And, when he fails of all intent,
Blames only unforeseen event.
Left you mistake the application,
The fable calls me to relation.
A Bear of fhag and manners rough,
At climbing trees expert enough;
For dext'rously, and safe from harm,
Year after year he robb'd the fwarm,
Thus thriving on induftrious toil,
He glory'd in his pilfer'd spoil.
This trick fo fwell'd him with conceit,
He thought no enterprize too great.
Alike in fciences and arts,
He boasted universal parts ;
Pragmatic, bufy, bustling, bold,
His arrogance was uncontroul'd:
And thus he made his party good,
And grew diaator of the wood.
The beasts with admiration ftare,
And think him a prodigious Bear.
Were any common booty got,
'Twas his each portion to allot:
For why, he found there might be picking,
Ev'n in the carving of a chicken.
Intruding thus, he by degrees
Claim'd too the butcher's larger fees.
And now his over-weaning pride
In ev'ry province will prefide.
No talk too difficult was found:
His blund'ring nose misleads the hound.
In ftratagem and fubtle arts,
He over-rules the fox's parts.
It chanc'd, as, on a certain day,
Along the bank he took his way,
A boat, with rudder, fail, and oar,
At anchor floated near the shore.
He ftopt, and turning to his train,
Thus pertly vents his vaunting strain.
What blund'ring puppies are mankind,
In every science always blind!
I mock the pedantry of schools.
What are their compaffes and rules?
From me that helm shall conduct learn,
And man his ignorance difcern.
So faying, with audacious pride,
He gains the boat, and climbs the fide.
The beafts aftonifh'd, lin'd the ftrand,
The anchor's weigh'd, he drives from land:
The flack fail fhifts from fide to fide;
The boat untrim'd admits the tide,
Borne down, adrift, at random toft,
His oar breaks fhort, the rudder's loft,
The Bear prefuming in his skill,
Is here and there officious ftill;
Till, ftriking on the dang'rous fands,
A ground the shatter'd vessel stands.
To fee the bungler thus diftreft, The very fishes fneer and jeft. Ev'n gudgeons join in ridicule,
To mortify the meddling fool.
The clam'rous watermen appear;
Threats, curfes, oaths, infult his ear:
Seiz'd, thrash'd and chain'd, he's dragg'd to land; Derifion fhouts along the Arand.
THE man of pure and fimple heart
Through life difdains a double part.
He never needs the screen of lies
His inward bofom to difguife.
In vain malicious tongues affail;
Let envy fnarl, let flander rail,
From virtue's fhield (fecure from wound)
Their blunted, venom'd thafts rebound.
So fhines his light before mankind,
His actions prove his honeft mind.
If in his country's caufe he rife,
Debating fenates to advise,
Unbrib'd, unaw'd, he dares impart
The honeft dictates of his heart,
No ministerial frown he fears,
But in his virtue perfeveres.
But would you play the politician,
Whofe heart's averfe to intuition,
Your lips at all times, nay, your reason
Muft be controul'd by place and feafon.
What statesman could his pow'r fupport,
Were lying tongues forbid the court?
Did princely ears to truth attend,"
What minifter could gain his end?
How could he raife his tools to place,
And how his honest foes difgrace ?
That politician tops his part,
Who readily can lie with art ::
The man's proficient in his trade;
His pow'r is ftrong, his fortune's made.
By that the int'reft of the throne
Is made fubfervient to his own:
By that have kings of old, deluded,
All their own friends for his excluded.
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