THE CUR, THE HORSE, AND THE SHEPHERD'S DOG.
THE lad of all sufficient merit
With modesty ne'er damps his spirit;
Presuming on his own deserts,
On all alike his tongue exerts;
His noisy jokes at random throws,
And pertly spatters friends and foes;
In wit and war the bully race
Contribute to their own disgrace.
Too late the forward youth shall find
That jokes are sometimes paid in kind;
Or, if they canker in the breast,
He makes a foe who makes a jest.
A village Cur, of snappish race,
The pertest Puppy of the place,
Imagin'd that his treble throat
Was blest with music's sweetest note:
In the mid road he basking lay,
The yelping nuisance of the way;
For not a creature pass'd along
But had a sample of his song.
Soon as the trotting Steed he hears,
He starts, he cocks his dapper ears;
Away he scours, assaults his hoof,
Now near him snarls, now barks aloof;
With shrill impertinence attends,
Nor leaves him till the village ends.
It chanc'd, upon his evil day,
A Pad came pacing down the way.
The Cur, with never-ceasing tongue,
Upon the passing trav'ler sprung.
The Horse, from scorn provok'd to ire,
Flung backward; rolling in the mire
The Puppy howl'd, and bleeding lay:
The Pad in peace pursu'd his way.
A Shepherd's Dog, who saw the deed,
Detesting the vexatious breed,
Bespoke him thus:-When coxcombs prate,
They kindle wrath, contempt, or hate.
Thy teasing tongue had judgment ty'd,
Thou hadst not like a Puppy died.
THE COURT OF DEATII.
DEATH, on a solemn night of state,
In all his pomp of terrors sate.
Th' attendants of his gloomy reign,
Diseases dire, a ghastly train,
Crowd the vast court.
A voice thus thunder'd from the throne:
This night our Minister we name,
Let ev'ry servant speak his claim;
Merit shall bear this ebon wand.
All, at the word, stretch'd forth their hand.
Fever, with burning heat possest,
Advanc'd, and for the wand addrest:-
I to the weekly bills appeal,
Let those express my fervent zeal;
On ev'ry slight occasion near,
With violence I persevere.
Next Gout appears with limping pace,
Pleads how he shifts from place to place,
From head to foot how swift he flies,
And every joint and sinew plies;
Still working when he seems supprest,
A most tenacious stubborn guest.
A haggard spectre from the crew
Crawls forth, and thus asserts his due:-
'Tis I who taint the sweetest joy,
And in the shape of love destroy:
My shanks, sunk eyes, and noseless face,
Prove my pretension to the place.
Stone urg'd his ever-growing force.
And, next, Consumption's meagre corse,
With feeble voice, that scarce was heard,
Broke with short coughs, his suit preferr'd:-
Let none object my ling'ring way;
I gain, like Fabius, by delay;
Fatigue and weaken ev'ry foe
By long attack, secure, though slow.
Plague represents his rapid pow'r,
Who thinn'd a nation in an hour.
All spoke their claim, and hop'd the wand.
Now expectation hush'd the band;
When thus the Monarch from the throne:
Merit was ever modest known.
What, no physician speak his right!
None here? But fees their toils requite.
Let then Intemp'rance take the wand,
Who fills with gold their zealous hand.
You, Fever, Gout, and all the rest,
(Whom wary men as foes detest)
Forego your claim; no more pretend:
Intemp'rance is esteem'd a friend-
He shares their mirth, their social joys,
And, as a courted guest, destroys;
The charge on him must justly fall,
Who finds employment for you all.
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