Each day a fifter-lamb is ferv'd,

And at the Glutton's table carv'd;
The crashing bones he grinds for food,
And flakes his thirst with streaming blood.
Love, who the cruel mind detests,
And lodges but in gentle breasts,
Was now no more. Enjoyment past,
The Savage hunger'd for the feaft:
But (as we find, in human race,
A mask conceals the Villain's face)
Justice muft authorize the treat;
Till then he long'd, but durft not eat.

As forth he walk'd in queft of prey,
The hunters met him on the way;
Fear wings his flight; the marsh he fought;
The fnuffing dogs are fet at fault.
His ftomach balk'd, now hunger gnaws,
Howling he grinds his empty jaws;
Food must be had--and Lamb is nigh;
His maw invokes the fraudful lye.
Is this (diffembling rage, he cry'd)
The gentle virtue of a bride?

That, leagu'd with man's deftroying race,
She fets her hufband for the chace?
By treach'ry prompts the noify hound
To fcent his footsteps on the ground?
Thou Trait'refs vile! for this thy blood
Shall glut my rage, and dye the wood!
So faying, on the Lamb he flies,
Beneath his jaws the Victim dies.

I

LXXI The Goose and the SWANS.

HATE the face, however fair,
That carries an affected air;
The lifping tone, the fhape conftrain'd,
The study'd look, the paffion feign'd,

M.

Are

Are fopperies, which only tend
To injure what they ftrive to mend.
With what fuperior grace enchants
The face, which Nature's pencil paints !
Where eyes, unexercis'd in art,

Glow with the meaning of the heart?
Where freedom, and good-humour fit,
And eafy gaiety, and wit!

1

Tho' perfect beauty be not there,
The mafter lines, the finifh'd air,
We catch from ev'ry look delight,
And grow enamour'd at the fight;
For beauty, tho' we all approve,
Excites our wonder more than love;
While the agreeable strikes fure,
And gives the wounds we cannot cure.
Why then, my Amoret, this care,
That forms you, in effect, less fair?
If Nature on your cheek beftows
A bloom, that emulates the rofe,
Or from fome heavenly image drew,
A form, Apelles never knew,
Your ill-judg'd aid will you impart,
And fpoil by meretricious art?
Or had you, Nature's error, come
Abortive from the mother's womb,
Your forming care fhe ftill rejects,
Which only heightens her defects.
When fuch, of glitt'ring jewels proud,
Still prefs the formeft in the croud,
At ev'ry public fhew are feen,
With look awry, and aukward mein,
The gaudy drefs attracts the eye,
And magnifies deformity.

Nature may underdo her part,
But feldom wants the help of art;
Truft her, 'fhe is your fureft friend,
Nor made your form for you to mend,

A

A Goofe, affected, empty, vain, The fhrilleft of the cackling train, With proud, and elevated creft, Precedence claim'd above the reft.

Says fhe, I laugh at human race,
Who fay, Geefe hobble in their pace;
Look here!-the fland'rous lie detect;
Not haughty man is fo erect.

That peacock yonder! Lord, how vain.
The creature's of his gaudy train!
If both were stript, I'd pawn my word,
A Goofe would be the finer bird.
Nature, to hide her own defects,

Her bungled work with fin'ry decks;
Were Geefe fet off with half that fhew,
Would men admire the peacock? No.

Thus vaunting, cross the mead the stalks,
The cackling breed attend her walks;
The Sun fhot down his noon-tide beams,
The Swans were sporting in the ftreams;
Their fnowy plumes, and ftately pride
Provok'd her fpleen. Why there, the cry'd,
Again, what arrogance we fee!--
Those creatures! how they mimic me!
Shall ev'ry fowl the waters fkim,

Because we Geefe are known to fwim?
Humility they foon fhall learn,
And their own emptinefs difcern.

So faying, with extended wings,
Lightly upon the wave the fprings;
Her bofom fwells, fhe fpreads her plumes,
And the Swan's ftately creft affumes.
Contempt and mockery enfu'd,

And bursts of laughter fhook the flood.
A Swan, fuperior to the reft,

Sprung forth, and thus the fool addrefs'd:
Conceited thing, elate with pride!

Thy affectation all deride;

Thefe

These airs thy aukwardnefs impart,
And fhew thee plainly as thou art.
Among thy equals of the flock,
Thou had'ft efcap'd the public mock,
And as thy parts to good conduce,
Been deem'd an honeft hobbling Goofe.
Learn hence to ftudy Wisdom's rules;
Know, foppery's the pride of fools;
And ftriving Nature to conceal,
You only her defects reveal.

L

LXXII. The LAWYER and JUSTICE.

OVE! thou divineft good below,
Thy pure delights few mortals know I
Our rebel hearts thy fway disown,
While tyrant luft ufurps thy throne!
The bounteous God of Nature made
The fexes for each other's aid,
Their mutual talents to employ,
To leffen ills, and heighten joy.
To weaker woman he affign'd
That foft'ning gentleness of mind,
That can, by fympathy, impart
Its likenefs, to the rougheft heart,
Her eyes with magic power endu'd,
To fire the dull, and awe the rude.
The rofy fingers on her face
Shed lavish ev'ry blooming grace,
And ftamp'd (perfection to difplay)
His mildeft image on her clay,

Man, active, refolute, and bold,
He fafhion'd in a different mould,
With useful arts his mind inform'd,
His breaft with nobler paffions warm'd;
He gave him knowledge, tafte and fenfe,
And courage, for the fair's defence.

M.

Her

Her frame, refiftlefs to each wrong,
Demands protection from the strong;
To man fhe flies, when fear alarms,
And claims the temple of his arms.

By Nature's Author thus declar'd
The woman's fov'reign, and her guard,
Shall man, by treach'rous wiles invade
The weakness, he was meant to aid?
While beauty, given to infpire
Protecting love, and foft defire,
Lights up a wild-fire in the heart,
And to its own breaft points the dart,
Becomes the fpoiler's bafe pretence
To triumph over innocence?

The wolf, that tears the tim'rous fheep,
Was never fet the fold to keep;
Nor was the tyger, or the pard
Meant the benighted traveller's guard;
But man, the wildeft beaft of prey,
Wears friendship's femblance to betray;
His ftrength against the weak employs,
And where he fhould protect, deftroys.
Paft twelve o'clock, the watchman cry'd,
His brief the ftudious lawyer ply'd;
The all-prevailing fee lay nigh,
The earnest of to-morrow's lye;
Sudden the furious winds arife,
The jarring cafement shatter'd flies;
The doors admit a hollow found,
And rattling from their hinges bound;
When Juftice in a blaze of light,
Reveal'd her radiant form to fight.
The wretch with thrilling horror fhook,
Loofe ev'ry joint, and pale his look;
Not having feen her in the courts,
Or found her mention'd in reports,
He afk'd, with fault'ring tongue, her name,
Her errand there, and whence fhe came?

Stern