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 must 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 spite,
Bear ftronger 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 bis HIGHNESS

WILLIAM, DUKE of CUMBERLAND.

11. 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 praise 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 distress,
And pant already to redress.

Go on, the height of good attain,
Nor let a nation hope in vain :
For hence we juftly 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, vanquish'd by the Lion's strength,
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 matchless strength? 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 thefe jaws what numbers fell.
True, fays the Man, the ftrength I faw,
Might well the brutal nation awe;
But fhall a monarch, brave like you,
Place glory in fo false 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;

K 3

Heav'n

Heav'n gives you pow'r above the reft,
Like Heav'n, to fuccour the diftreft.

The cafe is plain, the monarch faid,
Falfe glory hath my youth misled;
For beafts of prey, a fervile train,
Have been the flatt'rers of my reign.
You reafon well. Yet tell me, friend,
Did ever you in courts attend?
For all my fawning rogues agree,
That human heroes rule like me.

A

III.

The SPANIEL and the CAMELEON.

Spaniel, bred with all the care
That waits upon a favourite heir;
Ne'er felt correction's rigid hand,
Indulg'd to difobey command;
In pamper'd eafe his hours were spent,
He never knew what learning meant;
Such forward airs, fo pert, fo fmart,
Were fure to win his lady's heart.
Each little mifchief gain'd him praife;
How pretty were his fawning ways!
The wind was fouth, the morning fair,
He ventures forth to take the air;
He ranges all the meadow round,
And rolls upon the fofteft ground;
When near him a Cameleon seen
Was fcarce diftinguish'd from the green.
Dear emblem of the flatt'ring hoft,
What, live with clowns, a genius loft!
To cities and the court repair,
A fortune cannot fail thee there;
Preferment fhall thy talents crown:
Believe me, friend, I know the town.
Sir, fays the fycophant, like you,
Of old, politer life I knew;
Like you, a courtier born and bred,
Kings lean'd their ear to what I faid;

My

H

My whisper always met fuccefs,
The ladies prais'd me for addrefs;
I knew to hit each courtier's paffion,
And flatter'd every vice in fashion.
But Jove, who hates the liar's ways,
At once cut fhort my profp'rous days,
And, fentenc'd to retain my nature,
Transform'd me to this crawling creature;
Doom'd to a life obfcure and mean,
I wander in the fylvan fcene.
For Jove the heart alone regards,
He punishes what man rewards.
How diff'rent is thy cafe with mine!
With men at least you fup and dine ;
While I, condemn'd to thinnest fare,
Like those I flatter'd, feed on air.

IV.

G1

The MOTHER, the NURSE, and the FAIRY.

IVE me a Son! The bleffing fent,
Were ever parents more content?
How partial are their doating eyes!
No child is half fö fair and wife.
Wak'd to the morning's pleafing care,
The Mother rofe, and fought her heir;
She faw the Nurfe like one poffeft,
With wringing hands and fobbing breast.
Sure fome difafter has befel;

Speak, Nurfe; I hope the boy is well?
Dear Madam, think not me to blame,
Invifible the Fairy came,

Your precious babe is hence convey'd,
And in the place a changeling laid;
Where are the father's mouth and nofe,
'The mother's eyes as black as floes?
See here, a fhocking aukward creature,
That fpeaks a fool in every feature.

The