Then had I, like my fires of yore,
The prize from ev'ry courfer bore.
While man beftow'd rewards and praise,
And females crown my latter days.
Now lafting fervitude's my lot,
My birth contemnn'd, my speed forgot;
Doom'd am I, for my pride, to bear
A living death from year to year.

$322. FABLE XIII. The Owl and the Nightingale.
To know the miftrefs' humour right,
See if her maids are clean and tight;
If Betty waits without her ftays,
She copies but her lady's ways.

When Mifs comes in with boift'rous fhout,
And drops no curtfey going out,
Depend upon 't, mamma is one
Who reads, or drinks too much alone.
If bottled beer her thirst affuage,
She feels enthusiastic rage,

And burns with ardour to inherit
The gifts and workings of the spirit.
If learning crack her giddy brains,
No remedy but death remains.
Sum up the various ills of life,
And al! are fweet to fuch a wife.
At home fuperior wit the vaunts,
And twits her husband with his wants;
Her ragged offspring all around,

Like pigs, are wallowing on the ground;
Impatient ever of controul,

She knows no order but of foul;
With books her litter'd floor is fpread,
Of nameless authors, never read;
Foul linen, petticoats, and lace,
Fill up the intermediate space.
Abroad, at vifitings, her tongue
Is never ftill, and always wrong;
All meanings the defines away,
And ftands with truth and fenfe at bay.
If e'er the meets a gentle heart,
Skill'd in the housewife's useful art,
Who makes her family her care,
And builds contentment's temple there,
She starts at fuch mistakes in nature,

And cries, Lord help us! what a creature!
Melifa, if the moral trike,

You'll find the fable not unlike.

An Owl, puff'd up with felf-conceit,
Lov'd learning better than his meat;
Old manufcripts he treafur'd up,
And rummag'd ev'ry grocer's thop;
At paitry-cooks was known to ply,
And trip for fcience ev'ry pye.
For modern poetry, and wit,
He had read all that Blackmore writ;
So intimate with Curl was grown,
His learned treafures were his own;
To all his authors had access,
And sometimes would correct the pefs.
In logic he acquir'd fuch knowledge,
You'd fwear him fellow of a college;
Alike to ev'ry art and science
His daring genius bid defiance,

And swallow'd wisdom with that hafte
That cits do cuftards at a feast.

Within the shelter of a wood,
One evening, as he muting stood,
Hard by, upon a leafy spray,
A Nightingale began his lay.
Sudden he starts, with anger fstung,
And icreeching interrupts the fong:
Pert, bufy thing! thy airs give o'er,
And let my contemplation foar.
What is the mufic of thy voice,
But jarring diffonance and noife?
Be wife; true harmony thou'lt find
Not in the throat, but in the mind;
By empty chirping not attain'd,
But by laborious itudy gain'd.
Go, read the authors Pope explodes;
Fathom the depths of Cibber's odes;
With modern plays improve thy wit;
Read all the learning Henley writ;
And if thou needs muft fing, fing then,
And emulate the ways of men;
So fhalt thou grow, like me, refin'd,
And bring improvement to thy kind.

Thou wretch, the little warbler cried,
Made up of ignorance and pride!
Afk all the birds, and they'll declare
A greater blockhead wings not air.
Read o'er thyfelf, thy talents scan,
Science was only meant for man.
No fenfelefs authors me moleft,
I mind the duties of my neft;
With careful wing protect my young,
And cheer their evenings with a fong:
Make thort the weary traveller's way,
And warble in the poet's lay.

Thus, following nature and her laws,
From men and birds I claim applaufe;
While nurs'd in pedantry and floth,
An Owl is fcorn'd alike by both.

$323. FABLE XIV. The Sparrow and the De
IT was, as learn'd traditions say,
Upon an April's blithetome day,
When pleasure, ever on the wing,
Return'd, companion of the spring,
And cheer'd the birds with am'rous heat,
Inftructing little hearts to beat;
A Sparrow, frolic, gay, and young,
Of bold addrefs, and flippant tongue,
Juft left his lady of a night,
Like him to follow new delight.

The youth, of many a conqueft vain,
Flew off to feek the chirping train;
The chirping train he quickly found,
And with a faucy eafe bow'd round.
For ev'ry the his bofom burns,
And this and that he woos by turns;
And here a figh, and there a bill;
And here thofe eyes, fo form'd to kill!
And now, with ready tongue, he ftrings
Unmeaning, foft, refiftless things;
With vows and den-me's skill'd to woo,
As other pretty fellows do,

Book i

SACRED AND MORAL.

Not the thought this fhort effay
A pro needful to his play;
Name, fays our learned letter,
e krew the virtuous fex much better:
hele he held as fpecious arts,
Tew his own fuperior parts;
The form of decency to fhield,
And give a aft pretence to yield.
Ting his courtly play,
Be mark the fav'rite of a day;

are impudence drew near,
And werd Hebrew in her ear;
Ach like the mafon's fign,
The docs can alone divine.

The fitting nymph, expert at feigning,
C Spray, Sir, explain your meaning
Gerate to thofe that may endure ye!—
is rudeness!—I'll affure ye!
The the glided like a fwallow,
Ang you guefs where to follow.
To fuch as know the party fet,
Tomes to declare they met;

ban, as authors mention,
Che fair had apprehenfion.
He there fecure from Itain,
Sex Leather trifling vain;
fitted to be coy,
licentious, on the joy.
the male companion cried;

Bere a while, I fear we're spied.
Le caution vain: he faw

A

AT ruling in the straw; Weerber callow brood fhe hung, thus addrefs'd her young: Ye tracer chets of my care! Pet petle helpless pair; gentle fire,

And be your hearts require. For asiats, and his bride, For with spy love to guide, Our cord an eagle's speed, Andean dares to bleed. Nova by wintry fkies confin'd Be on the radeft wind, Fars the vital fpoil, Action fweetens toil. , to vent'rous, ceafe to dare; car dearer fafety spare! ye cruel falcons, ftray; ye fowlers, far away! furvive to fee the day me from my felf away; it all that Heaven could give, which alone I live, Lore than loft were I, ... thought already die.

1

Gem of your creatures, fay, ning comes by blifs convey'd, ven the tweets of love allay'd? s enjoyment, tall and fair, twines entangling care; fear for what our fouls poffefs Arata ev'ry pow'r to bless:

whom men and birds obey,

Yet friendship forms the blifs above;
And, life, what art thou without love!
Our hero, who had heard apart,
Felt fomething moving in his heart;
But quickly, with difdain, fupprefs'd
The virtue rifing in his breaft;
And firft he feign'd to laugh aloud;
And next, approaching fmil'd and bow'd;
Madam, you must not thiuk me rude;
Good manners never can intrude;
I vow I come thro' pure good nature-
(Upon my foul a charming creature!)
Are thefe the comforts of a wife?
This careful, cloister'd, moping life?
No doubt that odious thing, call'd Duty;

173

Is a fweet province for a beauty.
Thou pretty ignorance! thy will
Is meafur'd to thy want of skill;
That good old-fashion'd dame, thy mother,
Has taught thy infant years no other:
The greatest ill in the creation

Is fure the want of education.

But think ye-tell me without feigning-
Have all thefe charms no farther meaning!
Dame nature, if you don't forget her,
Might teach your ladyship much better.
For thame! reject this mean employment,
Enter the world and tafte enjoyment,
Where time by circling blits we measure;
Beauty was form'd alone for pleasure:
Come, prove the bleffing, follow me,
Be wife, be happy, and be free.

Kind Sir, replied our matron chafte,
Your zeal feems pretty much in hafte;
I own, the fondnefs to be bleft
Is a deep thirft in ev'ry breast;
Of bleffings too I have my store,

Yet quarrel not fhould Heaven give more ;
Then prove the change to be expedient,
And think me, Sir, your moít obedient.

Here turning, as to one inferior,
Our gallant fpoke, and fmil'd fuperior:
Methinks, to quit your boafted station
Requires a world of hefitation;
Where brats and bonds are held a blessing,
The cafe, I doubt, is paft redreffing.
Why, child, fuppofe the joys I mention
Were the mere fruits of my invention,
You 've caufe fufficient for your carriage,
In flying from the curfe of marriage;
That fly decoy, with varied fnares,
That takes your widgeons in by pairs;
Alike to husband and to wife,
The cure of love, and bane of life;
The only method of forecasting,
To make misfortune firm and lafting;
The fin, by Heaven's peculiar fentence,
Unpardon'd through a life's repentance.
It is the double fnake that weds
A common tail to diff'rent heads,
That lead the carcafe ftill aftray,
By dragging each a different way.
Of all the ills that may attend me,
From marriage, mighty gods defend me!

Give me frank nature's wild derefne,
And boundless tract of air ferene,
Where fancy, ever wing'd for change,
Delights to fport, delights to range:
There, Liberty! to thee is owing
Whate'er of blifs is worth bestowing:
Delights ftill varied, and divine,
Sweet goddess of the hills! are thine,
What fay you now, you pretty pink, you?
Have I for once fpoke reafon, think you?
You take me now for no romancer-
Come, never study for an anfwer!
Away, caft ev'ry care behind ye,
And fly where joy alone thall find ye.

Soft yet, return'd our female fencer;
A question more, or fo—and then, Sir.
You 've rallied me with fenfe exceeding,
With much fine wit, and better breeding;
But pray, Sir, how do you contrive it?
Do thofe of your world never wive it?
"No, no." How then? “Why, dare I tell?
"What does the bus'nefs full as well."
Do you ne'er love? “An hour at leasure.”
Have you no friendships? "Yes, for pleasure."
No care for little ones? "We get 'em;
"The reft the mothers mind-and let 'em."
Thou, wretch, rejoin'd the kindling Dove,
Quite loft to life, as loft to love!
Whene'er misfortune comes, how juft!
And come misfortunes furely must.
In the dread feason of difmay,
In that your hour of trial, fay,
Who then shall prop your finking heart?
Who bear affliction's weightier part?

Say, when the black-bow'd welkin bends,
And winter's gloomy form impends,
To mourning turns all tranfient cheer,
And blasts the melancholy year;
For times at no persuasion stay,
Nor vice can find perpetual May;
Then where 's that tongue by folly fed,
That foul of pertnefs whither fied?
All fhrunk within thy lonely neft,
Forlorn, abandon'd, and unbleft.
No friends, by cordial bonds allied,
Shall feek thy cold unfocial fide;
No chirping prattlers to delight,
Shall turn the long-enduring night;
No bride her words of balm impart,
And warm thee at her conftant heart.
Freedom, reftrain'd by reafon's force,
Is as the fun's unvarying courfe;
Benignly active, fweetly bright,
Affording warmth, affording light;
But, torn from virtue's facred rules,
Becoms a comet, gaz'd by fools,
Foreboding cares, and ftorms, and ftrife,
And fraught with all the plagues of life.
Thou fool! by union ev'ry creature
Subfifts, through univerfal nature;

And this, to beings void of mind,
Is wedlock of a meaner kind.

While womb'd in space, primæval clay
A yet unfashion'd embryo lay,

The Source of endless good above
Shot down his fpark of kindling love;
Touch'd by the all enlivening flame,
Then motion first exulting came;
Each atom fought its fep'rate clafs
Through many a fair enamour'd mass;
Love caft the central charm around,
And with eternal nuptials bound.
Then form and order o'er the sky
First train'd their bridal pomp on high;
The fun difplay'd his orb to fight,
And burnt with hymeneal light.

Hence nature's virgin-womb conceiv'd
And with the genial burden heav'd;
Forth came the oak, her firft-born heir,
And fcal'd the breathing fteep of air;
Then infant ftems of various ufe,
Imbib'd her foft maternal juice;
The flow'rs, in early bloom difclos'd,
Upon her fragrant breaft repos'd;
Within her warm embraces grew
A race of endless form and hue:
Then pour'd her leer offspring round,
And fondly cloth'd their parent ground.

Nor here alone the virtue reign'd,
By matter's cumb'ring form detain'd;
But thence, fubliming and refin'd,
Afpir'd, and reach'd its kindred Mind.
Caught in the fond celeftial fire,
The mind perceiv'd unknown defire;
And now with kind effufion flow'd,
And now with cordial ardours glow'd,
Beheld the fympathetic fair,

And lov'd its own refemblance there;
On all with circling radiance fhone,
But cent'ring fix'd on one alone;
There clafp & the heaven-appointed wife,
And doubled every joy of life.

Here ever bleffing, ever bleft
Refides this beauty of the breaft;
As from his palace here the god
Still beams effulgent blifs abroad;
Here gems his own eternal round,
The ring by which the world is bound
Here bids his feat of empire grow,
And builds his little heaven below.

The bridal partners thus allied,
And thus in fweet accordance tied,
One body, heart, and fpirit live,
Enrich'd by ev'ry joy they give;
Like echo, from her vocal hold,
Return'd in mufic twenty-fold.
Their union, firm and undecay'd,
Nor time can fhake, nor pow'r invade;
But, as the ftem and fcion ftand
Ingrafted by a skilful hand,
They check the tempeft's wint'ry rage,
And bloom and strengthen into age.
A thoufand amities unknown,
And pow'rs perceiv'd by love alone,
Endearing looks and chafte defire,
Fan and fupport the mutual fire;
Whofe flanie, perpetual as refin'd,
Is fed by an immortal mind,