftronger venom in their bite.
Thus every object of creation
Can furnish hints to contemplation;
And, from the most minute and mean,
A virtuous mind can morals glean.
Thy fame is juft, the Sage replies;
Thy virtue proves thee truly wife.
Pride often guides the author's pen;
Books as affected are as men :
But he who ftudies Nature's laws,
From certain truth his maxims draws;
And those, without our schools, fuffice
To make men moral, good, and wise.
WILLIAM DUKE OF CUMBERLAND.
THE LION, THE TIGER, AND THE TRAVELLER,
CCEPT, young Prince! the moral lay,
And in thefe TALES mankind furvey;
With early virtues plant your breast,
The fpecious arts of vice deteft.
Princes, like beauties, from their youth
Are strangers to the voice of Truth.
Learn to contemn all praise betimes,
For flattery 's the nurfe of crimes :
Friendship by fweet reproof is shown
(A virtue never near a throne):
In courts fuch freedom must offend';
There noné presumes to be a friend.
To thofe of your exalted station,
Each courtier is a dedication.
Muft I, too, flatter like the reft,
And turn my morals to a jest?
The Mufe difdains to steal from thofe
Who thrive in courts by fulfome profe.
But fhall I hide your real praise,
Or tell you what a nation fays?
They in your infant bofom trace
The virtues of your royal race;
In the fair dawning of your mind,
Discern you generous, mild, and kind :
They see you grieve to hear diftress,
And pant already to redress.
Go on, the height of good attain,
Nor let a nation hope in vain:
For hence we juftly may prefage
The virtues of a riper áge.
True courage fhall your bofom fire,
And future actions own your fire.
Cowards are cruel; but the brave
Love mercy, and delight to fave.
A Tiger, roaming for his prey,
Sprung on a Traveller in the way;
The proftrate game a Lion fpies,
And on the greedy tyrant flies:
With mingled roar refounds the wood,
Their teeth, their claws, diftil with blood;
Till, vanquish'd by the Lion's ftrength,
The fpotted Foe extends his length.
The Man befought the fhaggy Lord,
And on his knees for life implor'd.
The Lion thus bespoke his gueft:
"What hardy beaft fhall dare conteft
"My matchlefs ftrength? You faw the fight,
"And must atteft iny power and right.
"Forc'd to forego their native home,
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