The Hog with flutt'ring fpeech returns:
Explain, Sir, why your anger burns.
See there, untouch'd your tulips frown,
For I devour'd the roots alone.
At this the Gard'ner's paffion grows;
From oaths and threats he fell to blows.
The ftubborn brute the blows fuftains;
Affaults his leg, and tears the veins.
Ah! foolish fwain, too late you find
That ties were for fuch friends defign'd!
Homeward he limps with painful pace,
Reflecting thus on paft difgrace:
Who cherishes a brutal mate
Shall mourn the folly foon or late.
WHETHER on earth, in air, or main,
Sure ev'ry thing alive is vain!
Does not the hawk all fowls furvey,
As deftin'd only for his prey?
And do not tyrants, prouder things,
Think men were born for flaves to kings?
When the crab views the pearly strands,
Or TAGUS, bright with golden fands;
Or crawls befide the coral grove,
And hears the ocean roll above;
Nature is too profufe, fays he,
Who gave all thefe to pleasure me!
When bord'ring pinks and rofes bloom,
And ev'ry garden breathes perfume;
When reaches glow with funny dyes,
Tike LAURA's cheek, when blofhes rife;
When with huge figs the branches bend,
When clusters from the vine depend;
The fnail looks round on flow'r and tree,
And cries, All these were made for me!
What dignity's in human nature ?
Says Man, the moft conceited creature,
As from a cliff he caft his eye,
And view'd the fea and arched fky,
The fun was funk beneath the main;
The moon and all the ftarry train,
Hung the vast vault of heav'n. The Man
His contemplation thus began:
When I behold this glorious fhow,
And the wide wat'ry world below,
The fcaly people of the main,
The beafts that range the wood or plain,
The wing'd inhabitants of air,
The day, the night, the various year,
And know all these by heav'n defign'd
As gifts to pleasure human kind;
I cannot raise my worth too high;
Of what vaft confequence am I !
Not of th' importance you fuppofe,
Replies a Flea upon his nose.
Be humble, learn thyfelf to scan;
Know, pride was never made for Man.
'Tis vanity that fwells thy mind,
What, heav'n and earth for thee defign'd!
For thee, made only for our need
That more important Fleas might feed.
The HARE and may FRIENDS.
RIENDSHIP, like love, is but a name,
Unlefs to one you flint the flame,
The child, whom many fathers fhare,
Hath feldom known a father's care.
'Tis thus in friendships; who depend
On many, rarely find a friend.
A Hare, who in a civil way,
Comply'd with every thing, like GAY,
Was known by all the bestial train
Who haunt the wood, or graze the plain.
Her care was, never to offend,
And ev'ry creature was her friend.
As forth fhe went at early dawn,
To tafte the dew-befprinkled lawn,
Behind the hears the hunter's cries,
And from the deep-mouth'd thunder flies.
She starts, she stops, she pants for breath;
She hears the near advance of death ;
She doubles to miflead the hound,
And measures back her mazy round;
"Till fainting in the public way,
Half-dead with fear, fhe gafping lay,
What transport in her bofom grew,
When first the Horse appear'd in view!
Let me, fays fhe, your back afcend,
And owe my fafety to a friend.
You know my feet betray my flight;
To friendship every burden's light.
The Horse reply'd, Poor honest Pufs,
It grieyes my heart to fee thee thus.
Be comforted, relief is near;
your friends are in the rear.
She next the stately Bull implor'd;
And thus reply'd the mighty lord:
Since ev'ry beaft alive can tell
That I fincerely with you well,
I may, without offence, pretend
To take the freedom of a friend.
Love calls me hence; a fav'rite cow
Expects me near yon barley-mow;
|