Elate with flatt'ry and conceit,
He feeks his royal fire's retreat;
Forward, and fond to fhow his parts,
His Highness brays; the Lion farts.
Puppy, that curs'd vociferation
Betrays thy life and converfation:
Coxcombs, an ever-noify race,
Are trumpets of their own difgrace.
Why fo fevere? the Cub replies;
Our fenate always held me wife.
How weak is pride! returns the fire;
All fools are vain, when fools admire !
But know, what stupid affes prize,
Lions and noble beasts despise.
The Old HEN and the Cock.
Eftrain your child; you'll foon believe
The text which fays, we sprung from Eve.
As an old Hen led forth her train,
And feem'd to peck to fhew the grain;
She rak'd the chaff, she scratch'd the ground,
And glean'd the spacious yard around.
A giddy chick, to try her wings,
On the well's narrow margin springs,
And prone fhe drops. The Mother's breast
All day with forrow was poffefs'd.
A Cock the met; her fon fhe knew;
And in her heart affection grew.
My fon, says she, I grant your years
Have reach'd beyond a Mother's cares.
I fee you vig'rous, ftrong, 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 counfel on thy breast;
To the juft 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 dang'rous view.
Why was this idle charge? he cries:
Let courage female fears defpife.
Or did the 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 prévent ?
I ftand refolv'd, and dare th' event,
Thus faid. He mounts the margin's round, And pries into the depth profound. He ftretch'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 watry 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 mischief 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 thickest paste,
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 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 poifon'd toils,
And Pufs again the labour foils.
What foe (to fruftrate my defigns)
My schemes thus nightly countermines ?
Incens'd, he cries: this very hour
The wretch fhali 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 science 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 Extinguifh'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 incroaching;
'Squire ftigmatizes 'fquire 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.
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 fay, that these are proud. What then?
I never faid, they equal men.
A Goat (as vain as Goat can be)
Affected fingularity.
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