Food must be had and lamb is nigh;
His maw invokes the fraudful lie.
" Is this" (dissembling rage, he cried)
The gentle virtue of a bride ?
That leagu'd with man's destroying race,
She sets her husband for the chace?.
By treach'ry prompts the noisy hound
To scent his footsteps on the ground?
Thou trait'ress vile! for this thy blood
Shall glut my rage, and dye the wood!"
So saying, on the lamb he flies,

Beneath his jaw the victim dies.

100

16

I HATE the face, however fair, That carries an affected air. The lisping tone, the shape constrain'd, The study'd look, the passion feign'd, w Are fopperies, which, only tend To injure what they strive to mend. With what superior grace enchants The face which nature's pencil paints! Where eyes, unexercis'd in art, Glow with the meaning of the heart! Where freedom and good-humour sit, And easy gaiety, and wit! Tho' perfect beauty be not there, The master-lines, the finish'd air, We catch from ev'ry look delight, And grow enamour'd at the sight; For beauty, tho' we all approve, Excites our wonder, more than love,

While the agreeable strikes sure,
And gives the wounds we cannot cure.
Why then, my Amoret, this care,
That forms you, in effect, less fair?
If nature on your cheek bestows
A bloom, that emulates the rose,
Or from some heav'nly image drew
A form, Apelles never knew,
Your ill-jugd'd aid will you imparť,
And spoil by meretricious art?
Or had you, nature's errors, come
Abortive from the mother's womb,
Your forming care she still rejects,
Which only heightens her defects.
When such of glitt'ring jewels proud,
Still press the foremost in the croud,
At ev'ry public show are seen,
With look awry, and aukward mein,
The gaudy dress attracts the eye,
And magnifies deformity.
Nature may underdo her part,
But seldom wants the help of art;
Trust her, she is your surest friend,
Nor made your form for you to mend.

A goose, affected, empty, vain,
The shrillest of the cackling train,
With proud, and elevated crest,
Precedence claim'd above the rest.

Says she, " I laugh at human race, Who say geese hobble in their pace; Look here! the sland'rous lie detect: Not haughty man is so erect.

That peacock yonder! lord, how vain The creature's of his gaudy train!

If both were stript, I'd pawn my word,
A goose would be the finer bird.
Nature, to hide her own defects,
Her bungled work with fin'ry decks;
Were geese set off with half that show,
Would men admire the peacock? no."

Thus vaunting, cross the mead she stalks,
The cackling breed attend her walks;
The sun shot down his noon-tide beams;
The swans were sporting in the streams;
Their snowy plumes, and stately pride
Provok'd her spleen. "Why there," she cry'd,
"Again what arrogance we see!--
Those creatures! how they mimic me!
Shall ev'ry fowl the waters skim,
Because we geese are known to swim?
Humility they soon shall learn.
And their own emptiness discere."
So saying, with extended wings,
Lightly upon the wave she springs.
Her bosom swells, she spreads her plumes,
And the swan's stately crest assumes.
Contempt and mockery ensu'd,
And bursts of laughter shook the flood.
A swan, superior to the rest,
Sprung forth, and thus the fool address'd.
"Conceited thing! elate with pride,
Thy affectation all deride;
These airs thy aukwardness impart,
And show thee plainly as thou art.
Among thy equals of the flock,
Thou hast escap'd the public mock,
And as thy parts to good conduce,
Eeen deem'd an honest hobling goose.

" Learn hence, to study wisdom's rules;

Know, foppery's the pride of fools,
And striving nature to conceal,

You only her defects reveal."

FABLE VIII.

The Lawyer and Justice.

LOVE! thou divinest good below, Thy pure delights few mortals know. Our rebel hearts thy sway disown, While tyrant lust usurps thy throne ! The bounteous God of nature made The sexes for each other's aid, Their mutual talents to employ, To lessen ills, and heighten joy. To weaker women he assign'd That soft'ning gentleness of mind, That can with sympathy impart Its likeness to the roughest heart. Her eyes with magic pow'r endu'd, To fire the dull, and awe the rude, His rosy fingers on her face Shed, lavish ev'ry blooming grace, And stamp'd (perfection to dislay) His mildest image on her clay. Man, active, resolute, and bold, He fashion'd in a diff'rent mould. With useful arts his mind inform'd, His breast with nobler passions warm'd; He gave him knowledge, taste, and sense, And courage for the fair's defence, Her frame, resistless to each wrong,

Demands protection from the strong;
To man she flies, when fear alarms,
And claims the temple of his arms.
By nature's author thus declar'd
The women's sov'reign, and her guard,
Shall man, by treach'rous wile invade,
The weakness he was meant to aid?
While beauty, given to inspire,
Protecting love, and soft desire,
Lights up a wild-fire in the heart,
And to its own breast points the dart,
Becomes the spoiler's base pretence,
To triumph over innocence!

The wolf, that tears the tim'rous sheep,
Was never set the fold to keep;
Nor was the tiger, or the pard
Meant the benighted trav'ller's guard;
But man, the wildest beast of prey,
Wears friendship's semblance to betray;
His strength against the weak employs,
And, where he should protect, destroys.

Past twelve o'clock, the watchman cry'd, His brief the studious lawyer ply'd; The all prevailing fee lay nigh, The ea. nest of to-morrow's lie; Sudden the furious winds arise, The jarring casement shatter'd flies, The doors admit a hollow sound, And, rattling from their hinges bound; When justice, in a blaze of light, Reveal'd her radiant form to sight. The wretch with thrilling horror shook, Loose ev'ry joint and pale his look, Not having seen her in the courts,

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