Beauties and bards have equal pride,
With both all rivals are decry'd.
Who praises Lesbia's eyes and feature,
Muft call her fifter aukward creature;
For the kind flattery 's fure to charm,
When we fome other nymph difarm.
As in the cool of early day
A Poet fought the sweets of May,
The garden's fragrant breath ascends,
And every stalk with odour bends;
A Rofe he pluck'd, he gaz'd, admir'd,
Thus finging, as the Mufe infpir'd:
"Go, Rofe, my Chloe's bofom
"How happy fhall I prove,
"Might I fupply that envy'd place "With never-fading love!
"There, Phoenix-like, beneath her eye,
"Involv'd in fragrance, burn and die.
"Know, hapless Flower! that thou shalt find 25
"More fragrant Roses there;
"I fee thy withering head reclin'd
"With envy and despair!
"One common fate we both must prove;
"You die with envy, I with love."
"Spare your comparisons, reply'd
An angry Rofe, who grew befide.
Of all mankind you should not flout us;
What can a Poet do without us?
In every love-fong Rofes bloom;
We lend you colour and perfume:
Does it to Chloe's charms conduce,
To found her praise on our abuse?
Muft we, to flatter her, be made
To wither, envy, pine, and fade?
THE CUR, THE HORSE, AND THE SHEPHERD'S DOG.
THE lad of all-fufficient merit
With modefty ne'er damps his fpirit;
Prefuming on his own deferts,
On all alike his tongue exerts ;
His hoify jokes at random throws,
And pertly fpatters friends and foes.
In wit and war the bully race
Contribute to their own difgrace:
Too late the forward youth fhall find
That jokes are fometimes paid in kind;
Or, if they canker in the breast,
He makes a foe who makes a jeft.
A village Cur, of fuappifh race,
The perteft puppy of the place,
Imagin'd that his treble throat
Was bleft with Mufic's fweetest note;
In the mid road he basking lay,
The yelping nuifance of the way;
For not a creature pass'd along,
But had a fample of his fong.
Soon as the trotting Steed he hears,
He ftarts, he cocks his dapper ears;
Away he fcowers, affaults his hoof;
Now near him fnarls, now barks aloof;
With fhrill impertinence attends,
Nor leaves him till the village ends.
It chanc'd, upon his evil day,
A Pad came pacing down the way;
The Cur, with never-ceafing tongue,
Upon the paffing traveller fprung..
The Horfe, from fcorn provok'd to ire,
Flung backward; rolling in the mire,
The Puppy howl'd, and bleeding lay;
The Pad in peace purfued his way.
A Shepherd's Dog, who faw the deed,
Detefting the vexatious breed,
Befpoke him thus: "When coxcombs prate,
They kindle wrath, contempt, or hate;
Thy teazing tongue had judgement ty'd,
Thou hadft not like a puppy dy'd."
THE COURT OF DEATH.
DEATH, on a folemn night of fate,
In all his pomp of terror fate :
Th' attendants of his gloomy reign,
Difeafes dire, a ghastly train!
A voice thus thunder'd from the throne:
"This night our minifter we name,
Let every fervant fpeak his claim;
Merit fhall bear this ebon wand."
All, at the word, ftretch'd forth their hand.
Fever, with burning heat poffeft, Advanc'd, and for the wand addreft. "I to the weekly bills appeal,
Let those express my fervent zeal;
On every flight occafion near,
With violence I perfevere."
Next Gout appears with limping pace,
Pleads how he fhifts from place to place;
From head to-foot how fwift he flies,
And every joint and finew plies;
Still working when he seems fuppreft,
A moft tenacious ftubborn gueft.
A haggard spectre from the crew
Crawls forth, and thus afferts his due :
"'Tis I who taint the fweeteft joy,
And in the fhape of Love deftroy:
My thanks, funk eyes, and nofelefs face,
Prove my pretenfion to the place."
Stone urg'd his ever-growing force;
And, next, Confumption's meagre corfe,
With feeble voice, that fearce was heard,
Broke with fhort coughs, his fuit preferr'd:
"Let none object my lingering way,
I gain, like Fabius, by delay;
Fatigue and weaken every foe
By long attack, fecure, though flow."
Plague reprefents his rapid power,
Who thinn'd a nation in an hour.
All spoke their claim, and hop'd the wand.
Now expectation hush'd the band ;
When thus the Monarch from the throne:
"Merit was ever modeft known.
What, no Phyfician speak his right!
None here! but fees their toils requite.
Let then Intemperance take the wand,
Who fills with gold their zealous hand.
You, Fever, Gout, and all the rest,
(Whom wary men, as foes, deteft)
Forego your claim; no more pretend;
Intemperance is efteem'd a friend;
He shares their mirth, their focial joys,
And as a courted guest destroys.
The charge on him must justly fall,
Who finds employment for
THE GARDENER AND THE HOG.
GARDENER, of peculiar tafte,
On a young Hog his favour plac'd, Who fed not with the common herd; His tray was to the hall preferr'd,
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