Shall haughty man my back beftride?
Shall the fharp fpur provoke my fide?
Forbid it, Heavens! Reject the rein;
Your fhame, your infamy, difdain.
Let him the lion first control,
And still the tiger's famish'd grow).
Let us, like them, our freedom claim,
And make him tremble at our name."
A general nod approv'd the caufe,
And all the circle neigh'd applause.
When, lo! with grave and folemn pace,
A Steed advanc'd before the race,
With age and long experience wife ;
Around he caft his thoughtful eyes,
And, to the murmurs of the train,
Thus fpoke the Neftor of the plain.
"When I had health and strength, like you,
The toils of fervitude I knew;
Now grateful man rewards my pains,
And gives me all these wide domains.
At will I crop the year's increase;
My latter life is rest and peace.
I grant, to man we lend our pains,
And aid him to correct the plains;
But doth not he divide the care,
Through all the labours of the year?
How many thousand structures rife,
To fence us from inclement fkies!
For us he bears the fultry day,
And ftores up all our winter's hay.
He fows, he reaps the harveft's gain;
We fhare the toil, and fhare the grain.
Since every creature was decreed
To aid each other's mutual need,.
Appease your discontented mind,
And act the part by Heaven affign'd."
The tumult ceas'd.
The Colt fubinitted,
And, like his ancestors, was bitted.
THE HOUND AND THE HUNTSMAN..
MPERTINENCE at firft is borne
With heedlefs flight, or fmiles of fcorn;
Teaz'd into wrath, what patience bears
The noify fool who perfeveres?
The morning wakes, the Huntfman founds, 5 At once rush forth the joyful Hounds;
They seek the wood with eager pace,
Through bufh, through brier, explore the chace:
Now fcatter'd wide they try the plain,
And fnuff the dewy turf, in vain.
What care, what induftry, what pains!-
What univerfal filence reigns!
Ringwood, a dog of little fame,
Young, pert, and ignorant of game,.
At once difplays his babbling throat;
The pack, regardless of the note,
Purfue the fcent; with louder ftrain
He ftill perfifts to vex.the train,
The Huntsman to the clamour flies,
The fmacking lafh he fmartly plies.
His ribs all welk'd, with howling tone
The puppy thus exprefs'd his moan:
"I know the mufic of my tongue
Long fince the pack with envy stung.
What will not fpite? These bitter smarts
I owe to my fuperior parts."
"When Puppies prate, the Huntsman cry'd, They fhew both ignorance and pride :
Fools may our fcorn, not envy, raise;
For envy is a kind of praise.
Had not thy forward noisy tongue
Proclaim'd thee always in the wrong,
Thou might'ft have mingled with the rest,
And ne'er thy foolish nofe confeft;
But fools, to talking ever prone,
Are fure to make their follies known."
THE POET AND THE ROSE.
I HATE the man who builds his name:
On ruins of another's fame.
Thus prades, by characters o'erthrown,
Imagine that they raise their own.
Thus fcribblers, covetous of praise,
Think flander can tranfplant the bays..
Beauties and bards have equal pride,
With both all rivals are decry'd.
Who praises Lefbia's eyes and feature,
Muft call her fifter aukward creature ;
For the kind flattery 's fure to charm,
When we fome other nymph difarm.
As in the cool of early day
A Poet fought the sweets of May,
The garden's fragrant breath afcends,
And every ftalk with odour bends;
A Rofe he pluck'd, he gaz'd, admir'd,
Thus finging, as the Mufe infpir'd:.
"Go, Rofe, my Chloe's bofoin grace;
"How happy fhall I prove,
"Might I fupply that envy'd place
"With never-fading love!
"There, Phoenix-like, beneath her eye,
"Involv'd in fragrance, burn and die.
“Know, hapless Flower! that thou shalt find 25
"More fragrant Rofes there;
"I fee thy withering head reclin'd
"With envy and defpair!
"One common fate we both inuft prove;
"You die with envy, I with love."
"Spare your comparisons, reply'd
An angry Rofe, who grew befide.
Of all mankind you fhould not flout us;
What can a Poet do without us?
In every love-fong Rofes bloom;
We lend you colour and perfume:
Does it to Chloe's charms conduce,
To found her praise on our abuse?
Muft we, to flatter her, be made
To wither, envy, pine, and fade?
THE CUR, THE HORSE, AND THE SHEPHERD'S DOG.
HE lad of all-fufficient merit
With modefty ne'er damps his fpirit;
Prefuming on his own deferts,
On all alike his tongue exerts;
His noify jokes at random throws,
And pertly fpatters friends and foes.
Ia wit and war the bully race
Contribute to their own disgrace:
Too late the forward youth fhall find
That jokes are fometimes paid in kind;
Or, if they canker in the breast,
He makes a foe who makes a jest.
A village Cur, of fuappish race,
The perteft puppy of the place,
Imagin'd that his treble throat
Was bleft with Mufic's fweetest note;
In the mid road he basking lay,
The yelping nuifance of the way;
For not a creature pafs'd along,
But had a fample of his fong.
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