網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

168

ELEGANT
Your ill-judg'd aid will you impart,
And fpoil by meretricious art?
Or had you, nature's error, come
Abortive from the mother's womb,
Your forming care the still rejects,
Which only heightens her defects.
When fuch, of glitt ring jewels proud,
Still prefs the foremost in the crowd,
At ev'ry public fhow are feen,
With look awry, and awkward mien,
The gaudy drefs attracts the eye,
And magnifies deformity.

Nature may underdo her part,
But feldom wants the help of art;
Truft her, the is your fureft friend,
N made your form for you to mend.
A Goofe, affected, empty, vain,
The thrilteft of the cackling train,
With proud and elevated crest,
Pecedence claim'd above the rest.
Says the. I laugh at human race,
Who fay gee hobbie in their pace;
Look he he flandrous lye detect;
No haughty man is to erect.

[ocr errors]

That peacock yonder! Lord, how vain
The creature's of his gaudy train!
If both were fript, I pawn my word
A goofe would be the finer bird.
Nature, to hide her own defects,
Her bungled work with finery decks;
Were geefe fet off with half that show,
Would men admire the peacock! No.
Thus vaunting, 'cross the micad she stalks,
The cackling beed attend her walks;
The fun fhot down his noon-tide beams,
The Swans were fporting in the ftreams;
Their fnowy plumes and stately pride
Provok'd her spleen. Why there, the cried,
Again what arrogince we fee!
These creatures! how they mimic me!
Shall ev'ry fowl the water ikim,
Because we gefe are known to swim!
Humility they foon fhall learn,
And their own entine's difcrn.

So faying, with extended wings,
Lightly upon the wave the fprings;
Her bofom fwells, the fpreads her plumes,
And the fwan's ft:tely creft ailumes.
Contempt and m ckery enfued,
And bursts of laughter fhook the flood.
A Swan, fuperior to the rest,
Sprung forth, and thus the fool addrefs'd;
Conceited thing, elate with pride!
Thy affectation all deride:
Thefe airs thy awkwardaefs impart,
And thew thee plainly as thou art.
Among thy equals of the flock
Thou hadit e.cap'd the public mock;
And, as thy parts to good conduce,
Ben deem'd an honest hobbling goofe.

Learn bence to study wifdom's rules;
Know, fonpery 's the pride of fools;
And, fiving nature to conceal,
You only her defects reveal.

[blocks in formation]

§ 317. FABLE VIII. The Lawyer and J
LOVE! thou divineft good below!
Thy pure delights few mortals know:
Our rebel hearts thy fway difown,
While tyrant luft ufurps thy throne.
The bounteous God of nature made
The fexes for each other's aid;
Their mutual talents to employ,
To leffen ills, and heighten joy.
To weaker woman he affign'd
That foft'ning gentleness of mind,
That can by fympathy impart
Its likeness to the rougheft heart.
Her eyes with magic pow'r endued,
To fire the dull, and awe the rude.
His rofy fingers on her face
Shed lavish ev'ry bloomy grace,
And ftamp'd (perfection to display),
His mildeft image on her clay.

Man, active, refolute, and bold,
He fathion d in a different mould,
With useful arts his mind inform'd,
His breath with nobler paffions warm'd
He gave him knowledge, tafte, and fenfe
And courage for the fair's defence.
Her frame, refiftless to each wrong,
Demands protection from the strong;
To man the flies when fear alarms,
And claims the temple of his arms.

By nature's Author thus declar'd
The woman's fovereign and her guard,
Shall man by treach'rous wiles invade
The weakness he was meant to aid?
While beauty, given to inspire
Protecting love, and foft defire,
Lights up a wild-fire in the heart,
And to its own breaft points the dart,
Becomes the fpoiler's bafe pretence
To triumph over innocence.

The wolf, that tears the tim'rous sheep,
Was never fet the fold to keep;
Nor was the tiger, or the pard,
Meant the benighted trav'ller's guard;
But man, the wildest beaft of prey,
Wears friendship's femblance to betray;
His ftrength against the weak employs;
And where he fhould protect, destroys.

Paft twelve o'clock, the watchman cried;
His brief the ftudious Lawyer plied;
The all-prevailing fee lay nigh,
The carnet of to-morrow's lie.
Sudden the furious winds arife,
The jarring cafement fhatter'd flies;
The doors admit a hollow found,
And rattling from their hinge, bound;
When Juftice, in a blaze of light,
Reveal'd her radiant form to fight.

The wretch with thrilling horror shook
Loofe ev'ry joint, and pale his look;
Not having feen her in the courts,
Or found her mention'd in reports,
He afk'd, with fault'ring tongue, her name,
Her errand there, and whence the came?

Sternly

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Can't I another's face commend,
Or to her virtues he a friend,
But inftantly your forehead lours,
As if her merit leffen'd yours?
From female envy never free,
All mutt be blind because you fee.

Survey the garden, fields, and bow'rs,
The buds, the bioffoms, and the flow'rs;
Then tell me where the woodbine grows
That vies in fweetnefs with the role;
Or where the lily's fnowy white,
That throws fuch beauties on the fight?
Yet folly is it to declare,

That these are neither fweet nor fair.
The crystal shines with fainter rays
Before the diamond's brighter blaze;
And fops will tay the diamond dies
Before the luftre of your eyes:
But I, who deal in truth, deny
That neither thine when you are by.
When zephyrs o'er the blossom stray,
And fweets along the air convey,
Sha'n't I the fragrant breeze inhale,
Because you breathe a fweeter gale?
Sweet are the flow's that deck the field;
Sweet is the imell the blooms yield;
Sweet is the fummer gale that blows;
And fweet, tho' fweeter you, the rose.

Shall envy then torment your breast,
If you are lovelier than the reft?
For while I give to each her due,
By praising them I flatter you;
And praifing moit, I ftil declare
You faireft, where the relt are fair.

As at his board a farmer fate,
Replenish'd by his homely treat,
His fav'rite Spaniel near him ftood,
And with his mafter fhar'd the food;
The crackling bones his jaws devour'd,
His lapping tongue the trenchers fcour'd;
Till, fated now, fupine he lay,
And fnor'd the rifing fumes away.

The hungry Cat, in turn, drew near,
And humbly crav'd a fervant's share;
Her modeft worth the mafter knew,
And ftraight the fatt'ning morfel threw:
Enrag'd, the fnarling Cur awoke,
And thus with fpiteful envy spoke:
They only claim a right to eat,
Who earn by fervices their meat;
Me, zeal and industry inflame

To fcour the fields, and fpring the game;
Or, plunged in the wint'ry wave,
For man the wounded bird to fave.
With watchful diligence I keep
From prowling wolves his fleecy sheep i
At home his midnight hours fecure,
And drive the robber from the door:
For this his brealt with kindness glows,
For this his hand the food beftows;
And fhall thy indolence impart
A warmer friendship to his heart,
That thus he robs me of my due,
To pamper fuch vile things as you!

I own (with meeknefs Pufs replied) Superior merit on your fide; Nor does my breaft with envy fwell, To find it recompenc'd fo well; Yet I, in what my nature can, Contribute to the good of man. Whofe claws deftroy the pilf'ring mouse? Who drives the vermin from the house? Or, watchful for the lab'ring fwain, From lurking rats fecures the grain? From hence, if he rewards beftow, Why fhould your heart with gall o'erflow? Why pine my happiness to fee, Since there's enough for you and me?

Thy words are juft, the farmer cried, And spurn'd the fnarler from his fide.

$319. FABLE X. The Spider and the Bee.
THE nymph who walks the public streets,
And fets her cap at all the meets,
May catch the fool who turns to stare;
But men of fenfe avoid the fnare.

As on the margin of the flood,
With filken line, my Lydia stood,
I fmil'd to fee the pains the took
To cover o'er the fraudful hook.
Along the foreft as we stray'd,
You faw the boy his lime-twigs spread;
Guefs'd you the reafon of his fear,
Leit, heedlefs, we approach too near?
For as behind the bush we lay,
The linnet flutter'd on the fpray.

Needs there fuch caution to delude
The fcaly fry, and feather'd brood?
And think you, with inferior art,
To captivate the human heart?

The maid who modeftly conceals
Her beauties, while fhe hides, reveals.
Give but a glimpfe, and fancy draws
Whate'er the Grecian Venus was.
From Eve's firft fig-leaf to brocade,
All dre's was meant for fancy's aid;
Which evermore delighted dwells
On what the bafhful nymph conceals.
When Celia ftruts in man's attire,
She fhews too much to raise defire;
But, from the hoop's bewitching round,
Her very fhoe has pow'r to wound.

The roving eye, the bofoin bare,
The forward laugh, the wanton air,
May catch the fop: for gudgeons strike
At the bare hook and bait alike;
While falmen play regardlefs by,
Till art like nature forms the fly,

Beneath a peafant's homely thatch
A Spider long had held her watch;
From morn to night with reftless care,
She pun her web, and wove her inare.
Within the limits of her reign
Lay many a heedlefs captive flain;
Or fluturing struggled in the toils,
To burft the chains, and thun her wiles.
A ftraying Bee, that perch'd hard by,
Beheld her with difdainful eye,

And thus began: Mean thing! give o'
And lay thy flender threads no more;
A thoughtless fly or two, at most,
Is all the conqueft thou can boaft;
For bees of fenfe thy arts evade,
We fee fo plain the nets are laid.

The gaudy tulip, that difplays
Her fpreading foliage to gaze;
That points her charms at all the fees,
And yields to ev'ry wanton breeze,
Attracts not me; where blufhing grows
Guarded with thorns, the modeft role,
Enamour'd, round and round I fly,
Or on her fragrant bofom lie;
Reluctant the my ardour meets,
And bathful renders up her tweets.

To wifer heads attention lend,
And learn this leffon from a friend:
She who with modefty retires,
Adds fuel to her lover's fires;
While fuch incautious jilts as you
By folly your own schemes undo.

$320. FABLE XI. The Young Lion and the
'Tis true, I blame your lover's choice,
Though flatter'd by the public voice;
And peevith grow, and fick, to hear
His exclamations, O how fair!
I liften not to wild delights,
And tranfports of expected nights;
What is to me your hoard of charms,
The wiitenefs of your neck and arms?
Needs there no acquifition more
To keep contention from the door?
Yes; pafs a fortnight, and you'll find
All beauty cloys, but of the mind.

Senfe and good humour ever prove
The fureft cords to faften love.
Yet, Phillis, fimplest of your fex,
You never think but to perplex;
Coquetting it with ev'ry ape

That ftruts abroad in human fhape;
Not that the coxcomb is your taste,
But that it ftings your lover's breast.
To-morrow you refign the fway,
Prepar'd to honour and obey:
The tyrant miftrefs change for life,
To the fubmiffion of a wife.

Your follies, if you can, fufpend,
And learn inftruction from a friend:
Reluctant hear the firft address,
Think often ere you anfwer Yes:
But, once refolv'd, throw off disguise,
And wear your wishes in your eyes;
With caution ev'ry look forbear
That might create one jealous fear,
A lover's ripening hopes confound,
Or give the gen'rous breaft a wound;
Contemn the girlish arts to teaze,
Nor ufe your pow'r, unless to please;
For fools alone with rigour fway,
When, foon or late, they must obey.
The King of brutes, in life's decline,
Refolv'd dominion to refign;

T

bevere fummon'd to appear, the afore the royal heir.

day was fix'd; the crowd Jer future monarch bow'd. Monkey, pert and vain,

th, and thus address'd the train: my friends, with flavish awe, gant king of straw? itate the hour, cit, own his pow'r? f experience prize, wxims of the wife;

us caft away, manarchs of to-day; vacant hand to fpurn, the tyrant each in turn. from wrong difcern, Are from oppreffion learn; we be taught to melt, the is himfelf has felt. :-his bofom fwell'd with pride; Lion thus replied:

L

T

theis prompts thee to provoke dare th' impending stroke? d tool! can wrongs impart the feeling heart? grateful breaft to glow, give, or eye to flow? the practice of their schools, anthon haft drawn thy rules: tarn; in fuch a caufe, tech expect applaufe; Ex I don't condemn, who copy them. the gen'rous lion bind? Bhim to be kind; Gadekeness get, And as not the debt; Wand he gives Theaters he receives; Cakes fair return, As with int reit fcorn for fcorn.

[ocr errors]

Then, when life's winter haftens on,
And youth's fair heritage is gone,
Dow'rlefs to court fome peafant's arms,
To guard your wither'd age from harms';
No gratitude to warm his breaft,
For blooming beauty once poffeft;
How will you curfe that stubborn pride
Which drove your bark across the tide,
And failing before folly's wind,
Left fenfe and happinets behind!
Corinna, left thefe whims prevail,
To fuch as you I write my tale.

A Colt, for blood and mettied speed
The choiceft of the running breed.
Of youthful strength and beauty vain,
Refus'd fubjection to the rein.

In vain the groom's officious kill
Oppos'd his pride, and check'd his will;
In vain the mafter's forming care

Reftrain'd with threats, or footh'd with pray'r;
Of freedom proud, and fcorning man,
Wild o'er the fpacious plains he ran.
Where'er luxuriant nature fpread
Her flow'ry carpet o'er the mead,
Or bubbling ftreams foft gliding pafs,
To cool and freshen up the grafs,
Difdaining bounds, he cropt the blade,
And wanton'd in the spoil he made.

In plenty thus the fummer país'd,
Revolving winter came at laft;
The trees no more a fhelter yield,
The verdure withers from the field,
Perpetual fnows inveft the ground,
In icy chains the streams are bound,
Cold, nipping winds, and rattling hail,
His lank unthelter'd fides affail.
As round he caft his rueful eyes,
He faw the thatch'd-roof cottage rife;
The profpect touch'd his heart with cheer,
And promis'd kind deliv'rance near.
A ftable, erft his fcorn and hate,
Was now become his with'd retreat;
His paffion cool, his pride forgot,
A Farmer's welcome yard he fought.
The matter saw his woeful plight,

11. FABLE XII. The Colt and the Farmer. His limbs that totter'd with his weight:

e, Corinna, if you can,

verfe, fo coy to man?
re, lavish of her care,

bet pattern form you fair,
engrateful to her cause,

her gifts, and fpurn her laws?
like, withhold that store,
7mparting, bleffes more?
2 gift by Heaven affign'd
Ton of the female kind;
ze yielding maid demands
Pa at her lover's hands ;

by waiting years it fade, race tells him once 'twas paid. and wil you then this wealth conceal, to ruit, or time to steal?

er of your youth to rove Anger to the joys of love?

And, friendly, to the stable led,
And faw him litter'd, drefs'd and fed.
In flothful eafe all night he lay,

The fervants rofe at break of day;
The market calls-along the road

His back muft bear the pond'rous load;
In vain he struggles or complains,
Inceffant blows reward his pains.
To-morrow varies but his toil;
Chain'd to the plough, he breaks the foil;
While fcanty meals at night repay
The painful labours of the day.

Subdued by toil, with anguith rent,
His felf upbraidings found a vent.
Wretch that I am! he fighing faid,
By arrogance and folly led:

Had but my reftive youth been brought
To learn the leffon nature taught,

Then

Then had I, like my fires of yore,
The prize from ev'ry courfer bore.
While man beftow'd rewards and praise,
And females crown my latter days.
Now lafting fervitude's my lot,
My birth contemn'd, my fpeed forgot;
Doom'd am I, for my pride, to bear
A living death from year to year.

$322. FABLE XII. The Owl and the Nightingale.
To know the miftrefs' humour right,
See if her maids are clean and tight;
If Betty waits without her stays,
She copies but her lady's ways.

When Mifs comes in with boift'rous shout,
And drops no curtfey going out,
Depend upon 't, mamma is one
Who reads, or drinks too much alone.
If bottled beer her thirst assuage,
She feels enthusiastic rage,
And burns with ardour to inherit
The gifts and workings of the fpirit.
If learning crack her giddy brains,
No remedy but death remains.
Sum up the various ills of life,
And al! are fweet to fuch a wife.
At home fuperior wit the vaunts,
And twits her husband with his wants;
Her ragged offspring all around,
Like pigs, are wallowing on the ground;
Inpatient ever of controul,

She knows no order but of foul;
With books her litter'd floor is fpread,
Of nameless authors, never read;
Foul linen, petticoats, and lace,
Fill up the intermediate space.
Abroad, at vifitings, her tongue
Is never ftill, and always wrong;.
All meanings the defines away,
And ftands with truth and fenfe at bay.
If e'er the meets a gentle heart,
Skill'd in the housewife's ufeful art,
Who makes her family her care,

And builds contentment's temple there,
She starts at fuch mistakes in nature,

And cries, Lord help us! what a creature!
Meliffa, if the moral strike,

You'll find the fable not unlike.

An Owl, puff'd up with felf-conceit,
Lov'd learning better than his meat;
Old manufcripts he treafur'd up,
And rummag'd ev'ry grocer's thop;
At paitry-cooks was known to ply,
And trip for fcience ev'ry pye.
For modern poetry, and wit,
He had read all that Blackmore writ;
So intimate with Curl was grown,
His learned treasures were his own;
To all his authors had access,
And fometimes would correct the p efs.
In logic he acquir'd fuch knowledge,
You'd fwear him fellow of a college;
Alike to ev'ry art and science
His daring genius bid defiance,

And fwallow'd wisdom with that hafte
That cits do cuftards at a feast.

Within the fhelter of a wood,
One evening, as he muling itood,
Hard by, upon a leafy spray,
A Nightingale began his lay.
Sudden he starts, with anger stung,
And screeching interrupts the fong:
Pert, bufy thing! thy airs give o'er,
And let my contemplation foar.
What is the music of thy voice,
But jarring diffonance and noife?
Be wife; true harmony thou'lt find
Not in the throat, but in the mind;
By empty chirping not attain'd,
But by laborious itudy gain'd.
Go, read the authors Pope explodes;
Fathom the depths of Cibber's odes;
With modern plays improve thy wit;
Read all the learning Henley writ;
And if thou needs muft fing, fing then,
And emulate the ways of men;
So fhalt thou grow, like me, refin'd,
And bring improvement to thy kind.

A

Thou wretch, the little warbler cried,
Made up of ignorance and pride!
Afk all the birds, and they'll declare
greater blockhead wings not air.
Read o'er thyself, thy talents fcan,
Science was only meant for man.
No fenfelefs authors me moleft,
I mind the duties of my neft;
With careful wing protect my young,
And cheer their evenings with a fong:
Make thort the weary traveller's way,
And warble in the poet's lay.

Thus, following nature and her laws,
From men and birds I claim applaufe;
While nurs'd in pedant, y and flotit,
An Owl is fcorn'd alike by both.

$323. FABLE XIV. The Sparrow and the De
IT was, as learn'd traditions lay,
Upon an April's blithefome day,
When pleafure, ever on the wing,
Return'd, companion of the fpring,
And cheer'd the birds with am'rous heat,
Inftructing little hearts to beat;
A Sparrow, frolic, gay, and young,
Of bold addrefs, and flippant tongue,
Juft left his lady of a night,
Like him to follow new delight.

The youth, of many a conqueft vain,
Flew off to feek the chirping train;
The chirping train he quickly found,
And with a faucy eafe bow'd round.
For ev'ry the his bolom burns,
And this and that he woos by turns;
And here a figh, and there a bill;
And here-thiofe eyes, fo form'd to kill!
And now, with ready tongue, he strings
Unmeaning, foft, refistless
things;
With vows and den-me's kill'd to woo,
As other pretty fellows do,

« 上一頁繼續 »