THE RAVEN, THE SEXTON, AND THE EARTH-WORM.

To Laura.

LAURA, methinks you're over-nice.

True; flattery is a fhocking vice :

Yet fure, whene'er the praise is juft,
One may commend without disgust.
Am I a privilege deny'd,
Indulg'd by every tongue befide ?
How fingular are all your ways!
A woman, and averfe to praise !
If 'tis offence fuch truths to tell,
Why do your merits thus excel ?
Since then I dare not speak my mind,
A truth confpicuous to mankind;
Though in full luftre every grace
Diftinguish your celeftial face;
Though beauties of inferior ray
(Like ftars before the orb of day)
Turn pale and fade; I check my lays,
Admiring what I dare not praise.

lf

you the tribute due difdain,

The Mufe's mortifying strain

Shall, like a woman, in mere spite,

Set beauty in a moral light.

Though fuch revenge might shock the ear

Of many a celebrated fair,

I mean that fuperficial race

Whose thoughts ne'er reach beyond their face;
What's that to you? I but difplease

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Such ever-girlish ears as these.

Virtue can brook the thoughts of age,

That lafts the fame through every stage.

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Though you by time muft fuffer more
Than ever woman loft before,
Το age is fuch indifference fhown,

As if

your face were not your own. Were you by Antoninus taught? Or is it native strength of thought That thus, without concern or fright, You view yourself by Reafon's light? of fo divine a ray,

Thofe

eyes,

What are they? Mouldering, mortal clay.
Those features, caft in heavenly mould,
Shall, like my coarfer earth, grow old;
Like common grafs, the fairest flower
Muft feel the hoary feason's power.

How weak, how vain, is human pride!

Dares man upon himself confide?
The wretch, who glories in his gain,
Amaffes heaps on heaps in vain.
Why lose we life in anxious cares,
To lav-in hoards for future years?
Can thofe (when tortur'd by disease)
Cheer our fick heart, or purchase ease?
Can thofe prolong one gasp of breath,
Or calm the troubled hour of death?

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What's

What's beauty? Call ye that your own?
A flower that fades as foon as blown.

What's man in all his boast of fway?
Perhaps the tyrant of a day.

Alike the laws of life take place
Through every branch of human race.
The monarch of long regal line
Was rais'd from duft as frail as mine.
Can he pour health into his veins,
Or cool the fever's reftiefs pains?
Can he (worn down in Nature's courfe)
New-brace his feeble nerves with force?
Can he (how vain is mortal power!)
*Stretch life beyond the deftin'd hour?
Confider, Man; weigh well thy frame;
The king, the beggar, is the fame.

Duft form'd us all. Each breathes his day,
Then finks into his native clay.

Beneath a venerable yew,

That in the lonely church-yard grew,
Two Ravens fate. In folemn croak
Thus one his hungry friend bespoke.

"Methinks I fcent fome rich repast;
The favour ftrengthens with the blast;
Snuff then, the promis'd feast inhale;
I tafte the carcafe in the gale.
Near yonder trees, the farmer's steed,
From toil and every drudgery freed,
Hath groan'd his last. A dainty treat!
To birds of tafte, delicious meat !"

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A Sexton,

A Sexton, bufy at his trade,
To hear their chat fufpends his fpade.
Death ftruck him with no farther thought,
Than merely as the fees he brought.
"Was ever two fuch blundering fowls,
In brains and manners lefs than owls!
Blockheads, fays he, learn more respect :
Know ye on whom ye thus reflect?
In this fame grave (who does me right,
Muft own the work is strong and tight)
The 'Squire, that yon' fair hall poffeft,
To-night fhall lay his bones at rest.
Whence could the grofs miftake proceed?
The 'Squire was fomewhat fat indeed..
What then? the meaneft bird of

prey
Such want of fenfe could ne'er betray;
For fure fome difference must be found
(Suppofe the finelling organ found)
In carcaffes (fay what we can),

Or where's the dignity of man?"
With due refpect to human race,

The Ravens undertook the cafe.

In fuch fimilitude of fcent,

Man ne'er could think reflections meant.

As epicures extol a treat,

And feem their favoury words to eat,

They prais'd dead horfe, luxurious food!
The venison of the prefcient brood.
The Sexton's indignation, mov'd,

The mean comparison reprov'd;
VOL. II.

Their undifcerning palate blam'd,
Which two-legg'd carrion thus defam❜d.
Reproachful fpeech from either fide
The want of argument fupply'd :
They rail, revile; as often ends
The conteft of disputing 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 taste may err."

As thus he spoke, from out the mould
An Earth-worm, huge of fize, unroll'd
His monftrous length: they ftrait agree
To chufe him as their referee :
So to th' experience of his jaws
Each states the merits of the cause.

He paus'd; and, with a folemn tone,
Thus made his fage opinion known :
"On carcaffes of every

kind

This maw hath elegantly din'd;
Provok'd by luxury or need,
On beaft, or fowl, or man, I feed:

Such fmall diftinction 's in the favour,

By turns I chuse the fancy'd flavour :
Yet I must own (that human beast!)
A glutton is the rankest feast.

Man, cease this boaft; for human pride
Hath various tracts to range befide.
The prince who kept the world in awe,
The judge whofe dictate fix'd the law,

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