"My name, perhaps, hath reach'd your ear; Attend, and be advis'd by Care.
Nor love, nor honour, wealth, 'nor power,
Can give the heart a chearful hour,
When health is loft. Be timely wife;
With health all taste of pleasure flies."
Thus faid, the Phantom disappears.
The wary counfel wak'd his fears.
He now from all excefs abftains,
With phyfic purifies his veins;
And, to procure a sober life,
Refolves to venture on a wife.
But now again the Sprite afcends,
Where'er he walks, his ear attends,
Infinuates that beauty 's frail,
That perfeverance must prevail;
With jealoufies his brain inflames,
And whifpers all her lovers' names.
In other hours she represents
His household charge, his annual rents,
Increafing debts, perplexing duns,
And nothing for his younger fons.
Straight all his thought to gain he turns,
And with the thirft of lucre burns.
But, when poffefs'd of Fortune's store,
The Spectre haunts him more and more;
Sets want and mifery in view,
Bold thieves, and all the murdering crew;
Alarms him with eternal frights,
Infefts his dream, or wakes his nights.
How fhall he chace this hideous guest?
Power may perhaps protect his reft.
To Power he rofe. Again the Sprite
Befets him morning, noon, and night;
Talks of Ambition's tottering feat,
How Envy perfecutes the great,
Of rival hate, of treacherous friends,
And what difgrace his fall attends.
The court he quits, to fly from Care,
And feeks the peace of rural air:
His groves, his fields, amus'd his hours;
He prun'd his trees, he rais'd his flowers.
But Care again his feps purfues,
Warns him of blafts, of blighting dews,
Of plundering infects, fnails, and rains,
And droughts that ftarv'd the labour'd plains.
Abroad, at home, the Spectre's there;
In vain we feek to fly from Carc.
At length he thus the Ghoft addreft:
Since thou must be my conftant gueft, Be kind, and follow me no more;
For Care, by right, should
THE TWO OWLS AND THE SPARROW.
TWO formal Owls together fat,
Coaferring thus in folemn chat.
"How is the modern tafte decay'd!
Where's the refpećt to wifdom paid?
Our worth the Grecian fages knew;
They gave our fires the honour due ;
They weigh'd the dignity of fowls,
And pry'd into the depth of Owls.
Athens, the feat of learned fame,
With general voice rever'd our name;
On merit title was conferr'd,
And all ador'd th' Athenian bird."
"Brother, you reafon well, replies
The folemn mate, with half-fhut eyes.
Right. Athens was the feat of learning,
And truly wifdom is difcerning..
Befides, on Pallas' helm we fit,
The type and ornament of wit:
But now,
alas! we 're quite neglected,
And a pert Sparrow's more refpected.”
A Sparrow, who was lodg'd befide,
O'erhears them footh each other's pride;
And thus he nimbly vents his heat:
"Who meets a fool must find conceit..
I grant you were at Athens grac'd,
And on Minerva's helm were plac'd;;
But every bird that wings the sky,
Except an Owl, can tell you why:
From hence they taught their schools to know
How falfe we judge by outward show;
That we fhould never looks esteem,
Since fools as wife as you might feem..
Would ye contempt and scorn avoid,
Let your vain-glory be destroy'd:
"Know, fays the God, by matchlefs skill
I change to every fhape at will;
But yet, I'm told, at court you fee
Thofe who prefume to rival me."
Thus faid a Snake, with hideous trail, Proteus extends his fcaly mail.
"Know, fays the Man, though proud in place, All Courtiers are of reptile race.
Like you, they take that dreadful form,
Bafk in the fun, and fly the florm;
With malice hifs, with envy glote,
And for convenience change their coat;
With new-got luftre rear their head,
Though on a dunghill born and bred."
Sudden the God a Lion ftands;
He fhakes his mane, he fpurns the fands.
Now a fierce Lynx, with fiery glare;
A Wolf, an Afs, a Fox, a Bear.
"Had I ne'er liv'd at court, he cries,
Such transformation might furprize;
But there, in quest of daily game, ‹
Each able Courtier acts the fame;
Wolves, Lions, Lynxes, while in place,
Their friends and fellows are their chace.
They play the Bear's and Fox's part,
Now rob by force, now fteal with art.
They fometimes in the fenate bray,
Or, chang'd again to beasts of prey,
Down from the Lion to the Ape,
Practife the frauds of every fhape."
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