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INTRODUCTION

TO THE

FABLES.

PART FIRST.

THE SHEPHERD AND THE PHILOSOPHER.

REMOTE from cities liv'd a swain,
Unvex'd with all the cares of gain;
His head was silver'd o'er with age,
And long experience made him sage;
In summer's heat, and winter's cold,
He fed his flock, and penn'd the fold:
His hours in cheerful labour flew,
Nor envy nor ambition knew:
His wisdom and his honest fame
Thro' all the country rais'd his name.

A deep philosopher (whose rules
Of moral life were drawn from schools)
The Shepherd's homely cottage sought,
And thus explor'd his reach of thought.
Whence is thy learning? hath thy toil
O'er books consum'd the midnight oil?

Hast thou old Greece and Rome survey'd,
And the vast sense of Plato weigh'd?
Hath Socrates thy soul refin'd,

And hast thou fathom'd Tully's mind?
Or, like the wise Ulysses, thrown,
By various fates, on realms unknown,
Hast thou thro' many cities stray'd,

Their customs, laws, and manners weigh'd?
The Shepherd modestly reply'd,

I ne'er the paths of learning try'd:
Nor have I roam'd in foreign parts

To read mankind, their laws and arts;
For man is practis'd in disguise,
He cheats the most discerning eyes;
Who by that search shall wiser grow,
When we ourselves can never know?
The little knowledge I have gain'd
Was all from simple Nature drain'd;
Hence my life's maxims took their rise,
Hence grew my settled hate to vice.

The daily labours of the bee

Awake my soul to industry:
Who can observe the careful ant,
And not provide for future want?
My dog (the trustiest of his kind)
With gratitude inflames my mind:
I mark his true, his faithful way,
And in my service copy Tray.

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In constancy and nuptial love
I learn my duty from the dove;
The hen, who from the chilly air,
With pious wing protects her care,
And ev'ry fowl that flies at large
Instructs me in a parent's charge.

From Nature, too, I take my rule,
To shun contempt and ridicule.
I never, with important air,
In conversation overbear.

Can grave and formal pass for wise
When men the solemn owl despise?
My tongue within my lips I rein,

For who talks much must talk in vain.
We from the wordy torrent fly:
Who listens to the chatt'ring pie?

Nor would I, with felonious slight,
By stealth invade my neighbour's right.
Rapacious animals we hate :

Kites, hawks, and wolves, deserve their fate.
Do not we just abhorrence find
Against the toad and serpent kind?
But Envy, Calumny, and Spite,
Bear stronger venom in their bite.
Thus ev'ry object of creation
Can furnish hints to contemplation;
And from the most minute and mean
A virtuous mind can morals glean.

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Thy fame is just, the Sage replies;
Thy virtue proves thee truly wise.
Pride often guides the author's pen;
Books as affected are as men :

But he who studies Nature's laws
From certain truth his maxims draws;
And those, without our schools, suffice
To make men moral, good, and wise.

80

TO HIS HIGHNESS

WILLIAM,

DUKE OF CUMBERLAND.

FABLE I.

THE LION, THE TIGER, AND THE TRAVELLER.

ACCEPT, young Prince! the moral lay,
And in these TALES mankind survey:
With early virtues plant your breast,
The specious arts of vice detest.

Princes, like beauties, from their youth
Are strangers to the voice of Truth.
Learn to contemn all praise betimes,
For flattery's the nurse of crimes:
Friendship by sweet reproof is shown;
(A virtue never near a throne)
In courts such freedom must offend;
There none presumes to be a friend.
To those of your exalted station
Each courtier is a dedication.
Must I too flatter like the rest,

And turn my morals to a jest?

The Muse disdains to steal from those

Who thrive in courts by fulsome prose.

But shall I hide your real praise, Or tell you what a nation says?

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