THE LION, THE FOX, AND THE GEESE.

A

LION, tir'd with state-affairs,

Quite fick of pomp, and worn with cares,
Refolv❜d (remote from noise and strife)
In peace to pafs his latter life.

It was proclaim'd; the day was fet;
Behold the general council met.

The Fox was viceroy nam'd. The crowd
To the new regent humbly bow'd.
Wolves, bears, and mighty tigers, bend,
And ftrive who moft fhall condefcend.
He ftraight affumes a folemn grace,
Collects his wifdom in his face.
The crowd admire his wit, his fenfe;
Each word hath weight and confequence.
The flatterer all his art difplays :
He who hath power is fure of praise.

A Fox ftept forth before the reft,
And thus the fervile throng addreft:

"How vaft his talents, born to rule,
And train'd in Virtue's honeft school!
What clemency his temper sways!
How uncorrupt are all his ways!
Beneath his conduct and command,
Rapine fhall cease to waste the land.
His brain hath ftratagem and art;
Prudence and mercy rule his heart.

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What

What bleffings must attend the nation
Under this good administration !"

He faid. A Goofe, who distant stood,
Harangu'd apart the cackling brood:
"Whene'er I hear a knave commend,
He bids me fhun his worthy friend.
What praise ! what mighty commendation!
But 'twas a Fox who spoke th' oration.
Foxes this government may prize,
As gentle, plentiful, and wife;

If they enjoy the sweets, 'tis plain
We Geese must feel a tyrant-reign.

What havock now fhall thin our race,

When every petty clerk in place,

To prove his tafte, and seem polite,
Will feed on Geefe both noon and night !"

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35

40

WHAT

HAT whispers must the Beauty bear !
What hourly nonsense haunts her ear!
Where'er her eyes difpenfe their charms,
Impertinence around her swarms.
Did not the tender nonfenfe ftrike,
Contempt and fcorn might look diflike;
Forbidding airs might thin the place,
The flightest flap a fly can chace :
But who can drive the numerous breed?
Chace one, another will fucceed.

10 Who

Who knows a fool, must know his brother;
One fop will recommend another :

And with this plague the 's rightly curft,
Because the liften'd to the first.

As Doris, at her toilette's duty,
Sate meditating on her beauty,
She now was pensive, now was gay,
And loll'd the fultry hours away.

As thus in indolence the lies,
A giddy Wafp around her flies.
He now advances, now retires,
Now to her neck and cheek afpires.
Her fan in vain defends her charms;
Swift he returns, again alarms;
For by repulfe he bolder grew,

Perch'd on her lip, and fipt the dew.

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"Good Gods! fhe cries,

Protect me from these teazing flies!

Of all the plagues that Heaven hath fent,

A Wafp is most impertinent."

The hovering infect thus complain'd;
"Am I then flighted, fcorn'd, disdain'd?
Can fuch offence your anger wake?
'Twas beauty caus'd the bold mistake.
Thofe cherry-lips that breathe perfume,
That cheek fo ripe with youthful bloom,
Made me with strong defire purfue
The faireft peach that ever grew."

"Strike him not, Jenny, Doris cries, Nor murder Wafps like vulgar flies;

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40

For

For though he's free (to do him right),
The creature's civil and polite."

In ecftafies away he posts;

Where'er he came, the favour boasts;

Brags how her fweetest tea he fips,

And shows the fugar on his lips.

The hint alarm'd the forward crew;

Sure of fuccefs, away they flew :
They share the dainties of the day,
Round her with airy mufic play:
And now they flutter, now they rest,
Now foar again, and skim her breast.
Nor were they banish'd, till fhe found
That Wafps have ftings, and felt the wound.

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50.

THE BULL AND THE MASTIFF.

SEEK you to train your favourite boy?
Each caution, every care employ ;

And, ere you venture to confide,
Let his preceptor's heart be try'd :
Weigh well his manners, life, and scope ;
On these depends thy future hope.

As on a time, in peaceful reign,
A Bull enjoy'd the flowery plain,
A Maftiff pafs'd; inflam'd with ire,
His eye-balls hot indignant fire.
He foam'd, he rag'd with thirst of blood.
Spurning the ground, the monarch stood,

5

ΙΟ

And

And roar'd aloud: "Sufpend the fight;
In a whole fkin go fleep to-night:
Or tell me, ere the battle rage,
What wrongs provoke thee to engage
Is it ambition fires thy breaft,

Or avarice, that ne'er can rest?
From these alone unjustly fprings
The world-deftroying wrath of kings."
The furly Maftiff thus returns:
"Within my bofom glory burns.
Like heroes of eternal name,
Whom poets fing, I fight for fame.
The butcher's fpirit-stirring mind
To daily war my youth inclin'd;
He train❜d me to heroic deed,

Taught me to conquer, or to bleed.”

"Curs'd Dog, the Bull reply'd, no more

I wonder at thy thirst of

gore;

For thou (beneath a butcher train'd,
Whofe hands with cruelty are ftain'd,

His daily murders in thy view)

Muft, like thy tutor, blood purfue.

Take, then, thy fate." With goring wound 35

At once he lifts him from the ground:

Aloft the sprawling hero flies,
Mangled he falls, he howls, and dies.

FABLE