Thus said, close following at her heel,
With cheerful heart he mounts the wheel.
THE RAVENS, THE SEXTON, AND THE EARTHWORM.
LAURA, methinks you're over nice.
True, flatt'ry is a shocking vice;
Yet sure, whene'er the praise is just,
ne may commend without disgust.
Am I a privilege deny'd,
Indulg'd by ev'ry tongue beside ?
How singular are all your ways!
A woman, and averse to praise !
If 'tis offence such truths to tell,
Why do your merits thus excel?
Since then I dare not speak my mind,
A truth conspicuous to mankind;
Tho' in full lustre ev'ry grace
Distinguish your celestial face;
Tho' beauties of inferior ray
(Like stars before the orb of day)
Turn pale and fade; I check my lays,
Admiring what I dare not praise.
If you the tribute due disdain,
The Muse's mortifying strain
Shall, like a woman in mere spite,
Set beauty in a moral light.
Tho' such revenge might shock the ear Of many a celebrated fair,
I mean that superficial race
Whose thoughts ne'er reach beyond their face.
What's that to you? I but displease
Such ever-girlish ears as these.
Virtue can brook the thoughts of age,
That lasts the same thro' ev'ry stage.
Tho' you by time must suffer more
Than ever woman lost before,
To age is such indiff'rence shown,
As if your face were not your own.
Were you by Antoninus taught?
Or is it native strength of thought,
That thus, without concern or fright,
You view yourself by Reason's light?
Those eyes of so divine a ray,
What are they? mould'ring, mortal clay.
Those features, cast in heavn'ly mould,
Shall, like my coarser earth grow old;
Like common grass the fairest flow'r
Must feel the hoary season's pow'r.
How weak, how vain, is human pride!
Dares man upon himself confide?
The wretch who glories in his gain
Amasses heaps on heaps in vain.
Why lose we life in anxious cares,
To lay in hoards for future years?
Can those (when tortur'd by disease)
Cheer our sick heart, or purchase ease?
Can those prolong one gasp of breath,
Or calm the troubled hour of death?
What's beauty? Call ye that your own?
A flow'r that fades as soon as blown.
What's man in all his boast of sway?
Perhaps the tyrant of a day.
Alike the laws of life take place
Thro' ev'ry branch of human race.
The monarch of long regal line
Was rais'd from dust as frail as mine.
Can he pour health into his veins ?
Or cool the fever's restless pains?
Can he (worn down in Nature's course?)
New-brace his feeble nerves with force?
Can he, (how vain is mortal pow'r!)
Stretch life beyond the destin'd hour?
Consider, Man; weigh well thy frame;
The king, the beggar, is the same.
Dust form'd us all. Each breathes his day,
Then sinks into his native clay.
Beneath a venerable yew,
That in the lonely church-yard grew,
Two Ravens sate. In solemn croak
Thus one his hungry friend bespoke:
Methinks I scent some rich repast;
The savour strengthens with the blast;
Snuff then, the promis'd feast inhale;
I taste the carcass in the gale.
Near yonder trees the farmer's steed,
From toil and ev'ry drudg'ry freed,
Hath groan'd his last. A dainty treat!
To birds of taste delicious meat.
A Sexton, busy at his trade,
To hear their chat suspends his spade.
Death struck him with no farther thought,
Than merely as the fees he brought.
Was ever two such blund'ring fowls,
In brains and manners less than owls!
Blockheads, says he, learn more respect:
Know ye on whom ye thus reflect?
In this same grave (who does me right
Must own the work is strong and tight)
The 'Squire that yon' fair hall possest,
To-night shall lay his bones at rest.
Whence could the gross mistake proceed?
The 'Squire was somewhat fat indeed.
What then, the meanest bird of prey
Such want of sense could ne'er betray;
For sure some difference must be found
(Suppose the smelling organ sound)
In carcasses, (say what we can)
Or where's the dignity of man?"
Volume 11.
With due respect to human race The Ravens undertook the case.
In such similitude of scent
Man ne'er could think reflections meant,
As epicures ex'ol a treat,
The ven'son of the prescient brood.
The Sexton's indignation mov'd;
The mean comparison reprov'd;
Their undiscerning palate blam'd,
Which two-legg'd carrion thus defam'd.
Reproachful speech from either side
The want of argument supply'd:
They rail, revile; as often ends
The contest of disputing friends.
Hold, says the Fowl; since human pride
With confutation ne'er comply'd,
Let's state the case, and then refer
The knotty point, for taste may err.
As thus he spoke, from out the mould
An Earthworm, huge of size, unroll'd
His monstrous length: they strait agree
To chuse him as their referee :
So to th' experience of his jaws
Each states the merits of the cause.
He paus'd, and, with a solemn tone,
Thus made his sage opinion known:
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