Should we state myfteries difclofe,
"Twould lay us open to our foes.
My duty and my well-known zeal

Bid me our prefent schemes conceal :
But, on my honour, all th' expence

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(Though vaft) was for the fwarm's defence." 120 They paft th' account as fair and jast, And voted him implicit trust.

Next year again, the granary drain'd, He thus his innocence maintain'd.

"Think how our present matters ftand, 125 What dangers threat from every hand; What hofts of turkeys ftroll for food, No farmer's wife but hath her brood.

Confider, when invafion 's near,

Intelligence muft coft us dear;
And, in this ticklish fituation,
A fecret told betrays the nation :

But, on my honour, all th' expence

(Though vaft) was for the fwarm's defence." Again, without examination,

They thank'd his fage adminiftration.

The year revolves. Their treafure, fpent,

Again in fecret fervice went.

His honour, too, again was pledg'd,

To fatisfy the charge alledg'd.

When thus, with pannic fhame poffefs'd,

An auditor his friends addrefs'd.

"What are we? minifterial tools!

We little knaves are greater fools.

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At

At laft this fecret is explor'd,
'Tis our corruption thins the hoard.
For every grain we touch'd, at least
A thousand his own heaps increas'd.
Then for his kin and favourite spies,
A hundred hardly could fuffice.
Thus, for a paltry sneaking bribe,
We cheat ourselves and all the tribe;
For all the magazine contains

Grows from our annual toil and pains."

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They vote th' account fhall be infpected; 155 The cunning plunderer is detected;

The fraud is fentenc'd; and his hoard,

As due, to public ufe reftor'd.

FABLE V.

THE BEAR IN A BOAT.

To a Coxcomb.

THAT man must daily wifer grow,

Whose search is bent himself to know;

Impartially he weighs his fcope,
And on firm reafon founds his hope;
He tries his ftrength before the race,
And never feeks his own difgrace;
He knows the compass, fail, and oar,
Or never launches from the shore
Before he builds, computes the cost,
And in no proud pursuit is loft:

;

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10

He

He learns the bounds of human fenfe,
And fafely walks within the fence.
Thus, confcious of his own defect,
Are pride and felf-importance check'd.
If then, felf-knowledge to purfue,
Direct our life in every view,
Of all the fools that pride can boast,
A Coxcomb claims diftinction most.
Coxcombs are of all ranks and kind;
They 're not to fex or age confin'd,
Or rich, or poor, or great, or small,
And vanity befots them all.

By ignorance is pride increas'd:

Those most affume, who know the least;

Their own falfe balance gives them weight, 25 But every other finds them light.

Not that all Coxcombs' follies ftrike,

And draw our ridicule alike;

To different merits each pretends:

This in love-vanity transcends;

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That, fmitten with his face and shape,

By dress distinguishes the ape;

Th' other with learning crams his shelf,
Knows books, and all things but himself.

All these are fools of low condition,
Compar'd with Coxcombs of ambition :
For those, puff'd up with flattery, dare
Affume a nation's various care.
They ne'er the groffeft praise miftrust,
Their fycophants feem hardly juft;

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For

For thefe, in part alone, attest

The flattery their own thoughts fuggeft.
In this wide sphere a Coxcomb's shown
In other realms befides his own:
The self-deem'd Machiavel at large
By turns controls in every charge.
Does Commerce fuffer in her rights?
"Tis he directs the naval flights.
What failor dares difpute his skill ?
He'll be an admiral when he will.

Now, meddling in the foldier's trade,
Troops must be hir'd, and levies made.
He gives ambaffadors their cue,

His cobbled treaties to renew;
And annual taxes muft fuffice

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The current blunders to disguise.

When his crude fchemes in air are loft,

And millions scarce defray the cost,
His arrogance (nought undismay'd)
Trufting in felf-fufficient aid,

On other rocks mifguides the realm,
And thinks a pilot at the helm.
He ne'er fufpects his want of skill,
But blunders on from ill to ill;
And, when he fails of all intent,
Blames only unforeseen event.
Left you mistake the application,
The Fable calls me to relation.

A Bear of fhag and manners rough,

At climbing trees expert enough;

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For

For dextrously, and safe from harm,

Year after year he robb'd the swarm.
Thus thriving on industrious toil,

He glory'd in his pilfer'd spoil.

This trick fo fwell'd him with conceit,

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He thought no enterprife too great.
Alike in fciences and arts,

He boasted univerfal parts:
Pragmatic, bufy, bustling, bold,
His arrogance was uncontrol'd:
And thus he made his party good,
And grew

dictator of the wood.

The beafts, with admiration, ftare,

And think him a prodigious Bear.

Were any common booty got,

"Twas his each portion to allot :

For why he found there might be picking,
Ev'n in the carving of a chicken.

Intruding thus, he by degrees

Claim'd, too, the butcher's larger fees.
And now his over-weening pride
In every province will prefide.

No task too difficult was found:

His blundering nofe mifleads the hound.
In ftratagem and subtle arts
He over-rules the fox's parts.

It chanc'd as, on a certain day,
Along the bank he took his way,
A boat, with rudder, fail, and oar,
At anchor floated near the shore.

So

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He