POETICAL WORKS

OF

JOHN GAY.

VOL. III.

CONTAINING

HIS FABLES.

IN TWO PARTS.

Shall not my Fables censure vice,
Because a knave is over nice?
If I lash vice in gen'ral fiction,
Is 't I apply, or self-conviction ?
Brutes are my theme. Am I to blame,
If men in morals are the same?

I no man call or ape or ass;

'Tis his own conscience holds the glass.

Thus void of all offence I write:

Who claims the Fable knows his right.

PROL. TO THE SHEP. WEEK.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR, AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF, G. CAWTHORN, BRITISH LIBRARY, STRAND.

POETICAL WORKS

OF

JOHN GAY.

VOL. III.

CONTAINING

HIS FABLES.

IN TWO PARTS.

Shall not my Fables censure vice,
Because a knave is over nice?
If I lash vice in gen'ral fiction,
Is 't I apply, or self-conviction?
Brutes are my theme. Am I to blame,
If men in morals are the same?

I no man call or ape or ass;

"Tis his own conscience holds the glass.

Thus void of all offence I write:

Who claims the Fable knows his right.

PROL. TO THE SHEP. WEEK.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR, AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF, G. CAWTHORN, BRITISH LIBRARY, STRAND.