For though he's free (to do him right),
The creature's civil and polite."
Sure of fuccefs, away they flew :,
They share the dainties of the day,.
Round her with airy mufic play:
And now they flutter, now they reft,
Now foar again, and skim her breast.
Nor were they banish'd, till she found.
That Wafps have stings, and felt the wound.
THE BULL AND THE MASTIFF.
SEEK you to train your favourite boy?
Each caution, every care employ ;
And, ere you venture to confide,.
Let his preceptor's heart be try'd:
Weigh well his manners, life, and fcope;
On thefe depends thy future hope.
As on a time, in peaceful reign,.
A Bull enjoy'd the flowery plain,
A Maftiff pass'd; inflam'd with ire,
His eye-balls fhot indignant fire.
He foam'd, he rag'd with thirft of blood.
Spurning the ground, the monarch stood,
And roar'd aloud: "Sufpend the fight;
In a whole skin go fleep to-night:
Or tell me, ere the battle rage,
What wrong's provoke thee to engage?
Is it ambition fires thy breaft,
Or avarice, that ne'er can reft?
From these alone unjustly fpring's
The world-deftroying wrath of kings."
The furly Maftiff thus returns:
"Within my bofom glory burns.
Like heroes of eternal name,
Whom poets fing, I fight for fame.
The butcher's fpirit-stirring mind
To daily war my youth inclin'd;
He train❜d me to heroic deed,
Taught me to conquer, or to bleed."
"Curs'd Dog, the Bull reply'd, no more
I wonder at thy thirst of gore;
For thou (beneath a butcher train'd,
Whofe hands with cruelty are ftain'd,
His daily murders in thy view)
Muft, like thy tutor, blood purfue.
Take, then, thy fate." With goring wound
At once he lifts him from the ground:
Aloft the fprawling hero flies,
Mangled he falls, he howls, and dies.
THE ELEPHANT AND THE BOOKSELLER.
HE man who with undaunted toils
Sails unknown feas to unknown foils,
With various wonders feafts his fight:
What ftranger wonders does he write!
We read, and in defcription view
Creatures which Adam never knew;
For, when we risk 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 fcience and for fenfe renown'd?
Borri records their ftrength of parts,
Extent of thought, and skill in arts;
How they perform the law's decrees,
And fave the state the hangman's fees;
And how by travel understand
The language of another land.
Let thofe, who question this report,
To Pliny's ancient page refort.
How learn'd was that fagacious breed!
Who now (like them) the Greek can read?
As one of thefe, in days of yore,
Rummag'd a fhop of learning o'er,
Not, like our modern dealers, minding
Only the margin's breadth and binding,
A book his curious eye detains,
Where, with exacteft care and pains,
Were every beast and bird pourtray'd,
That e'er the fearch of man furvey'd ;
Their natures and their powers were writ
With all the pride of human wit:
The page he with attention spread,
And thus remark'd on what he read :
"Man with ftrong reafon is endow'd;
A beaft scarce inftinct is allow'd;
But, let this author's worth be try'd,
'Tis plain that neither was his guide.
Can he difcern the different natures,
And weigh the power of other creatures,
Who by the partial work hath fhewn
He knows fo little of his own?
How falfely is the Spaniel drawn !
Did man from him firft learn to fawn?
A Dog proficient in the trade!
'He the chief flatterer Nature made!
Go, Man! the ways of courts difcern,
You'll find a Spaniel ftill might learn,
How can the Fox's theft and plunder
Provoke his cenfure or his wonder?
From Courtiers' tricks and Lawyers' arts,
The Fox might well improve his parts.
The Lion, Wolf, and Tiger's brood,
He curfes, for their thirft of blood.
But is not Man to Man a prey?
Beafts kill for hunger, Men for pay."
The Bookfeller, who heard him fpeak, And faw him turn a page of Greek, Thought, what a genius have I found! Then thus, addrefs'd with bow profound: Learn'd Sir, if you 'd employ your pen
Against the fenfeless sons of men,
Or write the hiftory of Siam;
No man is better pay than: I am.
Or, fince you 're learn'd in Greek, let's fee
Something against the Trinity."
When wrinkling with a fneer his trunk,
"Friend, quoth the Elephant, you 're drunk:
E'en keep your money, and be wife;
Leave man on man to criticife:
For that you ne'er can want a pen
Among the fenfelefs fons of men.
They unprovok'd will court the fray;
Envy's a fharper fpur than pay.
No author ever fpar'd a brother;
Wits are gamecocks to one another."
THE PEACOCK, THE TURKEY, AND THE GOOSE.
N beauty faults conspicuous grow;
The smallest speck is feen on fnow.
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.
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