"Within these woods I reign alone;

"The boundless foreft is my own.

"Bears, wolves, and all the savage brood, 55 "Have dy'd the regal den with blood. "Thefe carcaffes on either hand,

"Those bones that whiten all the land,

"My former deeds and triumphs tell,

"Beneath these jaws what numbers fell."

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"True," fays the Man," the strength I faw

Might well the brutal nation awe;

"But shall a monarch, brave, like you, "Place glory in so false a view?

"Robbers invade their neighbour's right.
"Be lov'd; let justice bound your might.
"Mean are ambitious heroes' boasts
"Of wafted lands and flaughter'd hofts.
"Pirates their power by murders gain;
"Wife kings by love and mercy reign.
"To me your clemency hath shown

The virtue worthy of a throne.
"Heaven gives you power above the reft,
"Like Heaven, to fuccour the distrest.”

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The cafe is plain," the monarch faid; "Falfe glory hath my youth misled;

For beafts of prey, a fervile train, Have been the flatterers of my reign. "You reason well. Yet tell me, friend, "Did ever you in courts attend?

For all my fawning rogues agree,

"That human heroes rule like me."

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VOL. XXXVII.

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FABLE

FABLE II.

THE SPANIEL AND THE CAMELEON.

A SPANIEL, bred with all the care

That waits upon a favourite heir,
Ne'er felt Correction's rigid hand;
Indulg'd to difobey command,
In pamper'd cafe his hours were spent:
He never knew what learning meant.
Such forward airs, fo pert, fo fmart,,
Were fure to win his lady's heart;
Each little mischief gain'd him praise;
How pretty were his fawning ways!

The wind was fouth, the morning fair,
He ventures forth to take the air:
He ranges all the meadow round,
And rolls upon the fofteft ground;
When near him a Cameleon feen,
Was fcarce diftinguifh'd from the green.
"Dear emblem of the flattering host,
"What, live with clowns! a genius loft!
"To cities and the court repair;

"A fortune cannot fail thee there:

"Preferments fhall thy talents crown;

.. like you,

"Believe me, Friend; I know the Town."
"Sir," fays the Sycophant,
"Of old, politer life I knew:

* Like you, a courtier born and bred,

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Kings lean'd their ear to what I faid. My whifper always met fuccefs; "The ladies prais'd me for addrefs. "I knew to hit each courtier's paffion, "And flatter'd every vice in fashion.

But Jove, who hates the liar's ways, "At once cut fhort my profperous days, And, fentenc'd to retain my nature,

<< Transform'd me to this crawling creature. "Doom'd to a life obfcure and mean,

"I wander in the fylvan fcene:

For Jove the heart alone regards; "He punishes what man rewards. "How different is thy cafe and mine! "With men at least you fup and dine While I, condemn'd to thinnest fare, Like thofe I flatter'd, feed on air."

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FABLE III.

THE MOTHER, THE NURSE, AND THE FAIRY.

GIVE me a fon. The bleffing sent,

Were ever parents more content?

How partial are their doting eyes!
No child is half fo fair and wife.

Wak'd to the morning's pleafing care,

The mother rofe, and fought her heir.

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She

She faw the Nurfe like one poffeft,
With wringing hands and fobbing breast.
"Sure fome difafter has befell!

Speak, Nurfe; I hope the boy is well." "Dear Madam, think not me to blame; Invisibly the Fairy came:

Your precious babe is hence convey'd,
And in the place a changeling laid.
Where are the father's mouth and nofe?
The mother's eyes, as black as floes?
See, here, a fhocking aukward creature,
That speaks a fool in every feature!”
"The woman's blind, the mother cries;
I fee wit sparkle in his eyes."

"Lord! Madam, what a fquinting leer! No doubt the Fairy hath been here."

Juft as the fpoke, a pigmy fprite
Pops through the key-hole fwift as light;
Perch'd on the cradie's top he stands,
And thus her folly reprimands.

"Whence sprung the vain conceited lye,
That we the world with fools fupply?
What! give our sprightly race away
For the dull helpless fons of clay!
Befides, by partial fondness shown,
Like

you, we doat

upon

our own.

Where yet was ever found a Mother
Who'd give her booby for another?
. And, fhould we change with human breed,
Well might we pafs for fools indeed."

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FABLE

FABLE IV.

THE EAGLE AND THE ASSEMBLY OF ANIMALS.

As Jupiter's all-feeing eye

Survey'd the worlds beneath the sky,
From this small speck of earth were sent
Murmurs and founds of difcontent;
For every thing alive complain'd,
That he the hardest life fuftain'd.
Jove calls his Eagle. At the word,
Before him ftands the royal bird.

The bird, obedient, from Heaven's height,
Downward directs his rapid flight;

Then cited every living thing,
To hear the mandates of his king.

Ungrateful creatures! whence arife

Thefe murmurs which offend the skies?
Why this disorder? fay the caufe;
For just are Jove's eternal laws.
Let each his difcontent reveal;

To yon' four Dog I first appeal."

"Hard is my lot, the Hound replies; On what fleet nerves the Greyhound flies! While I, with weary step and flow,

O'er plains, and vales, and mountains, go.
The morning fees my chace begun,
Nor ends it till the fetting fun."

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"When