Whistling he leap'd from leaf to leaf; But what is music to the deaf? At length, while poring on the ground, With monumental look profound, A curious vegetable caught His-something similar to thought : Wond'ring, he ponder'd stooping low, (Trelooby always loved a show) And on the Mandrake's vernal station, Star'd with prodigious observation. Th' affronted Mandrake, with a frown, Address'd in rage the wealthy clown: 'Proud member of the rambling race, 'That vegetate from place to place, 'Pursue the leveret at large, 'Nor near thy blunderbuss discharge. • Disdainful tho' thou look'st on me, • What art thou, or what can'st thou be? 'In what consists thy work and fame? The preservation of the Game. For what? thou avaricious elf, But to destroy it all thyself; 'To lead a life of drink and feast, 'T'oppress the poor, and cheat the priest. 'Or triumph in a virgin lost, 'Is all the manhood thou can'st boast. Pretty, in nature's various plan, 'To see a weed that's like a man ; 'But 'tis a grievous thing indeed To see a man so like a weed.' YES FABLE XIV. A STORY OF A COCK AND A BULL. By Smart. we excel in arts and arms, In learning's love and beauty's charms, The land of liberty we tread, And woe to his devoted head Who dares the contrary advance, These, these are truths, what man wo'n't write for, Wo'n't swear, wo'n't bully, or wo'n't fight for? Yet (tho', perhaps, I speak thro' vanity) 6 Is this the case,' quoth Hodge, 'O rare! 'But hold, to-morrow is the fair. 'Thou to thy doom, old boy, art fated, To-morrow--and thou shalt be baited. I The deed was done ah! cruel wrong! Bloody description, hold thy tongue. Victorious yet the Bull return'd, Who serv'd for hour-glass, guard, and clock, Whose youth escap'd the Christmas skillet, Rise, neighbour, from that pensive attitude, 'Brave witness of vile man's ingratitude; • And let us both with spur and horn, 'The cruel reasoning monster scorn. 'Methinks, at ev'ry dawn of day, • When first I chant my blithsome lay, 'Methinks I hear from out the sky, 'All will be better by and by; 'When bloody, base, degenerate man, 'Who deviates from his Maker's plan ; Who nature and her works abuses, • And thus his fellow servants uses, "Shall greatly, and yet justly, want, The mercy he refus'd to grant ; And while his heart his conscience purges,'Shall wish to be the brute he scourges FABLE XV. Ir THE BLOCKHEAD AND THE BEE-HIVE. *** By Smart. THE fragrance of the new-mown hay The cooling, high, o'er-arching shade, The smooth-shorn sod, whose verdant gloss,. Cowslips, like topazes that shine, Close by the silver serpentine, Rude rustics which assert the bow'rs Amidst the educated flow'rs. The lime tree and sweet-scented bay, - - 'Sweet nature, who this turf bedews, 'Sweet nature, who's the thrush's muse! 'How she each anxious thought beguiles, 'And meets me with ten thousand smiles! ' O infinite benignity! She smiles, but not alone on me ; 'On hill, on dale, on lake, on lawn, 'Like Celia when her picture's drawn.' More had he said—but in there came And thence his observations took.. The 'Squire 'gan chattering to the bees, He thus address'd their humming Queen: 'Madam, be not in any terrors, I only come to amend your errors; My friendship briefly to display, And put you in a better way. Cease, Madam, (if I may advise) 'To carry honey on your thighs, Employ ('tis better, I aver) 'Old Grub, the fairies' coach-maker, 'To make a coach, may make a cart. 'To these you'll yoke some sixteen bees, 'Who will dispatch your work with ease; |