Beneath a peafant's homely thatch A Spider long had held her watch; From morn to night, with reftlefs care, She fpun her web, and wove her fnare. Within the limits of her reign Lay many a heedlefs captive flain; Or flutt ring struggled in the toils, To burft the chains, and fhun her wiles. A ftraying Bee, that perch'd hard by, Beheld her with difdainful eye, Ard thus began: Mean thing! give o'er, And lay thy flender threads no more; A thoughtiefs fly or two, at moft, Is all the conqueft thou canft boaft; For bees of fenfe thy arts evade, We fee fo plain the nets are laid.

The gaudy tulip, that difplays Her fpreading foliage to gaze; That points her charms at all the fees, And yields to ev'ry wanton breeze, Attracts not me; where blufhing grows, Guarded with thorns, the modcft rofe, Enamour'd, round and round I fly, Or on her fragrant bofom lie; Reluctant the my ardour meets, And bashful renders up her sweets.

To wifer heads attention lend, And learn this leffon from a friend: She who with modefty retires, Adds fuel to her lover's fires; While fuch incautious jilts as you By folly your own fchemes undo.

§ 249. Fable XI. The Young Lion and the Ape.
IS true, I blame your lover's choice,
public voice;

And peevith grow, and fick, to hear
His exclamations, O how fair!
I liften not to wild delights,
And tranfports of expected nights;
What is te me your hoard of charms,
The whiteness of your neck and arms?
Needs there no acquifition more
To keep contention from the door?
Yes; pafs a fortnight, and you'll find
All beauty cloys but of the mind.

Senfe and good-humour ever prove
The fureft cords to faften love.
Yet, Phillis, fimpleft of your fex,
You never think but to perplex;
Coquetting it with ev'ry ape
That struts abroad in human shape;
Not that the coxcomb is your tafte,
But that it ftings your lover's breast,
To-morrow you refign the fway,
Prepar'd to honour and obey.
The tyrant miftrefs change for life,
To the fubmiffion of a wife.

Your follies, if you can, fufpend,
And learn inftruction from a friend;
Reluctant hear the first addrefs,
Think often ere you anfwer Yes;
But, once refolv'd, throw off difguife,
And wear your withes in your eyes 3

With caution ev'ry look forbear
That might create one jealous fear,
A lover's ripening hopes confound,
Or give the gen'rous breaft a wound;
Contemn the girlish arts to teaze,
Nor ufe your pow'r, unless to please ;
For fools alone with rigour fway,
When, foon or late, they must obey.

The King of brutes, in life's decline,
Refolv'd dominion to refign;
The beafts were fummon'd to appear,
And bend before the royal heir.
They came; a day was fix'd; the crowd
Before their future monarch bow'd.

A dapper Monkey, pert and vain, Stepp'd forth, and thus addrefs'd the train: Why cringe my friends, with flavish awe, Before this pageant king of ftraw? Shall we anticipate the hour, And, ere we feel it, own his pow'r ? The counfels of experience prize, I know the maxims of the wife; Subjection let us caft away, And live the monarchs of to-day 'Tis ours the vacant hand to spurn, And play the tyrant each in turn. So fhail he right from wrong discern, And mercy from oppreffion learn; At others woes be taught to melt, And loath the ills himfelf has felt.

He fpoke his bofom fwell'd with pride; The youthful Lion thus replied:

What madness prompts thee to provoke My wrath, and dare th' impending stroke? Thou wretched fool! can wrongs impart Compaffion to the feeling heart?

Or teach the grateful breaft to glow,
The hand to give, or cyc to flow?
Learn'd in the practice of their schools,
From women thou haft drawn thy rules •
To them return; in fuch a caufe,
From only fuch expect applause;
The partial fex I don't condemn,
For liking those who copy them.

Wouldit thou the gen'rous lion bind
By kindness bribe him to be kind;
Good offices their likeness. get,
And payment leffens not the debt;
With multiplying hand he gives
The good from others he receives;
Or for the bad makes fair return,
And pays
with int'reft fcorn for fcorn.

For this the yielding maid demands
Protection at her lover's hands;
And though by wafting years it fade,
Remembrance tells him, once 'twas paid.
And will you then this wealth conceal,
For age to ruft, or time to steal?
The fummer of your youth to rove
A ftranger to the joys of love?
Then, when life's winter haftens on,
And youth's fair heritage is gone,
Dow'rlefs to court fome peafant's arms,
To guard your wither'd age from harms;
No gratitude to warm his breaft,
For blooming beauty once poffefs'd;
How will you curfe that stubborn pride
Which drove your bark across the tide,
And failing before folly's wind,
Left fenfe and happiness behind!
Corinna, left thefe whims prevail,
To fuch as you I write my tale.

A Colt, for blood and mettled speed
The choiceft of the ru ning breed,
Of youthful ftrength and beauty vain,
Refus'd fubjection to the rein.
In vain the groom's officious fkill
Oppos'd his pride, and check'd his will;
In vain the mafter's forming care
Reftrain'd with threats, or footh'd with pray'r;
Of freedom proud, and fcorning man,
Wild o'er the fpacious plains he ran.
Where'er luxuriant nature spread
Her flow'ry carpet o'er the mead,
Or bubbling ftreams foft-gliding pass,
To cool and frethen up the grafs,
Difdaining bounds, he cropt the blade,
And wanton'd in the spoil he made.

In plenty thus the fummer pass'd,
Revolving winter came at laft;
The trees no more a fhelter yield,
The verdure withers from the field,
Perpetual fnows inveft the ground,
In icy chains the streams are bound,
Cold, nipping winds, and rattling hail,
His lank unthelter'd fides affail.
As round he caft his rueful eyes,
He faw the thatch'd-roof cottage rife;
The profpect touch'd his heart with cheer,
And promis'd kind deliv rance near.
A ftable, erft his fcorn and hate,
Was now become his wifh'd retreat;
His paffion cool, his pride forgot,
A Farmer's welcome yard he fought.

The mafter saw his woeful plight,
His limbs that totter'd with his weight;
And, friendly, to the ftable led,
And faw him litter'd, drefs'd, and fed.
In flothful cafe all night he lay;
The fervants rofe at break of day;
The market calls-along the road
His back must bear the pond'rous load;
In vain he struggles or complains,
Inceffant blows reward his pains.
To-morrow varies but his toil;

Chain'd to the plough, he breaks the foil;

While fcanty meals at night repay
The painful labours of the day.

Subdued by toil, with anguish rent, His felf-upbraidings found a vent. Wretch that I am! he fighing faid, By arrogance and folly led:

Had but my reftive youth been brought
To learn the leffon nature taught,
Then had 1, like my fires of yore,
The prize from ev'ry courfer bore,
While man beftow'd rewards and praife,
And females crown'd my latter days.
Now lafting fervitude's my lot,
My birth contemn'd, my ipeed forgot;
Doom'd am I, for my pride, to bear
A living death, from year to year.

§ 251. Fable XIII. The Owl and the Nightingale, know the miftrefs' humour right,

T

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 curt'fy going out,
Depend upon't, mamma is onc
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 fpirit.
If learning crack her giddy brains,
No remedy but death remains.
Sum up the various ills of life,
And all 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 control,

She knows no order but of foul;
With books her litter'd floor is fpread,
Of namclefs authors, never read;
Foul linen, petticoats, and lace,
Fill up the intermediate space.
Abroad, a vifitings, her tongue
Is never ftill, and always wrong;
All meanings the defines away,
And ftands with truth and fenfe at bay.
If c'er the meets a gentle heart,
Skill'd in the housewife's ufeful 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!
Meliffa, if the moral strike,
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 paftry-cooks was known to ply,
And ftrip for fcience ev'ry pyc.
For modern poetry, and wit,
He had read all that Blackmore writ

Se

Ye pow'rs whom men and birds obey, Great rulers of your creatures, fay, Why mourning comes by blifs convey'd, And even the fweets of love allay'd? Where grows enjoyment, tall and fair, Around it twines entangling care; While fear for what our fouls poffefs Enervates ev'ry pow'r to blefs: 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 think me rude; Good manners never can intrude; I vow I come thro' pure good nature(Upon my foul, a charming creature!) Are these the comforts of a wife? This careful, cloifter'd, moping life? No doubt, that odious thing, call'd Duty, Is a fweet province for a beauty. Thou pretty ignorance! thy will Is meafur'd to thy want of kill, That good old-fashion'd dame, thy mother, Has taught the infant years no other: The greateft 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 fhame! reject this mean employment,
Enter the world, and tafte enjoyment,
Where time by circling blifs we measure;
Beauty was form'd alone for pleafure:
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 thirst in every breaft;
Of bleffings too 1 have my store,

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

Here turning, as to one inferior, Our gallant fpoke, and fimil'd fuperior : Methinks, to quit your boifted station Requires a world of hesitation; Where brats and bonds are held a bleffing, The cafe, I doubt, is pat redreifing. Why, child, fuppofe the joys I mention Were the mere fiuits of my invention, You've caufe fufficient for your carriage, In flying from the curfe of marriage; That ay decoy, with varied fhares, That takes your widgeons in by pairs; Alike to hufband and to wife, The cure of love, and bane of life; The only method of forecafting,

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 still 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 demeine,
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 spoke reafon, think you?
You take me now for no romancer-
Come, never study for an answer!
Away caft ev'ry care behind ye,
And fly where joy alone fhall find y

Iye.

Soft yet, return'd our female fencer; A queftion 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?

64

No, no." How then?" Why, dare I tell?

"What does the bus'nefs full as well." Do you ne'er love? "An hour at leifure." 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 misfortune furely must. In the dread feafon of difmay, In that your hour of trial, fay, Who then fhall prop your finking heart ? Who bear affliction's weightier part ?

Say, when the black-brow'd welkin bends,
And winter's gloomy form impends,
To mourning turns all tranfient cheer,
And blafts the inciancholy year;
For times at no perfuafion ftay,
Nor vice can find perpetual May;
Then where's that tongue by folly fed,
That foul of pertnefs whither fled?
All thrunk 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, sweetly bright,
Affording warmth, affording light;
But, torn from virtue's facred rules,
Becomes a comet, gaz'd by feels,

Foreboding

Foreboding cares, and storms, and ftrife,
And fraught with all the plagues of life.
Thou fool! by union ev'ry creature
Subiifts, 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 Hame,
Then motion first exulting came;
Each atom fought its fep'rate clafs
Through many a fair enamour'd mafs;
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 scal'd the breathing steep 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 leffer 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 glowid, Beheld the fympathetic fair,

And lov'd its own refemblance there; On all with circling radiance shone, But cent'ring fix'd on one alone; There clafp'd the heaven-appointed wife, And doubled every joy of life. Here ever bletting, 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 fwect accordance tied, One body, heart, and spirit 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 shake, nor pow'r invade; But, as the ftem and feion ftand Ingrafted by a skilful hand,

They check the tempeft's wintry rage,
And bloom and ftrengthen 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 flame, perpetual as refin'd,
Is fed by an immortal mind.

Nor yet the nuptial fanétion ends:
Like Nile it opens, and descends;
Which, by apparent windings led,
We trace to its celeftial head.
The fire, firft fpringing from above,
Becomes the fource of life and love,
And gives his filial heir to flow
In fondnefs down on fons below:
Thus, roll'd in one continued tide,
To time's extremeft verge they glide;
While kindred ftreams, on either hand,
Branch forth in bleffings o'er the land.

Thee, wretch! no lifping babe shall name,
No late-returning brother claim,
No kinfman on thy fight rejoice,
No fifter greet thy ent ring voice;
With partial eyes no parent fee,
And bless their years reftor'd in thee.
In age rejected or declin'd,
An alien even among thy kind,
The partner of thy icorn'd embrace
Shall play the wanton in thy face;
Each park unplume thy little pride,
All friendship fly thy faithlefs fide.
Thy name fhall like thy carcafe rot,
In ficknefs fpurn'd, in death forgot.

All-giving Pow'r! great Source of life!
Oh hear the parent, hear the wife!
That life thou lendeft from above,
Though little, make it large in love;
O bid my feeling heart expand
To ev'ry claim, on ev'ry hand;
To thofe from whom my days I drew,
To thefe in whom those days renew,
To ali my kin, however wide,
In cordial warmth as blood allied,
To friends with fteely fetters twin'd,
And to the cruel, not unkind!

But chief the lord of my defire,
My life, myfelf, my foul, my fire,
Friends, children, all that with can claim,
Chafte paffion clafp, and rapture name-
O fpare him, fpare him, gracious Pow'r!
O give him to my lateft hour!
Let me my length of life employ
To give my fole enjoyment joy.
His love let mutual love excite,
Turn all my cares to his delight;
And ev'ry needlefs bleffing spare,
Wherein my darling wants a fhare.
When he with graceful action woes,
And fweetly bills, and fondly coos,
Ah! deck me, to his eyes alone,
With charms attractive as his own;
And, in my circling wings carefs'd,
Give all the lover to my breaft.

Then