English

FABLE XIX.

How fond are men of rule and place,
Who court it from the mean and base!
These cannot bear an equal nigh,
But from superior merit fly;
They love the cellar's vulgar joke,
And lose their hours in ale and smoak;
There o'er some petty club preside,
So poor, so paultry is their pride!
Nay, ev'n with fools whole nights will sit,
In hopes to be supream in wit.
If these can read, to these I write,
To set their worth in truest light.

FABLE XVIII.

Lest men suspect your tale untrue,
Keep probability in view.
The trav'ler leaping o'er those bounds,
The credit of his book confounds;
Who with his tongue hath armies routed
Makes ev'n his real courage doubted.
But flatt'ry never seems absurd,
The flatter'd always takes your word,
Impossibilities seem just,
They take the strongest praise on trust;
Hyperboles, though ne'er so great,
Will still come short of self-conceit.

FABLE XVII.

A Wolf , with hunger fierce and bold,
Ravag'd the plains and thinn'd the fold:
Deep in the wood secure he lay,
The thefts of night regal'd the day;
In vain the shepherd's wakeful care
Had spread the toils and watch'd the snare,
In vain the dog pursu'd his pace,
The fleeter robber mock'd the chase.
As Lightfoot rang'd the forest round.
By chance his foe's retreat he found.
Let us awhile the war suspend,

FABLE XVI.

A Pin who long had serv'd a Beauty,
Proficient in the toilette's duty,
Had form'd her sleeve, confin'd her hair,
Or giv'n her knot a smarter air,
Now nearest to her heart was plac'd,
Now in her manteau's tail disgrac'd;
But could she partial fortune blame,
Who saw her lovers serv'd the same?
At length from all her honours cast,
Through various turns of life she past;
Now glitter'd on a taylor's arm,
Now kept a beggar's infant warm,

FABLE XV.

The Sage, awak'd at early day,
Through the deep forest took his way;
Drawn by the musick of the groves,
Along the winding gloom he roves;
From tree to tree, the warbling throats
Prolong the sweet alternate notes.
But where he pasThe terror threw,
The song broke short, the warblers flew,
The thrushes chatter'd with affright,
And nightingales abhorr'd his sight;
All animals before him ran
To shun the hateful sight of man.

FABLE XIV.

A Monkey , to reform the times,
Resolv'd to visit foreign climes;
For men in distant regions roam
To bring politer manners home:
So forth he fares, all toil defys;
Misfortune serves to make us wise.
At length the treach'rous snare was laid,
Poor Pug was caught, to town convey'd,
There sold; (How envy'd was his doom,
Made captive in a lady's room !)
Proud as a lover of his chains,
He day by day her favour gains.
Whene'er the duty of the day,

FABLE XIII.

A S a young Stag the thickest past,
The branches held his antlers fast,
A clown, who saw the captive hung,
Across the horns his halter flung.
Now, safely hamper'd in the cord,
He bore the present to his lord:
His lord was pleas'd: as was the clown,
When he was tipt with half-a-crown.
The Stag was brought before his wife,
The tender lady begg'd his life.
How sleek's the skin! how speck'd like ermine!
Sure never creature was so charming!

FABLE XII.

A S Cupid in Cythera 's grove
Employ'd the lesser powers of love,
Some shape the bow, or fit the string,
Some give the taper shaft its wing,
Or turn the polish'd quiver's mold,
Or head the darts with temper'd gold.
Amidst their toil and various care,
Thus Hymen , with assuming air,
Addrest the God. Thou purblind chit,
Of aukward and ill-judging wit,
If matches are no better made,
At once I must forswear my trade.

FABLE XI.

I N beauty faults conspicuous grow,
The smallest speck is seen on snow.

As near a barn, by hunger led,
A Peacock with the poultry fed;
All view'd him with an envious eye.
And mock'd his gaudy pageantry:
He, conscious of superior merit,
Contemns their base reviling spirit,
His state and dignity assumes,
And to the sun displays his plumes,
Which, like the heav'n's o'er-arching skies,
Are spangled with a thousand eyes;

FABLE X.

The man, who with undaunted toils
Sails unknown seas to unknown soils,
With various wonders feasts his sight:
What stranger wonders does he write!
We read, and in description view
Creatures which Adam never knew;
For when we risque no contradiction,
It prompts the tongue to deal in fiction.
Those things that startle me or you,
I grant are strange; yet may be true.
Who doubts that elephants are found
For science and for sense renown'd?