Then virtue, from preferment barr'd,
Gets nothing but its own reward.

A

gang of petty knaves attend 'em, With proper parts to recommend 'em. Then, if his patron burn with luft,

The first in favour's pimp the first.

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His doors are never clos'd to fpies,
Who cheer his heart with double lyes;
They flatter him, his foes defame,
So lull the pangs of guilt and shame.
If schemes of lucre haunt his brain,
Projectors fwell his greedy train;
Vile brokers ply his private ear
With jobs of plunder for the year;
All confciences must bend and ply;
You must vote on, and not know why:
Through thick and thin you muft go on;
One fcruple, and your place is gone.

Since plagues like these have curs'd a land,
And favourites cannot always ftand,
Good courtiers fhould for change be ready,'
And not have principles too steady ;

For, fhould a knave engross the power,

(God fhield the realm from that fad hour!)
He must have rogues or flavish fools;
For what's a knave without his tools?

Wherever those a people drain,

And strut with infamy and gain,
I envy not their guilt and state,
And scorn to share the public hate.

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·60

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Let

Let their own fervile creatures rife,
By fcreening fraud, and venting lyes;
'Give me, kind Heaven, a private station
A mind ferene for contemplation:
Title and profit I refign;

The post of honour shall be mine.
My Fable read, their merits view,
Then herd who will with fuch a crew.
In days of yore (my cautious rhymes
Always except the present times)
A greedy Vulture, skill'd in game,
Inur'd to guilt, unaw'd by fhame,
Approach'd the throne in evil hour,
And step by step intrudes to power:
When at the royal Eagle's ear,
He longs to ease the monarch's care.
The monarch grants. With pride elate,
Behold him minifter of state!

Around him throng the feather'd rout;

Friends must be ferv'd, and fome mult out:
Each thinks his own the best pretenfion;

This afks a place, and that a pension.
The Nightingale was set aside.

A forward Daw his room fupply'd.

"This bird (says he), for business fit,

Hath both fagacity and wit:

With all his turns, and thifts, and tricks,

He's docile, and at nothing fticks:

-When impious men bear fway,

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15

၁

85

93

The poft of honour is a private ftation. ADDISON.

Then

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Then with his neighbours one fo free
At all times will connive at me."

The Hawk had due distinction shown,
For parts and talents like his own.
Thousands of hireling Cocks attend him,
As bluftering bullies, to defend him.

At once the Ravens were difcarded,
And Magpies with their posts rewarded.
Thofe fowls of omen I deteft,
That pry into another's nest.
State-lyes muft lose all good intent,

For they forefee and croak th' event.

My friends ne'er think, but talk by rote,
Speak what they're taught, and so to vote.
"When rogues like thefe (a Sparrow cries)
To honours and employments rife,

I court no favour, afk no place;
From fuch, preferment is difgrace.

Within my thatch'd retreat I find

(What thefe ne'er feel) true peace of mind."

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105

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FABLE III.

THE BABOON AND THE POULTRY.

To a Levee-hunter.

WE frequently mifplace esteem,

By judging men by what they feem.

To birth, wealth, power, we fhould allow
Precedence, and our loweft bow:

In that is due distinction shown;
Esteem is Virtue's right alone.
With partial eye we 're apt to fee
The man of noble pedigree:
We're prepoffeft my Lord inherits,
In fome degree, his grandfire's merits;
For those we find upon record,
But find him nothing but my Lord.
When we, with fuperficial view,
Gaze on the rich, we 're dazzled too.
We know that wealth, well underflood,
Hath frequent power of doing good;
Then fancy that the thing is done,
As if the power and will were one.
Thus oft' the cheated crowd adore

The thriving knaves that keep them poor.
The cringing train of power furvey;
What creatures are fo low as they !
With what obfequiousness they bend
To what vile actions.condefcend!
Their rife is on their meannefs built,
And flattery is their smallest guilt.
What homage, reverence, adoration,
In every age, in every nation,

Have fycophants to power addrefs'd !
No matter who the power poffefs'd.
Let minifters be what they will,

You find their levees always fill:
Ev'n those who have perplex'd a state,
Whofe actions claim contempt and hate,

Had wretches to applaud their schemes,
Though more abfurd than madmen's dreams.
When barbarous Moloch was invok'd,
The blood of infants only fmok'd!
But here (unless all history lyes)
Whole realms have been a facrifice.

Look through all courts: 'tis power we find
The general idol of mankind;

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There worship'd under every shape:

Alike the lion, fox, and ape,

Are follow'd by time-serving slaves,

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Rich prostitutes and needy knaves.

Who then shall glory in his post? How frail his pride, how vain his boast! The followers of his profperous hour

Are as unftable as his power..

Power, by the breath of Flattery nurst,
The more it fwells is nearer burst;
The bubble breaks, the gewgaw ends,
And in a dirty tear defcends.

Once on a time an ancient maid,
By wishes and by time decay'd,
To cure the pangs of restless thought,
In birds and beafts amusement fought:
Dogs, parrots, apes, her hours employ'd;
With these alone she talk'd and toy'd.
A huge Baboon her fancy took
(Almost a man in fize and look),
He finger'd every thing he found,
And mimick'd all the fervants round;

5.

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Then,