WHEN THE CAT IS AWAY, THE MICE MAY PLAY. 1 A FABLE, INSCRIBED TO DR. SWIFT. In domibus Mures avido dente omnia captant: In domibus Fures avida mente omnia raptant. A LADY once (so stories say) By rats and mice infested, With gins and traps long sought to slay Great havoc 'mongst her cheese was made, At length Grimalkin to her aid She call'd (no more of cats afraid), Soon as Grimalkin came in view, 1 The hints of this and the following fable appear to have originated from the fable of the Old Lady and her Cats, printed in the General Postscript, Nov. 7, 1709. They have been both ascribed to Dr. Swift.-N. Ne'er cat before such glory won; Pert Mrs. Abigail alone Envied Grimalkin's glory; Her favourite lap-dog now was grown She cannot bear, she swears she won't, And vows, that, whatsoe'er comes on't, She begs, she storms, she fawns, she frets, (Her arts are all employ'd) And tells her lady, in a pet, Grimalkin cost her more in meat Than all the rats destroy'd. At length this spiteful waiting-maid Now lap-dog is again restor❜d Sumptuously kept at bed and board, Nab much exults at this success, And tells her, Fubb can do no less But vain such hopes; the mice that fled Nor rats nor mice the lap-dog fear, Meanwhile, to cover their deceit, At once, and slander Grim; Nab says, the cat comes, out of spite, Nor corn secure in garret high, On every shelf the vermin prey; The gains from corn apace decay'd, Complaints came from the dairy-maid, With this same lady once there liv'd Who, hearing this, full much was griev'd, And hasten'd to her aid. Much art she us'd for to disclose Struck with the sense of her mistake, And ne'er again her cat forsake, Lest she again repent it. THE WIDOW AND HER CAT. A FABLE.1 A WIDOW kept a favourite cat, But, when he was grown sleek and fat, The fox and he were friends of old, He scratch'd the maid, he stole the cream, Nor chick, nor duckling, 'scapes, when Grim The dame full wisely did decree, For fear he should dispatch more, Thus speech'd it like a Lechmere : 2 1 In Tindal's Continuation of Rapin, xvii. 454, this fable is said to be by Prior or Swift. In Boyer's Political State, 1720, p. 519, where it is applied to the Duke of Marlborough, it is said to be by Swift or Prior.-N. 2 The celebrated lawyer.-N. |