I see you vig'rous, strong, and bold;
I hear with joy your triumphs told.
'Tis not from Cocks thy fate I dread;
But let thy ever-wary tread

Avoid yon well; that fatal place
Is sure perdition to our race!
Print this my council on thy breast;
To the just Gods I leave the rest.

He thank'd her care; yet, day by day, His bosom burn'd to disobey; And ev'ry time the well he saw, Scorn'd in his heart the foolish law: Near and more near each day he drew, And long'd to try the dang'rous view. Why was this idle charge? he cries: Let courage female fears despise ! Or did she doubt my heart was brave, And therefore this injunction gave? Or does her harvest store the place, A treasure for her younger race? And would she thus my search prevent? I stand resolv'd, and dare th' event!

Thus said, he mounts the margin's round, And pries into the depth profound. He stretch'd his neck; and from below, With stretching neck, advanc'd a foe: With wrath his rufiled plumes he rears; The foe with ruffled plumes appears: Threat answer'd threat; his fury grew; Headlong to meet the war he flew: But when the wat'ry death he found, He thus lamented as he drown'd:

I ne'er had been in this condition, But for my mother's prohibition.

FABLE XXI.

The Rat-catcher and Cats.

THE rats by night such mischief did,' Betty was ev'ry morning chid.

They undermin'd whole sides of bacon; Her cheese was sapp'd; her tarts were taken;

Her pasties, fenc'd with thickest paste,
Were all demolish'd, and laid waste.
She curs'd the Cat for want of duty,
Who left her foes a constant booty.
An Engineer, of noted skill,
Engag'd to stop the growing ill.

From room to room, he now surveys Their haunts, their works, their secret ways;

Finds where they 'scape an ambuscade,
And whence the nightly sally's made.
An envious Cat, from place to place,
Unseen, attends his silent pace.
She saw that, if his trade went on,
The purring race must be undone;
So secretly removes his baits,
And every stratagem defeats.

Again he sets the poison'd toils,
And Puss again the labour foils,

What foe (to frustrate my designs) My schemes thus nightly countermines? Incens'd, he cries: this very hour

The wretch shall bleed beneath my pow'r! So said. A pond'rous trap he brought, And in the fact poor Puss was caught. Smuggler, said he, thou shalt be made A victim to our loss of trade.

The captive Cat, with piteous mews, For pardon, life, and freedom sues: A sister of the science spare; One int'rest is our common care. What insolence! the man reply'd: Shall Cats with us the game divide? Were all your interloping band Extinguish'd, or expell'd the land, We Rat-catchers might raise our fees, Sole guardians of a nation's cheese! A Cat, who saw the lifted knife, Thus spoke, and sav'd her sister's life :In ev'ry age and clime, we see, Two of a trade can ne'er agree. Each hates his neighbour for encroaching: 'Squire stigmatizes 'squire for poaching; Beauties with beauties are in arms, And scandal pelts each other's charms; Kings, too, their neighbour kings dethrone, In hope to make the world their own. But let us limit our desires,

Nor war like beauties, kings, and 'squires; For though we both one prey pursue, There's game enough for us and you.

FABLE XXII.

The Goat without a Beard.

'TIS certain that the modish passions Descend among the crowd like fashions. Excuse me, then, if pride, conceit, (The manners of the fair and great) I give to monkies, asses, dogs,

Fleas, owls, goats, butterilies, and hogs.
I say, that these are proud. What then?
I never said they equal men.
A Goat (as vain as goat can be)
Affected singularity.

Whene'er a thymy bank he found,
He roll'd upon the fragrant ground;
And then with fond attention stood,
Fix'd o'er his image in the flood.

I hate my frowzy beard, he cries;
My youth is lost in this disguise.
Did not the females know my vigour,
Well might they loathe this rev'rend figure.
Resolv'd to smooth his shaggy face,
He sought the barber of the place.
A flippant monkey, spruce and smart,
Hard by, profess'd the dapper art:
His pole with pewter basons hung,
Black rotten teeth in order strung,
Rang'd cups, that in the window stood,
Lin'd with red rags to look like blood,
Did well his threefold trade explain,
Who shav'd, drew teeth, and breath'd a
vein.

The Goat he welcomes with an air, And seats him in his wooden chair: Mouth, nose, and cheek, the lather hides; Light, smooth, and swift, the razor glides. I hope your custom, Sir, says Pug: Sure never face was half so smug. The Goat, impatient for applause, Swift to the neighb'ring hill withdraws. The shaggy people grinn'd and star'd. Heyday! what's here!-without a beard! Say, brother, whence the dire disgrace? What envious hand hath robb'd your face? When thus the fop, with smiles of scornAre beards by civil nations worn? Ev'n Muscovites have mow'd their chins. Shall we, like formal Capuchins, Stubborn in pride, retain the mode, And bear about the hairy load? Whene'er we through the village stray, Are we not mock'd along the way, Insulted with loud shouts of scorn, By boys our beards disgrac'd and torn? Were you no more with goats to dwell, Brother, I grant you reason well, Replies a bearded chief. Beside, If boys can mortify thy pride, How wilt thou stand the ridicule Of our whole flock? Affected fool! Coxcombs, distinguish'd from the rest, To all but coxcombs are a jest.