For though he's free (to do him right),
The creature's civil and polite."
In ecftafies away he posts;
Where'er he came, the favour boasts;
Brags how her fweetest tea he fips,
And fhows the fugar on his lips.
The hint alarm'd the forward crew;
Sure of fuccefs, away they flew ::
They fhare the dainties of the day,
Round her with airy mufic play :-
And now they flutter, now they rest,
Now foar again, and skim her breast.
Nor were they banish'd, till fhe found
That Wafps have stings, and felt the wound.
THE BULL AND THE MASTIFF.
SEEK you to train your favourite boy?
Each caution, every care employ ;
And, ere you venture to confide,
Let his preceptor's heart be try'd :
Weigh well his manners, life, and scope;
On thefe depends thy future hope.
As on a time, in peaceful reign,,
A Bull enjoy'd the flowery plain,
A Maftiff pafs'd; inflam'd with ire,
His eye-balls fhot indignant fire.
He foam'd, he rag'd with thirft of blood.
Spurning the ground, the monarch stood,
And roar'd aloud: "Suspend the fight;
In a whole skin go fleep to-night:
Or tell me, ere the battle rage,
What wrongs provoke thee to engage?
Is it ambition fires thy breaft,
Or avarice, that ne'er can reft?
From thefe alone unjustly fprings
The world-destroying wrath of kings."
The furly Maftiff thus returns :
Within my bofom glory burns.
Like heroes of eternal name,
Whom poets fing, I fight for fame.
The butcher's fpirit-ftirring mind
To daily war my youth inclin'd;
He train'd me to heroic deed,
Taught me to conquer, or to bleed.”
"Curs'd Dog, the Bull reply'd, no more
I wonder at thy thirst of
For thou (beneath a butcher train'd,
Whofe hands with cruelty are ftain'd,
His daily murders in thy view)
Muft, like thy tutor, blood purfue.
Take, then, thy fate." With goring wound 35
At once he lifts him from the ground :
Aloft the fprawling hero flies,
Mangled he falls, he howls, and dies.
THE ELEPHANT AND THE BOOKSELLER.
HE man who with undaunted toils
Sails unknown feas to unknown soils,`
With various wonders feafts his fight:
What ftranger wonders does he write!
We read, and in description view
Creatures which Adam never knew;
For, when we risk no contradiction,
It prompts the tongue to deal in fiction.
Those things that startle me or you
I grant are strange; yet may be true.
Who doubts that Elephants are found
For fcience and for fenfe renown'd?
Borri records their strength of parts,
Extent of thought, and skill in arts;
How they perform the law's decrees,
And fave the state the hangman's fees ;
And how by travel understand
The language of another land.
Let thofe, who queftion this report,
To Pliny's ancient page refort.
How learn'd was that fagacious breed !
Who now (like them) the Greek can read?
As one of thefe, in days of yore,
Rummag'd a fhop of learning o'er,
Not, like our modern dealers, minding
'Only the margin's breadth and binding,
A book his curious eye detains,
Where, with exacteft care and pains,
Were every beat and bird pourtray'd,
That e'er the fearch of man survey'd ;
Their natures and their powers were writ
With all the pride of human wit :
The page he with attention spread,
And thus remark'd on what he read :
"Man with strong reason is endow'd;
A beaft fcarce instinct is allow'd :
But, let this author's worth be try'd,
"Tis plain that neither was his guide.
Can he difcern the different natures,
And weigh the power of other creatures,
Who by the partial work hath shewn
He knows fo little of his own?
How falfely is the Spaniel drawn!
Did man from him firft learn to fawn?
A Dog proficient in the trade!
He the chief flatterer Nature made!
Go, Man! the ways of courts difcern,
You'll find a Spaniel still might learn.
How can the Fox's theft and plunder
Provoke his cenfure or his wonder?
From Courtiers' tricks and Lawyers' arts,
The Fox might well improve his parts.
The Lion, Wolf, and Tiger's brood,
He curfes, for their thirft of blood.
But is not Man to Man a prey?
Beafts kill for hunger, Men for pay.”
The Bookfeller, who heard him fpeak,
And saw him turn a page of Greek,
Thought, what a genius have I found!
Then thus address'd with bow profound :
Learn'd Sir, if you 'd employ your pen
Against the fenfeless fons of men,
Or write the hiftory of Siam;
No man is better pay than I am.
Or, fince you 're learn'd in Greek, let's fee
Something against the Trinity.”
When wrinkling with a fneer his trunk,
"Friend, quoth the Elephant, you 're drunk :
E'en keep your money, and be wife;
Leave man on man to criticise :
-For that you ne'er can want a pen
Among the fenfeless fons of men.
They unprovok'd will court the fray;
Envy's a harper fpur than pay.
No author ever spar'd a brother;
Wits are gamecocks to one another."
THE PEACOCK, THE TURKEY, AND THE GOOSE.
N beauty faults confpicuous grow;
The fmalleft fpeck is feen on fnow.
As near a barn, by hunger led,
A Peacock with the poultry fed,
All view'd him with an envious. eye,
And mock'd his gaudy pageantry.
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