"What virgin had not done as I did ?

My modeft hand, by nature guided, "Debarr'd at once from human eyes "The feat where female honour lies;

And, though thrice dipt from top to toe, "I ftill fecur'd the poft below, "And guarded it with grafp so fast "Not one drop through my fingers past. "Thus owe I to my bashful care, "That all the rage is fettled there."

Weigh well the projects of mankind;
Then tell me, Reader, canft thou find
The man from madness wholly free?
They all are mad
fave you and me,
Do not the statefman, fop, and wit,
By daily follies prove they 're bit ?
And, when the briny cure they try'd,

Some part still kept above the tide ?

Some men (when drench'd beneath the wave)
High o'er their heads their fingers fave:
Those hands by mean extortion thrive,

Or in the pocket lightly dive:
Or, more expert in pilfering vice,
They burn and itch to cog the dice.
Plunge-in a courtier; ftrait his fears

Direct his hands to stop his ears.
And now truth seems a grating noise,
He loves the flanderer's whispering voice;

He hangs on flattery with delight,
And thinks all fulfome praife is right.
All women dread a watery death:

They fhut their lips, to hold their breath;
And, though you duck them ne'er so long,
Not one falt drop e'er wets their tongue :
"Tis hence they scandal have at will,
And that this member ne'er lies ftill.

THE

THE

QUID NUNK I'S:

A

TA L E.

OCCASIONED.

By the DEATH of the DUKE REGENT of FRANCE:

Ho

OW vain are mortal man's endeavours? (faid, at dame Elliot's *, mafter Travers) Good Orleans dead! in truth 'tis hard: Oh, may all statesmen die prepar'd! I do forefee (and for fore-feeing He equals any man in being)

The army ne'er can be disbanded.

5

-I wish the King were fafely landed.

Ah, friends! great changes threat the land;
All France and England at a stand!

There's Meroweis - mark! ftrange work!

--

And there's the Czar, and there's the Turk;
The Pope
An India merchant by,

Cut fhort the speech with this reply:

10

"All at a ftand? You fee great changes? 15 "Ah, Sir! you never saw the Ganges. "There dwell the nations of Quidnunki's

"On their bank, from bough to bough, "They meet and chat (as we may now).

20

Whispers go round, they grin, they fhrug, "They bow, they fnarl, they fcratch, they hug; "And, just as chance or whim provoke them, "They either bite their friends, or stroke them. "There have I feen fome active prig,

"To fhew his parts, beftride a twig:

"Lord! how the chattering tribe admire,
"Not that he 's wifer, but he 's higher:
"All long to try the venturous thing
"(For power is but to have one's swing);
"From fide to fide he fprings, he spurns,
"And bangs his foes and friends by turns..
"Thus, as in giddy freaks he bounces,

"Crack goes the twig, and in he flounces !

25

30

"Down the swift ftream the wretch is borne ; 35: "Never, ah never, to return!

"Zounds! what a fall had our dear brother; "Morbleu! cries one; and Damme! t'other. "The nations give a general screech;

"None cocks his tail, none claws his breech; 40% "Each trembles for the public weal,

"And for a while forgets to steal.

"A while, all eyes, intent and fteddy, "Purfue him, whirling down the eddy. "But, out of mind when out of view, "Some other mounts the twig anew; "And bufinefs, on each monkey-shore, "Runs the fame track it went before."

45

FABLES.

A B BLE S.

FA

ΙΝ TWO PARTS.

-

"Shall not my Fables cenfure vice,
"Because a knave is over-nice ?
"If I lafh vice in general fiction,
"Is 't I apply, or felf-conviction ?

Brutes are my theme. Am I to blame,
"If men in morals are the fame ?
"I no man call or ape or afs;

""Tis his own confcience holds the glass.

"Thus void of all offence I write :

"Who claims the Fable, knows his right."

PROL. TO SHEP. WEEK.

INTRODUCTION TO THE FABLES.

PART THE FIRST.

THE SHEPHERD AND THE PHILOSOPHER.

REMOTE from cities liv'd a Swain,

Unvex'd with all the cares of gain;
His head was filver'd o'er with age,
And long experience made him fage;

In