Might well a Raphael's hand require,
To give them all the native fire;

The features, fraught with sense and wit,
You'll grant are very hard to hit;
But yet with patience you shall view
As much as paint and art can do.'

Observe the work. My Lord replied,
'Till now I thought my mouth was wide;
Besides my nose is somewhat long;
Dear Sir, for me, 'tis far too young.'
'Oh! pardon me, (the artist cried)

In this we Painters must decide.
The piece ev'n common eyes must strike,
I warrant it extremely like.'

My Lord examin'd it a-new;
No looking-glass seem'd half so true.
A lady came, with borrow'd grace,
He from his Venus form'd her face.
Her lover prais'd the Painter's art;
So like the picture in his heart!
To every age some charm he lent;
Ev'n beauties were almost content.

Through all the town his art they prais'd;
His custom grew, his price was rais'd.
Had he the real likeness shown,
Would any man the picture own?
But when thus happily he wrought,
Each found the likeness in his thought.

THE LION AND THE CUB.

How fond are men of rule and place,
Who court it from the mean and base!
These cannot bear an equal nigh,
But from superior merit fly.

They love the cellar's vulgar joke,

And lose their hours in ale and smoke.
There o'er some petty club preside;
So poor, so paltry, is their pride!

Nay, ev'n with fools whole nights will sit,
In hopes to be supreme in wit.

If these can read, to these I write,
To set their worth in truest light.
A Lion-cub, of sordid mind,
Avoided all the lion kind;

Fond of applause, he sought the feasts
Of vulgar and ignoble beasts;

With asses all his time he spent,

Their club's perpetual president.

He caught their manners, looks, and airs;
An ass in every thing but ears!
If e'er his Highness meant a joke,
They grinn'd applause before he spoke;
But at each word what shouts of praise!
Good gods! how natural he brays!'

Elate with flattery and conceit,
He seeks his royal sire's retreat;
Forward, and fond to show his parts,
His Highness brays; the Lion starts.
'Puppy! that curs'd vociferation
Betrays thy life and conversation :
Coxcombs, an ever-noisy race,
Are trumpets of their own disgrace.'
'Why so severe ? (the Cub replies)
Our senate always held me wise.'

'How weak is pride! (returns the sire)
All fools are vain when fools admire!
But know, what stupid asses prize,
Lions and noble beasts despise.'

THE OLD HEN AND THE COCK.

RESTRAIN your child; you'll soon believe
The text which says we sprung from Eve.
As an old Hen led forth her train,
And seem'd to peck to show the grain,
She rak'd the chaff, she scratch'd the ground,
And glean'd the spacious yard around :

A giddy chick, to try her wings,

On the well's narrow margin springs,

And prone she drops. The mother's breast All day with sorrow was possest.

A Cock she met; her son she knew; And in her heart affection grew.

'My Son, (says she) I grant your years Have reach'd beyond a mother's cares. I see you vigorous, strong, and bold; I hear with joy your triumphs told. 'Tis not from Cocks thy fate I dread ; But let thy ever-wary tread Avoid yon well; that fatal place Is sure perdition to our race.

Print this my counsel on thy breast;

To the just gods I leave the rest.'

He thank'd her care; yet day by day

His bosom burn'd to disobey,

And every time the well he saw,
Scorn'd in his heart the foolish law :
Near and more near each day he drew,
And long'd to try the dangerous view.
'Why was this idle charge? (he cries)
Let courage female fears despise.
Or did she doubt my heart was brave,
And therefore this injunction gave?
Or does her harvest store the place
A treasure for her younger race?
And would she thus my search prevent?
I stand resolv'd, and dare th' event.'

Thus said, he mounts the margin's round, And pries into the depth profound.

He stretch'd his neck; and from below
With stretching neck advanc'd a foe:
With wrath his ruffled plumes he rears,
The foe with ruffled plumes appears:
Threat answer'd threat; his fury grew ;
Headlong to meet the war he flew ;
But when the watery death he found,
He thus lamented as he drown'd:

'I ne'er had been in this condition, But for my mother's prohibition.'

THE RAT-CATCHER AND CATS.

THE rats by night such mischief did,
Betty was every morning chid:

They undermin'd whole sides of bacon,

Her cheese was sapp'd, her tarts were taken;

Her pasties, fenc'd with thickest paste,

Were all demolish'd and laid waste:
She curs'd the Cat for want of duty,
Who left her foes a constant booty.
An engineer, of noted skill,
Engag'd to stop the growing ill.

From room to room he now surveys

Their haunts, their works, their secret ways;