"Within these woods I reign alone;

"The boundless foreft is my own.

"Bears, wolves, and all the favage brood,

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"Have dy'd the regal den with blood.
"Thefe carcaffes on either hand,
"Those bones that whiten all the land,

46 My former deeds and triumphs tell,

"Beneath these jaws what numbers fell."

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

"Might well the brutal nation awe;

"But fhall a monarch, brave, like you,

"Place glory in fo falfe a view?

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"Robbers invade their neighbours' right.
"Be lov'd; let juftice bound your might.
"Mean are ambitious heroes' boasts
"Of wafted lands and flaughter'd hosts.
"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 diftreft."
"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 reafon well. Yet tell me, 'friend,

"Did ever you in courts attend 2
"For all my fawning rogues agree,
"That human heroes rule like me."

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FABLE

FABLE II.

THE SPANIEL AND THE CAMELEON.

ASPANIEL, 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 ease his hours were fpent:
He never knew what Learning meant.
Such forward airs, fo pert, fo fmart,
Were fure to win his lady's heart;
Each little mifchief 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 diftinguish'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;

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

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Like you, a courtier born and bred, 16 Kings lean'd their ear to what I faid. "My whisper 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 those I flatter'd, feed on air."

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THE MOTHER, THE NURSE, AND THE FAIRY.

IVE me a fon. The bleffing fent,

GIV

Were ever parents more content?
How partial are their doating eyes!
No child is half fo fair and wife.

Wak'd to the morning's pleafing care,
The mother rofe, and fought her heir.
VOL. II.

D

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;
Invifibly 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 fpeaks a fool in every feature !"

"The woman's blind, the Mother cries; I fee wit fparkle in his eyes.".

"Lord! Madam, what a fquinting leer!
No doubt the Fairy hath been here."
Juft as he spoke, a pigmy fpite
Pops through the key-hole fwift as light;
Perch'd on the cradle's top he stands,
And thus her folly reprimands.

"Whence fprung the vain conceited lye,
That we the world with fools fupply?
What! give our fprightly race away
For the dull helpless fons of clay !
Befides, by partial fondness fhewn,
Like you, we dat upon our own.
Where yet was ever found a Mother
Who'd give her booby for another?
And, should we change with human breed,
Well might we pafs for fools indeed."

FABLE

H

FABLE

IV.

THE EAGLE AND THE ASSEMBLY OF ANIMALS.

S Jupiter's all-fecing eye

Survey'd the worlds beneath the fky,
From this fall fpeck of earth were fent
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 skics?

Why this diforder? 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 1, 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."

D 2

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"When