"Why fo fevere ? the Cub replies; 'Our fenate always held nie wife."
"How weak is pridel returns the fire:
All fools are vain when fools admire !
But know, what stupid affes prize,
Lions and noble beasts despise."
RESTRAIN your child; you '11 foon believe
The text which says we sprung from Eve.
As an old Hen led forth her train,
And feem'd to peck to show the grain,
She rak'd the chaff, fhe fcratch'd the ground,
And glean'd the spacious yard around.
A giddy chick, to try her wings,
On the well's narrow margin fprings,
And prone the drops. The mother's breaft
All day with forrow was poffeft.
A Cock the met; her fon fhe knew;
And in her heart affection grew.
"My Son, fays fhe, I grant your years Have reach'd beyond a mother's cares. I fee you vigorous, 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 fure perdition to our race,
Print this my counsel on thy breast;
To the just gods I leave the reft."
He thank'd her care; yet day by day
His bofom burn'd to disobey,
And every time the well he faw,
Scorn'd in his heart the foolish law :
Near and more near each day he drew,
And long'd to try the dangerous view.
Why was this idle charge? he cries;
Let courage female fears defpife.
Or did fhe doubt my heart was brave,
And therefore this injunction gave?
Or does her harveft ftore the place
A treasure for her younger race?
And would fhe thus my fearch prevent?
I ftand refolv'd, and dare th' event."
Thus faid, he mounts the margin's round,
And pries into the depth profound.
He stretch'd his neck; and from below
With ftretching neck advanc'd a foe:
With wrath his ruffled 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 watery death he found,
He thus lamented as he drown'd:
"I ne'er had been in this condition, But for my Mother's prohibition.”
THE RAT-CATCHER AND CATS.
HE rats by night fuch mifchief did,
Betty was every morning chid:
They undermin'd whole fides of bacon,
Her cheese was fapp'd, her tarts were taken;
Her pafties, fenc'd with thickeft pafte,
Were all demolish'd and laid waste :
She curs'd the Cat, for want of duty,
Who left her foes a conftant booty.
An engineer, of noted fkill,
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 ambufcade,
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 every ftratagem defeats.
Again he fets the poifon'd toils;
And Pufs again the labour foils.
"What foc (to fruftrate my defigns)
My schemes thus nightly countermines ?
Incens'd, he cries, this very hour
The wretch shall bleed beneath my power."
So faid, a ponderous trap he brought And in the fact poor Pufs was caught.
'Smuggler, fays he, thou fhalt 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 science spare;
One intereft 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 every age and clime, we fee,
Two of a trade can ne'er agree.
Each hates his neighbour for encroaching;
'Squire ftigmatizes 'fquire for poaching;
Beauties with beauties are in arms,
And fcandal 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.”
THE GOAT WITHOUT A BEARD.
IS certain that the modifh paffions
Defcend among the crowd like fashions.
Excufe me, then, if pride, conceit,
(The manners of the fair and great)
I give to monkeys, affes, dogs,
Fleas, owls, goats, butterflies, and hogs.
I say that thefe are proud: what then?
I never faid they equal men.
A Goat (as vain as Goat can be)
Affected fingularity :
Whene'er a thymy bank he found,
He roll'd upon the fragrant ground,
And then with fond attention flood,
Fix'd o'er his image in the flood.
"I hate my frowzy beard, he cries,
My youth is loft in this difguife.
Did not the females know my vigour,
Well might they loath this reverend figure."
Refolv'd to fmooth his fhaggy face;
He fought the barber of the place.
A flippant monkey, fpruce and fmart,
Hard-by, profefs'd the dapper art;
His pole with pewter-bafons hung,
Black rotten teeth in order ftrung,
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