It was that God, who claims my prayer,
Who gave thee birth, and rais'd thee there;
When o'er his beams the veil is thrown,
Thy fubftance is but plainer shown:
A paffing gale, a puff of wind
Difpels thy thickest troops combin'd.
The gale arofe; the vapour toft,
(The port of winds) in air was loft;
The glorious orb the day refines :
Thus Envy breaks, thus Merit fhines.

XXX. The Fox at the Point of Death.
Fox, in life's extreme decay,

Weak, fick, and faint, expiring lay;
All appetite had left his maw,

And age difarm'd his mumbling jaw.
His num'rous race around him ftand,
To learn their dying fire's command;
He rais'd his head with whining moan,
And thus was heard the feeble tone :-
Ah fons, from evil ways depart,
My crimes lie heavy on my heart:
See, fee, the murder'd geefe appear!
Why are thofe bleeding turkeys there?
Why all around this cackling train,
Who haunt my ears for chickens flain?
The hungry Foxes round them ftar'd,
And for the promis'd feaft prepar'd.

Where, Sir, is all this dainty cheer?
Nor turkey, goofe, nor hen is here:
Thefe are the phantoms of your brain,
And your fons lick their lips in vain.

O gluttons, fays the drooping fire,
Reftrain inordinate defire;
Your liqu'rish tafte you fhall deplore,
When peace of confcience is no more.

Does

Does not the hound betray our pace,
And gins and guns deftroy our race?
Thieves dread the fearching eye of pow'r,
And never feel the quiet hour.
Old age (which few of us fhall know)
Now puts a period to my woe.
Would you true happiness attain,
Let honefty your paffions rein;
So live in credit and efteem,
And the good-name you loft redeem.
The council's good, a Fox replies,
Could we perform what you advife.
Think what our ancestors have done,
A line of Thieves from fon to fon;
To us defcends the long difgrace,
And infamy hath mark'd our race.
Though we like harmlefs fheep fhould feed,
Honeft in thought, in word, and deed,
Whatever hen-rooft is decreas'd,
We fhall be thought to fhare the feast.
The change fhall never be believ'd;
A loft good-name is ne'er retriev'd.
Nay then, replies the feeble Fox,
(But hark! I hear a hen that clocks)
Go, but be mod'rate in your food;
A chicken too might do me good.

XXXI. The SETTING-DOG and the PARTRIDGE.

HE ranging Dog the ftubble tries,

THE

And fearches every breeze that flies;
The fcent grows warm; with cautious fear
He creeps, and points the covey near.
The men in filence, far behind,
Confcious of game, the net unbind.
A Partridge, with experience wife,
The fraudful preparation fpies,

She

She mocks their toils, alarms her brood,
The covey fprings, and feeks the wood:
But 'ere her certain wing fhe tries, !
Thus to the creeping Spaniel cries.
Thou fawning flave to man's deceit,
Thou pimp of lux'ry, fneaking cheat,
Of thy whole fpecies thou difgrace,
Dogs fhould difown thee of their race!
For if I judge their native parts,
The're born with honeft open hearts,
And 'ere they ferv'd man's wicked ends,
Were gen'rous foes or real friends.

When thus the Dog with fcornful finile:
Secure of wing, thou dar'ft revile;
Clowns are to polish'd manners blind;
How ign'rant is the ruftic mind!
My worth fagacious courtiers fee,
And to preferment rife like me.
The thriving pimp, who beauty fets,
Hath oft enhanc'd a nation's debts;
Friend fets his friend, without regard,
And minifters his fkill reward.

Thus train'd by man, I learnt his ways, And growing favour feafts my days. i

I might have guefs'd, the Partridge, faid, The place where you were train'd and fed;. Servants are apt and in a trice

Ape to a hair their mafter's vice.

You came from court, you fay. Adieu,
She faid, and to the covey flew.

XXXII. The UNIVERSAL APPARITION,

A Rake, by every paffion rul'd,

With every vice his youth had cool'd;

Difeafe his tainted blood affails,

His fpirits droop, his vigour fails; !

With fecret ills at home he pines,
And, like infirm old age, declines.

As, twing'd with pain, he penfive fits,
And raves, and prays, and fwears by fits,
A ghaftly Phantom, lean and wan,
Before him rofe, and thus began.

My name perhaps hath reach'd your ear,
Attend, and be advis'd by Care:
Nor love nor honour, wealth nor pow'r,
Can give the heart a chearful hour,
When health is loft be timely wife;
With health all tafte of pleafure flies.
Thus faid, the Phantom difappears.
The wary council wak'd his fears:
He now from all excefs abftains,
With phyfic purifies his veins;
And, to procure a fober life,
Refolves to venture on a wife.

But now again the Spright afcends,
Where'er he walks his ear attends;
Infinuates that beauty's frail,

That perfeverance must prevail;
With jealoufies his brain inflames,
And whifpers all her lovers' names;
In other hours the reprefents

His houfhold charge, his annual rents,
Increafing debts, perplexing duns,,
And nothing for his younger fons.

Straight all his thought to gain he turns,
And with the thirft of lucre burns;

But when poffefs'd of fortune's ftore,
The Spectre haunts him more and more.
Sets want and mifery in view,

Bold thieves and all the the murd'ring crew;
Alarms him with eternal frights,

Infefts his dreams, or wakes his nights.
How fhall he chace this hideous guest?

Power may perhaps protect his rest;

To

To power he rofe. Again the Spright
Befets him morning, noon, and night,
Talks of ambition's tott'ring feat,
How envy perfecutes the great;
Of rival hate, of treach'rous friends,
And what difgrace his fall attends.

The court he quits to fly from Care,
And feeks the peace of rural air;
His groves, his fields, amus'd his hours,
He prun'd his trees, he rais'd his flowers;
But Care again his fteps pursues,

Warns him of blafts, of blighting dews,
Of plund'ring infects, fnails, and rains,
And droughts that ftarve the labour'd plains.
Abroad, at home, the Spectre's there;
In vain we seek to fly from Care.

At length he thus the ghoft addrest:
Since thou must be my conftant guest,
Be kind, and follow me no more;
For Care, by right, should go before.

XXXIII. The Two OwLs and the SPARROW.

WO formal Owls together fat,

Conferring thus in folemn chat :
How is the modern tafte decay'd!
Where's the refpect to wifdom paid?
Our worth the Grecian fages knew,
They gave our fires the honour due;
They weigh'd the dignity of fowls,
And pry'd into the depth of Owls.

Athens, the feat of learned fame,
With gen'ral voice rever'd our name;
On merit title was conferr'd,
And all ador'd the Athenian bird.

Brother, you reafon well, replies
The folemn mate, with half-fhut eyes: