6

6

HAJJSO-TJAE 31 GMA XO8-1984 S 'Let thy heart pant for universal praise, gog • Such as, unbrib'd, to virtue, virtue pays. W Is this is Withheld? try ev'ry winning art, al To melt the hard, to sooth the froward,

Sue for esteem-to all but fawning bend, Whom this will purchase is a worthless friend; 'But scorn the thought, as ya as vainest of the yain, That what good nature loses, pride will gain. 'Less than your merit does your friend

nd approve! Still merit more, his love constrain with love. booid anoxsnom st

This conduct tried, remains he still the same? em sysy Bron

Learn you to pity what the world will blame.
The genʼral censure his neglect ensures,

Thy honour brightens and thy praise secures.'

And Tom was call'd to take away;

Tom clear'd the board with dext'rous artw

But, willing to secure a tart,

The liquorish youth had made an halt, A
And left the Pepper-box and Salted on

Alone upon upon the

the marble table

Who, thus, like men, were heard to squabble:

Pepper began,' Pray, Sir,' says he

What business have you here with me? 'Is't fit that Spices of my birth

'Should rank with thee, thou scum of earth?

'I'd have you know, Sir, I've a spirit

'Suited to my superior merit.—
'Tho' now confin'd within this caster,

I serve a northern Gothic master ;

"Yet born in Java's fragrant wood, To warm an Eastern monarch's blood, The sun those rich perfections gave me, 'Which tempted Dutchmen to enslave me. 'Nor are my virtues here unknown,

Tho' old and wrinkled now I'm grown.
'Black as I am, the fairest maid
'Invokes my stimulating aid,

'To give her food the poignant flavour,
'And to each sauce its proper savour.
'Pasties, ragouts, and fricassees,
Without my seasoning, fail to please:
"Tis I, like wit, must give a zest,
"And sprightliness to ev'ry feast.

Physicians too my use confess;
My influence sagest matrons bless :
When drams prove vain, and cholics teaze,
To me they fly for certain ease.

'And, when of dulness wits complain,

'I brace the nerves, and clear the brain.

But, to the 'Squire, here, I appeal,

'He knows my real value well:

6

Who, with one Pepper-corn content,

• Remits the vassal's annual rent.

Hence, then, Sir Brine, and keep your distance, 'Go lend the Scullion your assistance;

For culinary uses fit,

To salt the meat upon the spit;

'Or just to keep our meat from stinking-
And then-a special friend to drinking!'
Your folly moves me with surprise,'
The silver Tripod thus replies,
'Pray, master Pepper, why so hot?
First cousin to the Mustard-pot!
What boots it how our life began?
"Tis breeding makes the gentleman:
Yet, would you search my pedigree,
'I rose, like Beauty, from the Sea;

The Sun, whose influence you boast,
Nurs'd me upon the British coast.

The Chemists know my rank and place,
When nature's principles they trace:
And wisest moderns yield to me
'The elemental monarchy.

By me all nature is supplied

With all her beauty, all her pride!

'In vegetation I ascend;

To animals their vigour lend;

Corruption's foe, I life preserve,

' And stimulate each slacken'd nerve.
'I give jonquils their high perfume ;
'The peach its flavour, rose its bloom:

Nay I'm the cause, when rightly trac'd, 'Of Pepper's aromatic taste.

'Such claims you teach me to produce; 'But need I plead my obvious use,

When Heaven declares, that Salt is good. Grant, then, some few thy virtues find; 'Yet Salt gives health to all mankind:

Physicians sure will side with me,

While Cooks alone shall plead for thee:

In short, with all thine airs about thee, 'The world were happier far without thee.'

The 'Squire, who all this time sat mute,
Now put an end to their dispute:
He rang the bell-bade Tom convey
The doughty disputants away-

The Salt, refresh'd by shaking up,
At night did with his master sup:
The Pepper, Tom assign'd his lot
With Vinegar and Mustard-pot:
A fop with Bites and Sharpers join'd,
And to the side-board well confin'd.

FABLE LXXIV.

THE BLACKBIRD AND THE BULLFINCH.

PERCH'D on a poplar's verdant spray,
A Blackbird sung the hours away;
Charm'd all around, and seem'd to call
An Echo from his Lordship's hall.
Confin'd in state, a Bullfinch, there,
The melting music chanc'd to hear.
Bursting with envy, silence broke,
And, thus, from gilded cage he spoke :
'Cease, bungler, thy discordant noise,
Untun'd thy throat, and harsh thy voice;
'How dar'st thou, vagrant, as thou art,
To me thy dissonance impart?

'Know'st thou I sing by studied rules,

And boast the learning of the schools? 'Soft rapture to the heart convey,

And charm the list'ning soul away? To please my Lord, and soothe his cares, 'I warble soft Italian airs;

Which he in gratitude repays

• With costly food, and gen'rous praise:

Whilst thou, condemn'd thro' air to rove, 'Or hide thee in the gloomy grove, 'Feebly to suck the beverage scant, And pine in endless care and want;