They prais'd dead horfe, luxurious food,

The ven'fon of the prefcient brood.
The Sexton's indignation mov'd,
The mean comparison reprov'd;
Their undiscerning palate blam'd,
Which two-legg'd carrion thus defam'd.
Reproachful speech from either fide
The want of argument fupply'd:

They rail, revile: as often ends

The conteft of difputing friends.

Hold, fays the Fowl; fince human pride
With confutation ne'er comply'd,

Let's ftate the cafe, and then refer
The knotty point: for tafte may err.

As thus he spoke, from out the mold
An Earth-worm, huge of fize, unroll'd
His monstrous length. They ftrait agree
To chufe him as their referee.

So to th' experience of his jaws,
Each ftates the merits of the cause.

He paus'd, and with a folemn tone
Thus made his fage opinion known.

On

On carcafes of ev'ry kind

This maw hath elegantly din'd;
Provok'd by luxury or need,

On beast, or fowl, or man, I feed:
Such fmall diftinction's in the favour,
By turns I chufe the fancy'd flavour.
Yet I must own (that human beast)
A glutton is the rankeft feaft.
Man, cease this boast; for human pride
Hath various tracts to range befide.
The prince who kept the world in awe,
The judge whose dictate fix'd the law,
The rich, the poor, the great, the small,
Are levell'd. Death confounds 'em all.
Then think not that we reptiles share
Such cates, fuch elegance of fare:
The only true and real good

Of man was never vermin's food.

'Tis feated in th' immortal mind;

Virtue diftinguishes mankind,

And that (as yet ne'er harbour'd here)

Mounts with the foul we know not where.

So,

So, good-man Sexton, fince the cafe

Appears with fuch a dubious face,
To neither I the caufe determine,
For diff'rent taftes pleafe diff'rent vermin.

FINIS.