THE LION AND THE CUB.
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 smoke.
There o"er some petty club preside; So poor, so paltry is their pride!
Nay, even with fools whole nights will sit, In hopes to be supreme in wit.
_10 If these can read, to these I write, To set their worth in truest light.
A lion-cub, of sordid mind, Avoided all the lion kind; Fond of applause, he sought the feasts Of vulgar and ign.o.ble beasts; With a.s.ses all his time he spent, Their club"s perpetual president.
He caught their manners, looks, and airs; An a.s.s in every thing, but ears!
_20 If e"er his highness meant a joke, They grinned applause before he spoke; But at each word what shouts of praise!
Good G.o.ds! how natural he brays!
Elate with flattery and conceit, He seeks his royal sire"s retreat; Forward, and fond to show his parts, His highness brays; the lion starts.
"Puppy, that cursed vociferation Betrays thy life and conversation: _30
c.o.xcombs, an ever-noisy race, Are trumpets of their own disgrace."
"Why so severe?" the cub replies; "Our senate always held me wise."
"How weak is pride!" returns the sire; "All fools are vain, when fools admire!
But know what stupid a.s.ses prize, Lions and n.o.ble beasts despise."
FABLE XX.
THE OLD HEN AND THE c.o.c.k.
Restrain your child; you"ll soon believe The text which says, we sprung from Eve.
As an old hen led forth her train, And seemed to peck to shew the grain; She raked the chaff, she scratched the ground, And gleaned the s.p.a.cious yard around.
A giddy chick, to try her wings, On the well"s narrow margin springs, And p.r.o.ne she drops. The mother"s breast All day with sorrow was possess"d.
_10 A c.o.c.k she met; her son she knew; And in her heart affection grew.
"My son," says she, "I grant your years Have reached beyond a mother"s cares; I see you vig"rous, strong, and bold; I hear with joy your triumphs told.
Tis not from c.o.c.ks thy fate I dread; But let thy ever-wary tread Avoid yon well; that fatal place Is sure perdition to our race.
_20 Print this my counsel on thy breast; To the just G.o.ds I leave the rest."
He thanked her care; yet day by day His bosom burned to disobey; And every time the well he saw, Scorned in his heart the foolish law: Near and more near each day he drew, And longed to try the dangerous view.
"Why was this idle charge?" he cries; "Let courage female fears despise.
_30 Or did she doubt my heart was brave, And therefore this injunction gave?
Or does her harvest store the place, A treasure for her younger race?
And would she thus my search prevent?
I stand resolved, and dare the event."
Thus said. He mounts the margin"s round, And pries into the depth profound.
He stretched his neck; and from below With stretching neck advanced a foe: _40 With wrath his ruffled plumes he rears, The foe with ruffled plumes appears: Threat answered threat, his fury grew, Headlong to meet the war he flew, But when the watery death he found, He thus lamented as he drowned: "I ne"er had been in this condition, But for my mother"s prohibition."
FABLE XXI.
THE RAT-CATCHER AND CATS.
The rats by night such mischief did, Betty was every morning chid.
They undermined whole sides of bacon, Her cheese was sapped, her tarts were taken.
Her pasties, fenced with thickest paste, Were all demolished, and laid waste.
She cursed the cat for want of duty, Who left her foes a constant booty.
An engineer, of noted skill, Engaged to stop the growing ill.
_10 From room to room he now surveys Their haunts, their works, their secret ways; Finds where they "scape an ambuscade, And whence the nightly sally"s made.
An envious cat from place to place, Unseen, attends his silent pace.
She saw, that if his trade went on, The purring race must be undone; So, secretly removes his baits, And every stratagem defeats.
_20 Again he sets the poisoned toils, And puss again the labour foils.
"What foe (to frustrate my designs) My schemes thus nightly countermines?"
Incensed, he cries: "this very hour This wretch shall bleed beneath my power."
So said. A pond"rous trap he brought, And in the fact poor puss was caught.
"Smuggler," says he, "thou shalt be made A victim to our loss of trade."
_30 The captive cat, with piteous mews, For pardon, life, and freedom sues: "A sister of the science spare; One interest is our common care."
"What insolence!" the man replied; "Shall cats with us the game divide?
Were all your interloping band Extinguished, of expelled the land, We rat-catchers might raise our fees, Sole guardians of a nation"s cheese!"
_40 A cat, who saw the lifted knife, Thus spoke, and saved her sister"s life: "In every age and clime we see, Two of a trade can ne"er agree.
Each hates his neighbour for encroaching; Squire stigmatises squire for poaching; Beauties with beauties are in arms, And scandal pelts each other"s charms; Kings too their neighbour kings dethrone, In hope to make the world their own.
_50 But let us limit our desires; Nor war like beauties, kings, and squires!
For though we both one prey pursue, There"s game enough for us and you."
FABLE XXII.
THE GOAT WITHOUT A BEARD.
"Tis certain, that the modish pa.s.sions Descend among the crowd, like fashions.
Excuse me then, if pride, conceit, (The manners of the fair and great) I give to monkeys, a.s.ses, dogs, Fleas, owls, goats, b.u.t.terflies, and hogs.
I say that these are proud. What then?
I never said they equal men.
A goat (as vain as goat can be) Affected singularity.
_10 Whene"er a thymy bank he found, He rolled upon the fragrant ground; And then with fond attention stood, Fixed o"er his image in the flood.
"I hate my frowsy beard," he cries; "My youth is lost in this disguise.
Did not the females know my vigour, Well might they loathe this reverend figure."
Resolved to smoothe his s.h.a.ggy face, He sought the barber of the place.
_20 A flippant monkey, spruce and smart, Hard by, professed the dapper art; His pole with pewter basins hung, Black rotten teeth in order strung, Ranged cups that in the window stood, Lined with red rags, to look like blood, Did well his threefold trade explain, Who shaved, drew teeth, and breathed a vein.
The goat he welcomes with an air, And seats him in his wooden chair: _30 Mouth, nose, and cheek the lather hides: Light, smooth, and swift the razor glides.
"I hope your custom, sir," says pug.
"Sure never face was half so smug."
The goat, impatient for applause, Swift to the neighbouring hill withdraws: The s.h.a.ggy people grinned and stared.
"Heyday! what"s here? without a beard!
Say, brother, whence the dire disgrace?
What envious hand hath robbed your face?"
_40 When thus the fop with smiles of scorn: "Are beards by civil nations worn?
Even Muscovites have mowed their chins.
Shall we, like formal Capuchins, Stubborn in pride, retain the mode, And bear about the hairy load?
Whene"er we through the village stray, Are we not mocked along the way; Insulted with loud shouts of scorn, By boys our beards disgraced and torn?"