Addressing now the Fly: 'From you What public service can accrue?'
'From me!' the flutt'ring insect said,
'I thought you knew me better bred.
Sir, I'm a gentleman. Is 't fit
That I to industry submit?
Let mean mechanics, to be fed,
By bus'ness earn ignoble bread.
Lost in excess of daily joys,
No thought, no care my life annoys,
At noon (the lady's matin hour)
I sip the tea's delicious flower.
On cates luxuriously I dine,
And drink the fragrance of the vine.
Studious of elegance and ease,
Myself alone I seek to please.'
The Man his pert conceit derides,
And thus the useless coxcomb chides:
'Hence from that peach, that downy seat;
No idle fool deserves to eat.
Could you have sapp'd the blushing rind,
And on that pulp ambrosial din'd,
Had not some hand, with skill and toil,
To raise the tree, prepar'd the soil?
Consider, sot, what would ensue,
Were all such worthless things as you.
You'd soon be forc'd (by hunger stung)
To make your dirty meals on dung;
On which such despicable need,
Unpitied, is reduc'd to feed.
Besides, vain selfish insect, learn
(If you can right and wrong discern),
That he, who with industrious zeal
Contributes to the public weal,
By adding to the common good,
His own hath rightly understood.'
So saying, with a sudden blow
He laid the noxious vagrant low.
Crush'd in his luxury and pride,
The spunger on the public died.
The Jackal, Leopard, and other Beasts.
To a Modern Politician.
I GRANT Corruption sways mankind;
That int'rest too perverts the mind;
That bribes have blinded common-sense,
Foil'd reason, truth, and eloquence:
I grant you too, our present crimes
Can equal those of former times.
Against plain facts shall I engage
To vindicate our righteous age,
I know that in a modern fist,
Bribes in full energy subsist.
Since then these arguments prevail,
And itching palms are still so frail,
Hence politicians, you suggest,
Should drive the nail that goes the best,
That it shews parts and penetration,
To ply men with the right temptation.
To this I humbly must dissent:
Premising, no reflection 's meant,
Does justice, or the client's sense,
Teach lawyers either side's defence?
The fee gives eloquence its spirit;
That only is the client's merit.
Does art, wit, wisdom, or address,
Obtain the prostitute's caress?
The guinea (as in other trades)
From ev'ry hand alike persuades.
Man, Scripture says, is prone to evil,
But does that vindicate the Devil?
Besides, the more mankind are prone,
The less the Devil's parts are shewn.
Corruption 's not of modern date;
It hath been try'd in ev'ry state.
Great knaves of old their power have fenc'd,
By places, pensions, bribes dispens'd;
By these they glory'd in success,
And impudently dar'd oppress;
By these despoticly they sway'd,
And slaves extoll'd the hand that paid;
Nor parts nor genius were employ'd,
By these alone were realms destroy'd.
Now see these wretches in disgrace,
Stript of their treasures, power, and place;
View 'em abandon'd and forlorn,
Expos'd to just reproach and scorn.
What now is all your pride, your boast?
Where are your slaves, your flatt'ring host?
What tongues now feed you with applause?
Where are the champions of your cause?
Now e'en that very fawning train
Which shar'd the gleanings of your gain,
Press foremost, who shall first accuse
Your selfish jobs, your paltry views,
Your narrow schemes, your breach of trust,
And want of talents to be just.
What fools were these amidst their pow'r! How thoughtless of their adverse hour! What friends were made? A hireling herd, For temporary votes preferr❜d.
Was it, these sycophants to get,
Your bounty swell'd a nation's debt?
You're bit. For these, like Swiss, attend ;
No longer pay, no longer friend.
The lion is, beyond dispute,
Allow'd the most majestic brute;
His valour and his gen'rous mind
Prove him superior of his kind.
Yet to jackals, as 'tis averr'd,
Some lions have their pow'r transferr'd :
As if the parts of pimps and spies
To govern forests could suffice.
Once, studious of his private good,
A proud Jackal oppress'd the wood;
To cram his own insatiate jaws,
Invaded property and laws.
The forest groans with discontent,
Fresh wrongs the gen'ral hate foment.
The spreading murmurs réach'd his ear;
His secret hours were vex'd with fear.
Night after night he weighs the case,
And feels the terrors of disgrace.
'By friends,' says he,' I'll guard my seat,
By those, malicious tongues defeat:
I'll strengthen pow'r by new allies,
And all my clam'rous foes despise.'
To make the gen'rous beasts his friends,
He cringes, fawns, and condescends;
But those repuls'd his abject court,
And scorn'd oppression to support.
Friends must be had.
Bribes shall new proselytes enlist.
But these nought weigh'd in honest paws;
For bribes confess a wicked cause:
Yet think not ev'ry paw withstands
What hath prevail'd in human hands.
A tempting turnip's silver skin
Drew a base Hog through thick and thin:
Bought with a stag's delicious haunch,
The mercenary Wolf was staunch:
The convert Fox grew warm and hearty,
A pullet gain'd him to the party:
The golden pippin in his fist,
A chatt'ring Monkey join'd the list.
But soon, expos'd to public hate,
The fav'rite's fall redress'd the state.
The Leopard, vindicating right,
Had brought his secret frauds to light.
As rats, before the mansion falls,
Desert late hospitable walls,
In shoals the servile creatures run
To bow before the rising sun.
The Hog with warmth express'd his zeal,
And was for hanging those that steal;
But hop'd, though low, the public hoard
Might half a turnip still afford.
Since saving measures were profest,
A lamb's head was the Wolf's request.
The Fox submitted,-if to touch
A gosling would be deem'd too much?
The Monkey thought his grin and chatter,
Might ask a nut or some such matter.
Ye hirelings, hence,' the Leopard cries, 'Your venal conscience I despise. He who the public good intends, By bribes needs never purchase friends. Who acts this just, this open part, Is propp'd by ev'ry honest heart. Corruption now too late hath shew'd, That bribes are always ill-bestow'd. By you your bubbled master's taught, Time-serving tools, not friends, are bought.'
The degenerate Bees.
To the Rev. Dr. Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's.
THOUGH Courts the practice disallow,
A friend at all times I'll avow.
In politics I know 'tis wrong:
A friendship may be kept too long;
And what they call the prudent part,
Is to wear int'rest next the heart.
As the times take a diff'rent face,
Old friendships should to new give place.
I know, too, you have many foes,
That owning you is sharing those;
That ev'ry knave in ev'ry station,
Of high and low denomination,
For what you speak, and what you write,
Dread you at once, and bear you spite.
Such freedoms in your works are shewn,
They can't enjoy what's not their own.
All dunces too in church and state
In frothy nonsense shew their hate;
With all the petty scribbling crew
(And those pert sots are not a few),
'Gainst you and Pope their envy spurt:
The booksellers alone are hurt.
Good gods! by what a powerful race
(For blockheads may have pow'r and place)
Are scandals rais'd and libels writ,
To prove your honesty and wit!
|