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Woollen mv.

P. Fourdrinier, sail.

T

FABLE XXI.

The RAT-CATCHER and CATS.

HE rats by night fuch mischief did,

Betty was ev'ry morning chid:

They undermin'd whole fides of bacon,
Her cheese was fapp'd, her tarts were taken,

Her

Her pafties, fenc'd with thickest paste,

Were all demolish'd and laid wafte.

She curft the cat for want of duty,

Who left her foes a conftant booty.

An Engineer, of noted skill, Engag'd to stop the growing ill.

From room to room he now furveys

Their haunts, their works, their fecret ways,

Finds where they 'fcape an ambuscade,

And whence the nightly fally's made.

An envious Cat, from place to place,
Unfeen, attends his filent pace,
She faw that, if his trade went on,
The purring race must be undone,
So, fecretly removes his baits,
And ev'ry ftratagem defeats.

Again he fets the poyfon'd toils,

And pufs again the labour foils.

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What foe (to fruftrate my defigns)

My schemes thus nightly countermines?
Incens'd, he cries: this very hour
The wretch fhall bleed beneath my power.
So faid. A pond'rous trap he brought,
And in the fact poor pufs was caught.
Smuggler, fays he, thou shalt be made

A victim to our lofs of trade.

The captive Cat with piteous mews
For pardon, life and freedom fues.
A fifter of the fscience spare,

One int'reft is our common care.
What infolence! 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 faw the lifted knife, Thus fpoke, and fav'd her fifter's life.

In ev'ry age and clime we fee,

Two of a trade can ne'er agree,

Each hates his neighbour for encroaching;

Squire ftigmatizes 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 defires,

Not war like beauties, kings and fquires,

For though we both one prey pursue,

There's game enough for us and

you.

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