The wind they long had with'd was come about :
Well pleas'd they went to reft; and if the gale
Till morn continued, both refolv'd to fail.
But as together in a bed they lay,
The younger had a dream at break of day.
A man he thought stood frowning at his fide:
Who warn'd him for his fafety to provide,
Nor put to fea, but fafe on fhore abide.
I come, thy genius, to command thy stay;
Truft not the winds, for fatal is the day,
And death unhop'd attends the watery way.

The vifion faid: and vanifh'd from his fight:
The dreamer waken'd in a mortal fright:
Then pull'd his drewfy neighbour, and declar'd
What in his flumber he had seen and heard,
His friend fmil'd fcornful, and with proud con-
tempt

Rejects as idle what his fellow dreamt.

Stay, who will stay; for me no fears restrain,
Who follow Mercury the god of gain;
Let each man do as to his fancy feems,
I wait not, I, till you have better dreams.
Dreams are but interludes which fancy makes;
When monarch reafon fleeps, this mimic wakes:
Compounds a medley of disjointed things,
A mob of coblers, and a court of kings:
Light fumes are merry, groffer fumes are fad :
Both are the reasonable foul run mad;
And many monftrous forms in fleep we fee,
That neither were, nor are, nor e'er can be.
Sometimes forgotten things long caft behind
Rush forward in the brain, and come to mind.
The nurfe's legends are for truth's receiv'd,
And the man dreams but what the boy believ'd.
Sometimes we but rehearse a former play,
The night reftores our actions done by day;
As hounds in fleep will open for their prey.
In short, the farce of dreams is of a piece,
Chimeras all; and more abfurd, or lefs:
You, who believe in tales, ahide alone;
Whate'er I get this voyage is my own.

Thus while he spoke, he heard the fhouting

crew

That call'd aboard, and took his laft adicu.
The veffel went before a merry gale,
And for quick paffage put on every fail :
But when leaft fear'd, and ev'n in open day,
The mischief overtook her in the way:
Whether the fprung a leak, I cannot find,
Or whether she was overfet with wind,

Or that femie rock below her bottom rent ;
But down at once with all her crew she went:
Her fellow fhips from far her lofs defcry'd;
But only the was funk, and all were safe befide,
By this example you are taught again,
That dreams and vifions are not always vain:
But if, dear Partlet, you are ftill in doubt,
Another tale fhall make the former out.
Kenelm the fon of Kenulph, Mercia's king.
Whole holy life the legends loudly fing,.

Warn'd in a dream his murder did foretel
From point to point as after it befel;
All circumstances to his nurfe he told
(A wonder from a child of feven years old);
The dream with horror heard, the good old wife
From treafon counfel'd him to guard his life;
But clofe to keep the secret in his mind,
For a boy's vifion fmall belief would find.
The pious child, by promife bound, obey'd,
Nor was the fatal murder long delay'd:
By Quenda flain, he fell before his time,
Made a young martyr by his fifter's crime.
The tale is told by venerable Bede,
Which at your better leifure you may read.
Macrobius too relates the vision sent
To the great Scipio, with the fam'd event:
Objections makes, but after makes replies,
And adds, that dreams are often prophefies.
Of Daniel you may read in holy writ,
Who, when the king his vifion did forget,
Could word for word the wonderous dream re-

peat.

Nor lefs of patriarch Jofeph understand,
Who by a dream enflav'd th' Egyptian land,
The years of plenty and of death foretold,
When, for their bread, their liberty they fold.
Nor muft th' exalted butler be forgot,

Nor he whofe dream prefag'd his hanging lot.
And did not Cræfus the fame death foreice,
Rais'd in his vifion on a lofty tree?
The wife of He&or, in his utmost pride,
Dreamt of his death the night before he dy'd;
Well was he warn'd from battle to refrain,
Bat men to death decreed are warn'd in vain :
He dar'd the dream, and by his fatal foe was
flain.

Much more I know, which I forbear to speak,
For fee the ruddy day begins to break;
Let this fuffice, that plainly I forefee
My dream was bad, and bodes adverfity:
But neither pills nor laxatives I like,
They only ferve to make the well man fick :
Of these his gain the fharp physician makes,
And often gives a purge, but feldom takes:
They not correct, but poifon all the blood,
And ne'er did any but the doctors good,
Their tribe, trade, trinkets, I defy them all;
With every work of 'pothecary's hall.
Thefe melancholy matters I forbear:
But let me tell thee, Partlet mine, and swear,
That when I view the beauties of thy face,
I fear not death, nor dangers, nor difgrace:
So may my foul have blefs, as when I fpy
The fcarlet red about thy partridge eye.
While thou art conflant to thy own
knight,

While thou art mine, and I am thy delight,
All forrows at thy prefence take their flight.
For true it is, as "in principio,
"Mulier eft hominis confufio,"
Madam, the meaning of this Latin is,
That woman is to man his fovereign blifs.
For when by night I feel your tender fide,
Though for the arrow perch 1 cannot ride,

true

Yet I have fuch a folace in my mind. That all my boding cares are cast behind; And ev'n already I forget my dream:

call,

To chuck his wives together in the hall.

By this the widow had unbarr'd the door,
And Chanticleer went ftrutting out before,
With royal courage, and with heart fo light,
As fhew'd he fcorn'd the vifions of the night.
Now roaming in the yard he spurn'd the ground,
And gave to Partlet the first grain he found,
Then often feather'd her with wanton play,
And trod her twenty times e'er prime of day:
And took by turns, and gave fo much delight,
Her fifters pin'd with envy at the fight.

He chuck'd again, when other corns he found,
And fcarcely deign'd to fet a foot to ground.
But fwagger'd like a lord about his hall,
And his feven wives came running at his call,
'Twas now the menth in which the world be-
(If March beheld the first created man):
And fince the vernal equinox, the fun,
In Aries twelve degrees, or more, had run;
When cafting up his eyes against the light,
Both month, and day, and hour, he meafur'd

right;

[gan

And told more truly than th' Ephemeris:
For art may err, but nature cannot mifs.
Thus numbering times and feafons in his breast,
His fecond crowing the third hour confefs'd.
Then turning, said to Partlet. See, my dear,
How lavish nature has adorn'd the year;
How the pale primrose and blue violet spring,
And birds effay their throats difus'd to fing:
All these are ours; and I with pleasure see
Man firutting on two legs, and aping me :
An unfledg'd creature, of a lumpish frame,
Endow'd with fewer particles of flame:
Our dame fits couring o'er a kitchen fire,
I draw fresh air, and nature's works admire :
And ev'n this day in more delight abound,
Than, fince I was an egg, I ever found.

The time fhall come when Chanticleer fhall
with

His words unfaid, and hate his boasted blifs:
The crefted bird fhall by experience know,
Jove made not him his mafter-piece below;
And learn the latter end of joy is woe.
The veffel of his blefs to dregs is run,

And Heaven will have him tafte his other tun.
Ye wife, draw near, and hearken to my tale,
Which proves, that oft the proud by flattery fall:
The legend is as true I undertake

As Triftran is, and Launcelot of the lake :
Which all our ladies in fuch reverence hold,
As if in book of martyrs it were told.

A fox full-fraught with feeming fanctity,
That fear'd an oath, but, like the devil, would lie;
Who look'd like Lent, and had the holy leer,
And durft not fin before he said his prayer;

By ftratagem to gratify his tafte.

The plot contriv'd, before the break of day, Saint Reynard through the hedge had made his way;

The pale was next, but proudly with a bound
He leapt the fence of the forbidden ground:
Yet, fearing to be feen, within a bed
Of coleworts he conceal'd his wily head;
Then fculk'd till afternoon, and watch'd his time,
(As murderers use) to perpetrate his crime.
O hypocrite, ingenious to destroy,
O traitor, worse than Sinon was to Troy;
O vile fubverter of the Gallic reign,
More falfe than Gano was to Charlemaign!
O Chanticleer, in an unhappy hour
Didit thou for fake the fafety of thy bower:
Better for thee thou hadst believ'd thy dream,
And not that day defcended from the beam!
But here the doctors eagerly dispute :
Some hold predeftination abfolute
Some clerks maintain, that Heaven at firft forefees,
And in the virtue of forefight decrees.
If this be fo, then prescience binds the will,
And mortals are not free to good or ill:
For what he firft forefaw, he must ordain,
Or its eternal prefcience may be vain :
As bad for us as prefcience had not been:
For first, or laft, he's author of the fin.
And who fays that, let the blafpheming man
Say worse ev'n of the devil, if he can.
For how can that eternal Power be just
To punish man, who fins because he must?
Or, how can he reward a virtuous deed,
Which is not done by us; but first decreed.

I cannot bolt this matter to the bran,
As Bradwardin and holy Auftin can;
If prefcience can determine actions fo
That we must do, because he did foreknow,
Or that, foreknowing, yet our choice is free,
Not forc'd to fin by ftrict neceffity;
This ftrict neceffity they fimple call,
Another fort there is conditional.

The first fo binds the will, that things forc known

By fpontaneity, not choice, are done.
Thus galley-flaves tug willing at their oar,
Content to work, in prospect of the fhore;
But would not work at all if not conftrain'd
before.

That other does not liberty conftrain,
But man may either act, or may refrain.
Heaven made us agents free to good or ill,
And forc'd it not, though he forefaw the will.
Freedom was first bestow'd on human race,
And prefcience only held the fecond place.

If he could make fuch agents wholly free,
I not difpute, the point's too high for me;

This Chanticleer, of whom the story fings, Stood high upon his toes, and clapp'd his wings; Then stretch'd his neck, and wink'd with both his eyes,

Ambitious, as he fought th' Olympic prize.
But, while be pain'd himself to raise his note,
Falfe Reynard rufh'd, and caught him by the
throat.

Then on his back he laid the precious load,
And fought his wonted shelter of the wood;
Swiftly he made his way, the mischief done,
Of all unheeded, and purfued by none.

Alas, what ftay is there in human state,
Or who can fhun inevitable fate?

'The doom was written, the decree was past,
Ere the foundations of the world were caft!
In Aries though the fun exalted food,
His patron planet to procure his good;
Yet Saturn was his mortal foe, and he,
In Libra rais'd, oppos'd the fame degree:
The rays both good and bad, of equal power,
Each thwarting other made a mingled hour.

On Friday morn he dreamt this direful dream,
Crofs to the worthy native, in his fcheme!
Ah blifsful Venus, Goddefs of delight,
How could't thou fuffer thy devoted knight,
On thy own day to fall by foe opprefs'd,
The wight of all the world who ferv'd thee best?
Who, true to love, was all for recreation,
And minded not the work of propagation.
Gaufride, who could'st so well in rhyme complain
The death of Richard with an arrow flain,
Why had not I thy Mufe, or thou my heart,
To fing this heavy dirge with equal art!
That I like thee on Friday might complain;
For on that day was Cœur de Lion flain.

Not louder cries, when Ilium was in flames, Were fent to heaven by woful Trojan dames, When Pyrrhus tofs'd on high his burnifh'd

blade,

}

And offer'd Priam to his father's fhade,
Than for the cock the widow'd poultry made.
Fair Partlet first, when he was borne from fight,
With fovereign fhrieks, bewail'd her captive
knight:

Far louder than the Carthaginian wife,
When Afdrubal her husband loft his life,
When she beheld the fmouldering flames afcend,
And all the Punic glories at an end:
Willing into the fires the plung'd her head,
With greater eafe than others feek their bed.
Not more aghaft the matrons of renown,
When tyrant Nero burn'd th' Imperial town,
Shriek'd for the downfal in a doleful cry,
For which their guiltlefs lords were doom'd to die.
Now to my ftory I return again :

The trembling widow, and her daughters twain,
This woful cackling cry with horror heard,
Of those diftracted damfels in the yard;
And starting up beheld the heavy fight,
How Reynard to the foreft took his flight,
And crofs his back, as in triumphant fcorn,
The hope and pillar of the houfe was borne.
The fox, the wicked fox, was all the cry;
Out from his houfe ran every neighbour nigh;

The vicar first, and after him the erew
With forks and ftaves, the felon to pursue.
Ran Coll our dog, and Talbot with the band,
And Malkin, with her diftaff in her hand;
Ran cow and calf, and family of hogs,
In panic horror of purfuing dogs;

With many a deadly grunt and doleful fqueak,
Poor fwine, as if their pretty hearts would break.
The fhouts of men, the women in difmay,
With fhricks augment the torror of the day.
The ducks that heard the proclamation cry'd,
And fear'd a perfecution might betide,
Full twenty mile from town their voyage take,
Obfcure in rushes of the liquid lake.

The geefe fly o'er the barn; the bees in arms
Drive headlong from their waxen cells in fwarms,
Jack Straw at London-stone, with all his rout,
Struck not the city with fo loud a shout;
Not when with English hate they did pursue
A Frenchman, or an unbelieving Jew:
Not when the welkin rung with one and all;
And echoes bounded back from Fox's hall:
Earth feem'd to fink beneath, and heaven above
to fall.

With might and main they chac'd the murderous fox,

With brazen trumpets, and inflated box,
To kindle Mars with military founds,
Nor wanted horns t' infpire fagacious hounds.

But fee how Fortune can confound the wife,
And, when they least expect it, turn the dice.
The captive cock, who fcarce could draw his
breath,

And lay within the very jaws of death;
Yet in this agony his fancy wrought,
And fear fupply'd him with this happy thought:
Your's is the prize, victorious prince, said he,
The vicar my defeat, and all the village fee.
Enjoy your friendly fortune while you may,
And bid the churls that envy you the prey
Call back their mungril curs, and ceafe their'
cry,

See, fools, the fhelter of the wood is nigh,
And Chanticleer in your despight shall die,
He fhall be pluck'd and eaten to the bone.

'Tis well advis'd, in faith it shall be done; This Reynard faid: but, as the word he spoke, The prifaner with a spring from prison broke: Then ftretch'd his feather'd fans with all his might,

And to the neighbouring maple wing'd his flight;
Whom when the traitor fafe on tree beheld,
He curs'd the Gods, with fhame and forrow fill'd;
Shame for his folly, forrow out of time,
For plotting an unprofitable crime;
Yet, maftering both, th' artificer of lies
Renews th' affault, and his laft battery tries.

Though I, faid he, did ne'er in thought offend,
How justly may my lord fufpect his friend!
Th' appearance is against me, I confefs,
Who feemingly have put you in dittress:
You, if your goodness does not plead my cause,
May think I broke all hofpitable laws,
To bear you from your palace-yard by might,
And put your noble perion in a fright:

This, fince you take it ill, I must repent,
Though, heaven can witness, with no bad intent :
I praЯis'd it, to make you taste your cheer
With double pleasure, first prepar'd by fear.
So loyal fubjects often feize their prince,
Forc'd (for his good) to seeming violence,

Yet mean his facred perfon not the least offence.

Descend; so help me Jove as you shall find
That Reynard comes of no diffembling kind.
Nay, quoth the cock; but I befhrew us both,
If I believe a faint upon his oath :

An honest man may take a knave's advice,
But idiots only may be cozen'd twice:
Once warn'd is well bewar'd; not flattering lies
Shall footh me more to fing with winking eyes,
And open mouth, for fear of catching flies.
Who blindfold walks upon a river's brim,
When he should fee, has he deferv'd to swim?
Better, fir cock, let all contention cease,

Come down, faid Reynard, let us treat of peace.

A peace with all my foul, faid Chanticleer;
But, with your favour, I will treat it here:
And, left the truce with treason should be mixt,
'Tis my concern to have the tree betwixt.

THE MORAL.

In this plain fable you th' effect may fee Of negligence, and fond credulity: And learn befides of flatterers to beware, Then most pernicious when they speak too fair. The cock and fox, the fool and knave imply; The truth is moral, though the tale a lie. Who spoke in parables, I dare not say; But fure he knew it was a pleasing way, Sound fenfe, by plain example, to convey. And in a heathen author we may find, That pleasure with inftruction should be join'd; So take the corn, and leave the chaff behind.