1. The SHEPHERD and the PHILOSOPHER.
EMOTE from cities liv'd a Swain,
Unvex'd with all the cares of gain.
His head was filver'd o'er with age,
And long experience made him fage;
In fummer's heat, and winter's cold,
He fed his flock, and pen'd the fold;
His hours in chearful labour flew,
Nor envy-nor ambition knew;
His wifdom and his honeft fame,
Through all the country rais'd his name.
A deep Philofopher (whose rules
Of moral life were drawn from schools)
The Shepherd's homely cottage fought,
And thus explor'd his reach of thought:
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Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil
O'er books confum'd the midnight oil?
Haft thou old Greece and Rome furvey'd,
And the vaft fenfe of Plato weigh'd?
Has Socrates thy foul refin'd?
And haft thou fathom'd Tully's mind?
Or, like the wife Ulyffes, thrown,
By various fates on realms unknown,
Haft thou through many cities ftray'd,
Their cuftoms, laws, and manners weigh'd?
The Shepherd modeftly reply'd,
I ne'er the paths of learning try'd;
Nor have I roam'd in foreign parts,
To read mankind, their laws and arts;
For man is practis'd in difguife,
He cheats the moft difcerning eyes:
Who by that fearch fhall wifer grow,
When we ourselves can never know?
The little knowledge I have gain'd,
Was all from fimple Nature drain'd;
Hence my life's maxims took their rife,
Hence grew my fettled hate to vice.
The daily labours of the Bee
Awake my foul to industry.
Who can obferve the careful Ant,
And not provide for future want?
My Dog (the truftieft of his kind)
With gratitude inflames my mind:
I mark his true, his faithful way,
And in my fervice copy Tray.
In conftancy, and nuptial love,
I learn my duty from the Dove.
The Hen, who from the chilly air
With pious wing protects her care;
And ev'ry fowl that flies at large
Inftructs me in a parent's charge.
From Nature too I take my rule,
To fhun contempt and ridicule.
I never with important air,
In converfation overbear;
Can grave and formal pafs for wife,
When men the folemn Owl defpife?
My tongue within my lips I rein,
For who talks much muft talk in vain :
We from the wordy torrent fly,
Who liftens to the chattering Pye?
Nor would I with felonious flight
By stealth invade my neighbour's right;
Rapacious animals we hate :
Kites, Hawks, and Wolves deferve their fate.
Do not we just abhorrence find
Against the Toad and Serpent kind?
But envy, calumny, and fpite,
Bear stronger venom in their bite.
Thus every object of creation
Can furnish hints to contemplation;
And from the moft minute and mean,
A virtuous mind can morals glean.
Thy fame is juft, the Sage replies,
Thy virtue proves thee truly wife;
Pride often guides the Author's pen,
Books as affected are as Men;
But he who ftudies Nature's laws,'
From certain Truth his maxims draws;
And thofe, without our Schools, fuffice
To make Men moral, good, and wife.
To his HIGHNESS
WILLIAM, DUKE of CUMBERLAND.
The LION, the TIGER, and the TRAVELLER
ACCEPT, young Prince, the moral lay,
And in thefe Tales mankind furvey;
With early Virtues plant your breaft,
The fpecious arts of Vice deteft.
Princes, like beauties, from their youth,
Are ftrangers to the voice of truth;
Learn to contemn all praife betimes,
For flattery's the nurfe of crimes:
Friendship by fweet reproof is fhown,
(A virtue never near a throne);
In courts fuch freedom muft offend,
There none prefumes to be a friend;
To thofe of your exalted ftation
Each courtier is a dedication;
Muft I too flatter like the reft,
And turn my morals to a jeft?
The Mufe difdains to fteal from thofe
Who thrive in courts by fulfome profe.
But fhall I hide your real praife,
Or tell you what a nation fays?
They in your infant bofom trace
The virtues of your royal race;
In the fair dawning of your mind
Difcern you gen'rous, mild, and kind;
They fee you grieve to hear diftrefs,
And pant already to redrefs.
Go on, the height of good attain,
Nor let a nation hope in vain :
For hence we justly may prefage
The virtues of a riper age.
True courage fhall your bofom fire,
And future actions own your fire.
Cowards are cruel; but the brave
Love mercy, and delight to fave.
A Tiger, roaming for his prey,
Sprung on a Trav'ler in the way;
The proftrate game a Lion fpies,
And on the greedy tyrant flies:
With mingled roar refounds the wood,
Their teeth, their claws diftil with blood,
Till, vanquifh'd by the Lion's ftrength,
The fpotted foe extends his length.
The Man befought the fhaggy lord,
And on his knees for life implor'd:
His life the gen'rous hero gave.
Together walking to his cave,
The Lion thus bespoke his gueft:-
What hardy beaft fhall dare conteft
My matchlefs ftrength? You faw the fight,
And muft atteft my pow'r and right.
Forc'd to forego their native home,
My ftarving flaves at diftance roam.
Within thefe woods I reign alone,
The boundless foreft is my own;
Bears, Wolves, and all the favage brood,
Have dy'd the regal den with blood;
Thefe carcafes on either hand,
Thofe bones that whiten all the land;
My former deeds and triumphs tell,
Beneath these jaws what numbers fell.
True, fays the Man, the ftrength I saw,
Might well the brutal nation awe;
But fhall a monarch, brave like you,
Place glory in fo falfe a view?
Robbers invade their neighbours right.
Be lov'd. Let juftice bound your might.
Mean are ambitious heroes boafts
Of wafted lands and flaughter'd hofts;
Pirates their pow'r by murders gain,
Wife kings by love and mercy reign;
To me your clemency hath fhown
The virtue worthy of a throne;
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