In courts such freedom must offend;
There none presumes to be a friend.
To those of your exalted station,
Each courtier is a dedication:
Must I, too, flatter like the rest,
And turn my morals to a jest?
The Muse disdains to steal from those
Who thrive in courts by fulsome prose.
But shall I hide your real praise,
Or tell you what a nation says?
They in your infant bosom trace
The virtues of your royal race;
In the fair dawning of your mind
Discern you generous, mild, and kind :
They see you grieve to hear distress,
And pant already to redress.

Go on; the height of good attain,
Nor let a nation hope in vain :
For hence we justly may presage
The virtues of a riper age.

True courage shall your bosom fire,
And future actions own your sire.
Cowards are cruel, but the brave
Love mercy, and delight to save.

A Tiger, roaming for his prey,
Sprung on a Traveller in the way;
The prostrate game a Lion spies,
And on the greedy tyrant flies:
With mingled roar resounds the wood,
Their teeth, their claws, distil with blood;

Till, vanquish'd by the Lion's strength,

The spotted foe extends his length.
The man besought the shaggy lord,
And on his knees for life implor'd:

His life the generous hero gave.
Together walking to his cave,
The Lion thus bespoke his guest:

'What hardy beast shall dare contest
My matchless strength? you saw the fight,
And must attest my power and right.
Forc'd to forego their native home,
My starving slaves at distance roam.
Within these woods I reign alone;
The boundless forest is my own.
Bears, wolves, and all the savage brood,
Have dy'd the regal den with blood.
These carcasses on either hand,

Those bones that whiten all the land,
My former deeds and triumphs tell,
Beneath these jaws what numbers fell.'
'True,' says the Man,' the strength I saw
Might well the brutal nation awe;
But shall a monarch, brave, like you,
Place glory in so false a view?

Robbers invade their neighbours' right:
Be lov'd; let justice bound your might.
Mean are ambitious heroes' boasts
Of wasted lands and slaughter'd hosts.
Pirates their power by murders gain;
Wise kings by love and mercy reign.
To me your clemency hath shown
The virtue worthy of a throne.
Heav'n gives you power above the rest,
Like Heav'n, to succour the distrest.'
"The case is plain,' the monarch said,
False glory hath my youth misled;
For beasts of prey, a servile train,
Have been the flatterers of my reign.

You reason well: yet tell me, friend,
Did ever you in courts attend?
For all my fawning rogues agree,

That human heroes rule like me.'

Gay.

THE EAGLE AND ASSEMBLY OF ANIMALS.

As Jupiter's all-seeing eye

Survey'd the worlds beneath the sky;
From this small speck of earth were sent
Murmurs and sounds of discontent;
For every thing alive complain'd
That he the hardest life sustain'd.
Jove calls his Eagle. At the word,
Before him stands the royal bird.
The bird, obedient, from Heaven's height,
Downward directs his rapid flight;
Then cited every living thing

To hear the mandates of his king.
'Ungrateful creatures! whence arise
These murmurs which offend the skies?
Why this disorder? say the cause;
For just are Jove's eternal laws.
Let each his discontent reveal;
To yon sour Dog I first appeal.'

'Hard is my lot,' the Hound replies; 'On what fleet nerves the Greyhound flies; While I, with weary step and slow, O'er plains, and vales, and mountains, go. The morning sees my chase begun, Nor ends it till the setting sun.'

When,' says the Greyhound,' I pursue,

My game is lost, or caught in view;

Beyond my sight the prey's secure ;
The Hound is slow, but always sure;
And had I his sagacious scent,

Jove ne'er had heard my discontent.'
The Lion crav'd the Fox's art;
The Fox the Lion's force and heart :
The Cock implor'd the Pigeon's flight,
Whose wings were rapid, strong, and light;
The Pigeon strength of wing despis'd,
And the Cock's matchless valour priz'd:
The Fishes wish'd to graze the plain,
The Beasts to skim beneath the main :
Thus, envious of another's state,
Each blam'd the partial hand of Fate.
The bird of Heav'n then cried aloud,
'Jove bids disperse the murmuring crowd;
The god rejects your idle prayers.
Would ye, rebellious mutineers!
Entirely change your name and nature,
And be the very envied creature?—
What, silent all, and none consent?
Be happy, then, and learn content;
Nor imitate the restless mind,
And proud ambition, of mankind.'

Gay.

THE MISER AND PLUTUS.

THE wind was high, the window shakes,
With sudden start the Miser wakes;
Along the silent room he stalks,

Looks back, and trembles as he walks.
Each lock, and every bolt he tries,
In every creek and corner pries.

Then opes the chest with treasure stor❜d,
And stands in rapture o'er his hoard.
But now with sudden quaims possest,
He wrings his hands, he beats his breast;
By conscience stung he wildly stares,
And thus his guilty soul declares :

'Had the deep earth her stores confin'd, This heart had known sweet peace of mind. But virtue's sold. Good gods! what price Can recompense the pangs of vice?

O bane of good! seducing cheat!
Can man, weak man, thy power defeat?
Gold banish'd honour from the mind,
And only left the name behind;
Gold sow'd the world with every ill;
Gold taught the murderer's sword to kill:
'Twas gold instructed coward hearts
In treachery's more pernicious arts.
Who can recount the mischiefs o'er?
Virtue resides on Earth no more!'—
He spoke, and sigh'd. In angry mood
Plutus, his god, before him stood.
The Miser, trembling, lock'd his chest ;
The Vision frown'd, and thus address'd :
"Whence is this vile ungrateful rant,
Each sordid rascal's daily cant?

Did I, base wretch! corrupt mankind ?—
The fault's in thy rapacious mind.
Because my blessings are abus'd,
Must I be censur'd, curs'd, accus'd?
Ev'n Virtue's self by knaves is made
A cloak to carry on the trade;

And pow'r (when lodg'd in their possession)
Grows tyranny, and rank oppression.