• Farewell-let hope thy bliss supply,

And count thy gains with fancy's eye; 'Be thine the wings that time shall send, 'Believing and obliging friend.'

He said, and, sneering sly disdain, The neighb'ring leaf attempts to gain; He falls-all bruis'd on earth he lies; Too late repents, and groans, and dies. His friendly Monitor, with care, Avoids each pleasure-baited snare, False pleasure, false and fatal too! Superior joys he keeps in view: They come-the genial spring supplies The wings he hop'd, and, lo! he flies; Tastes all that summer suns prepare, And all the joys of earth and air!

280 THE PAPER-KITE, OR PRIDE WILL HAVE A FALL.

FABLE XCIX.

THE PAPER-KITE ;

OR, PRIDE WILL HAVE A FALL.

By the Rev. John Newton.

My waking dreams are best conceal'd,
Much folly, little good they yield;
But now and then I gain when sleeping,
A friendly hint that's worth the keeping:
Lately I dream'd of one who cried,
Beware of self, beware of pride;
'When you are prone to build a Babel,
'Recal to mind this little Fable.'

Once on a time a Paper Kite
Was mounted to a wond'rous height,
Where, giddy with its elevation,
It thus express'd self-admiration:
'See how yon crowds of gazing people

Admire my flight above the steeple;

'How would they wonder if they knew

· All that a Kite like me can do!

'Were I but free, I'd take a flight,

'And pierce the clouds beyond their sight,

But, ah! like a poor pris'ner bound,

'My string confines me near the ground:

THE PAPER-KITE, OR PRIDE WILL HAVE A FALL. 281

'I'd brave the eagle's tow'ring wing,

Might I but fly without a string.'

It tugg'd and pull'd, while thus it spoke,
To break the string,-at last it broke.
Depriv'd at once of all its stay,"
In vain it tried to soar away;
Unable its own weight to bear,
It flutter'd downward thro' the air;
Unable its own course to guide,
The winds soon plung'd it in the tide.
Ah! foolish Kite, thou had'st no wing,
How could'st thou fly without a string?
My heart replied, 'O Lord, I see
'How much this Kite resembles me!
Forgetful that by thee I stand,

'Impatient of thy ruling hand;

'How oft I've wish'd to break the lines

6

Thy wisdom for my lot assigns?

'How oft indulg'd a vain desire

'For something more, or something higher?

And, but for grace and love divine,

A fall thus dreadful had been mine.'

SOME Author (no great matter who,
Provided what he says be true)
Relates he saw, with hostile rage,
A Spider and a Toad engage:
For, tho' with poison both are stor'd,
Each by the other is abhorr'd,

It seems as if their common venom pro
Provok'd an enmity between 'em.
Implacable, malicious, cruel,

Like modern hero in a duel,
The Spider darted on his foe,
Infixing death at every blow.
The Toad, by ready instinct taught,
An antidote, when wounded, sought
From the herb Plantane, growing near,
Well known to Toads its virtues rare,
The Spider's poison to repel ;

It cropp'd the leaf, and soon was well." ded This remedy it often tried,fecurat

And all the Spider's rage defied.

The person who the contest view'd,
While yet the battle doubtful stood,

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Remov'd the healing plant away

And thus the Spider gain'd the day:
For, when the Toad return'd once more
Wounded, as it had done before,

To seek relief, and found it not,
It swell'd and died upon the spot.
In ev'ry circumstance, but one,
(Could that hold too, I were undone,)
No glass can represent my face
More justly than this tale my case.
The Toad's an emblem of my heart,
And Satan acts the Spider's part.
Envenom'd by his poison, I
Am often at the point to die;

But He who hung upon the tree,
From guilt and woe to set me free, p
Is like the Plantane leaf to me.

To him my wounded soul repairs, anscom odl He knows my pain, and hears my prayers; T From Him I virtue draw by faith,

Which saves me from the jaws of death f
From Him fresh life and strength I gain,

And Satan spends his rage in vain.
No secret arts, or open force,

Can rob me of this sure resource,
Tho' banish'd to some distant land, ogoro ul

My medicine would be still at hand;bomer dif Tho' foolish men its worth deny, & adv Hi Bank Experience gives them all the lies where I