Fable XXII.
The Four Bulls.
Friendship! source of bliss sedate,
Best balm for all the wounds of fate!
’Tis thine the sinking heart to raise,
When love retires, and health decays;
Unmix’d with thy sublimer fire,
Love’s but a fev’rish low desire,
And ill the self-destroying flame
Deserves that soft angelic name.
Oh! could this verse, this fabling lay,
Extend or but confirm thy sway!
Or, warn’d by this, if only one
Thy foes’ destructive arts shall shun!
Since dangers rise with every sun,
With ev’ry sand united run;
Four Bulls, by mutual vows ally’d,
The morrow’s unknown ills defy’d;
As one they mov’d, they fought, they fed,
And safety rose by union bred,
Nor this alone the good they found,
The private bliss of each went round;
Hence doubly bless’d the gen’rous heart,
Which scorns the bliss it can’t impart.
From day to day the Lion came,
But matters still appear’d the same:
This smote his inmost soul with grief,
For much he long’d for fav’rite beef;
What can he do? he fears to wage
Unequal war, and four engage.
Thought follows thought—he finds in vain:
Yet thought to thought succeeds again.
Half-form’d resolves, and embryo schemes,
And all the train of statesmen’s dreams,
With conflict rude disturb his mind,
To this nor that success inclin’d.
Suspense presides with fluttering wings,
From which she shakes a thousand stings.
In this disastrous doubting case,
The Fox appears—with thinking face;
On him his royal master laid
His load of care, secure of aid;
Who paus’d a while with sober grace,
Then thus refin’d upon the case:—
Not things of moment most, I find,
Have broke the union of the mind;
Ev’n mere mistakes, that pet or pride
Have made, the sacred band divide,
And deepest enmities arise.
From trifling things among the wise.
In friendship, slight’s the deepest wound,
And that is fancy’d more than found.
These hints improv’d, our ends may gain,
The Bulls divided, count ’em slain;
The Lion, pleas’d, reply’d, he knew
The Fox could forge a lie—or two;
Which he opin’d, in points like this,
Would not be very much amiss.
Here wiser Reynard shook his head,
And this would never do, he said:
’Tis ours to make these foolish elves,
My lord, be liars to themselves:
Suspicion rais’d, the very eye
Will unsuspected gravely lie,
And, when a friend it shall survey,
Th’ idea of a foe display,
As you shall see—— Away he flew,
And, to the friends as near he drew,
He smooth’d his brow, he coin’d a smile,
And put on all the masks of guile.
Then whispers one with friendly nod,
“Mark, is not yon behaviour odd?
The Bull must surely mean affront,
His tail is next you—fie upon’t!
How slighting that! and there’s another
Can scarce some high resentment smother;
He snorts, he paws, and fain would shew
By vengeance whence his troubles flow.
The third, how dull! regardless still,
What fate you prove, or good or ill.”
Appearance (treach’rous witness) here
Confirms the sounds that cheat his ear;
Suspicion soon alarm’d, and pride,
At once, to self the whole apply’d.
The Bull withdraws, resolv’d as due,
They first for his return should sue.
The Fox returns, and boasts his arts,
And to his liege the truth imparts:
“The Bull who turn’d his tail so rude,
Meant only not his ear t’ intrude;
And he that spurn’d so fierce the ground
With anguish felt a hornet wound.
The third, the downy turf who prest,
Sought but the sweets of peaceful rest.
But come, to his remote retreat
I’ll guide my royal master’s feet.”
They go; the victim mourns too late
His absent friends and helpless state.
And slain, the Fox exulting cries,
“Not one but all shall be our prize.”
Away he goes, and thus again
Infus’d soft flatt’ry, deadly bane!
“Great sir (says he to one), I swear
Your friends are rude, indeed they are;
Friendship a decent due respect
Should, rather than destroy, protect.
Superior far to these you rise,
The wise affirm: we trust the wise;
Your nobler port, your finer wit,
All with united voice admit;
And yet no just distinction’s made
No deference shewn, no homage paid.
I wonder at your choice, but here
’Tis silence best becomes my sphere,
Tho’ might your slave presume to tell
What all the forest thinks as well,
These are perhaps the only Two
With whom your worth would lose its due.”
The Bull (how easy praise deceives!)
With pleasure hears, with pride believes;
Puts on the lofty looks and airs
Which humble merit never wears.
To treat him as an equal now
Inflames his heart, contracts his brow
’Tis envy, or, ’tis worse, ’tis hate,
Denies due honour to his state;
He could not bear th’ affronts they gave,
They break his peace, they make him rave;
They lov’d and they rever’d, he thought,
Less than the wretches knew they ought;
And (as is usual) storm’d and swore
That they might love and rev’rence more.
His friends, alarm’d, in deep amaze
On him, and on each other, gaze,
Disgust, in either’s bosom bred,
Was shewn as diff’ring tempers led,
One bold and warm the taunts returns,
And with contagious anger burns,
Than this, not plagues are sooner caught,
Nor with more dreadful evils fraught,
The other, meek, in secret pines,
And friends he could not keep resigns;
Resigns, tho’ late, with yearning heart,
And mourns persuasion’s useless art.
Retiring now he leaves the fray,
The Fox still mark’d his pensive way,
The Lion found and seiz’d his prize,
And, like the first, the second dies.
The two who yet alive remain,
In dreadful conflict shake the plain;
The Fox observes the doubtful fight,
One drops—he smiles with fell delight;
Flies with the joyful news, and brings
The King to take what’s now the King’s.
Faint, breathless, bleeding on the ground,
The hapless victor soon they found;
He falls an unresisting prey,
And crowns the triumphs of the day.
This tale a sage once told his son,
And thus apply’d it when he’d done:—
“Do you, my child, with unsuspecting eye,
O’erlook what others labour to descry;
Kind to all faults, and to all failings blind,
Be you the last to think affronts design’d.
Cold seems thy friend?—by the severest laws
Thy conduct try, to find the latent cause.
Let thy heart pant for universal praise,
Such as, unbrib’d, to virtue, virtue pays.
Is this withheld? try ev’ry winning art
To melt the hard, to soothe the froward heart.
Sue for esteem—to all but fawning bend,
Whom this will purchase is a worthless friend;
But scorn the thought as vainest of the vain,
That what good-nature loses, pride will gain.
Less than your merit does your friend approve?
Still merit more—his love constrain with love.
This conduct try’d remains he still the same?
Learn you to pity what the world will blame.
The gen’ral censure, his neglect ensures,
Thy honour brightens and thy praise secures.”
Fable XXIII.
The Pepper-Box and Salt-Cellar.
The ’squire had din’d alone one day,
And Tom was call’d to take away:
Tom clear’d the board with dextrous art:
But, willing to secure a tart,
The liquorish youth had made an halt,
And left the pepper-box and salt
Alone upon the marble table:
Who thus, like men, were heard to squabble.
Pepper began, “Pray, sir,” says he,
“What business have you here with me?
Is’t fit that spices of my birth
Should rank with thee, thou scum of earth?
I’d have you know, sir, I’ve a spirit
Suited to my superior merit—
Tho’ now, confin’d within this caster,
I serve a Northern Gothic master;
Yet born in Java’s fragrant wood,
To warm an Eastern monarch’s blood,
The sun those rich perfections gave me,
Which tempted Dutchmen to enslave me.
“Nor are my virtues here unknown,
Tho’ old and wrinkled now I’m grown.
Black as I am, the fairest maid
Invokes my stimulating aid,
To give her food the poignant flavour,
And, to each sauce, its proper savour.
Pasties, ragouts, and fricassees,
Without my seasoning, fail to please:
’Tis I, like wit, must give a zest,
And sprightliness to ev’ry feast.
“Physicians too my use confess;
My influence sagest matrons bless;
When drams prove vain, and cholics teaze,
To me they fly for certain ease.
Nay, I fresh vigour can dispense,
And cure ev’n age and impotence:
And when of dulness wits complain,
I brace the nerves, and clear the brain.
“But to the ’squire here, I appeal—
He knows my real value well:
Who, with one pepper-corn content,
Remits the vassal’s annual rent—
Hence then, Sir Brine, and keep your distance,
Go lend the scullion your assistance;
For culinary uses fit,
To salt the meat upon the spit;
Or just to keep our meat from stinking—
And then—a special friend to drinking!”
“Your folly moves me with surprise,”
The silver tripod thus replies,
“Pray, Master Pepper, why so hot?
First cousin to the mustard-pot!
What boots it how our life began?
’Tis breeding makes the Gentleman;
Yet would you search my pedigree,
I rose like Venus from the sea:
The sun, whose influence you boast,
Nurs’d me upon the British coast.
“The chymists know my rank and place,
When nature’s principles they trace:
And wisest moderns yield to me
The elemental monarchy.
By me all nature is supply’d
With all her beauty, all her pride!
In vegetation I ascend;
To animals their vigour lend;
Corruption’s foe, I life preserve,
And stimulate each slacken’d nerve.
I give jonquils their high perfume;
The peach its flavour, rose its bloom:
Nay, I’m the cause, when rightly trac’d,
Of Pepper’s aromatic taste.
“Such claims you teach me to produce;
But need I plead my obvious use,
In seasoning all terrestrial food;
When heaven declares, that Salt is good.
“Grant then, some few thy virtues find;
Yet Salt gives health to all mankind:
Physicians sure will side with me,
While cooks alone shall plead for thee:
In short, with all thine airs about thee,
The world were happier far without thee.”
The ’squire, who all this time sat mute,
Now put an end to their dispute:
He rung the bell—bade Tom convey
The doughty disputants away—
The Salt, refresh’d by shaking up,
At night did with his master sup:
The Pepper, Tom assign’d his lot
With vinegar, and mustard pot:
A fop with bites and sharpers join’d,
And, to the side-board, well confin’d.
Fable XXIV.
The Sheep and the Bramble-Bush.
A thick-twisted brake in the time of a storm,
Seem’d kindly to cover a sheep:
So snug, for a while, he lay shelter’d and warm.
It quietly sooth’d him asleep.
The clouds are now scatter’d—the winds are at peace,
The sheep’s to his pasture inclin’d;
But ah! the fell thicket lays hold of his fleece,
His coat is left forfeit behind.
My friend, who the thicket of law never tried,
Consider before you get in;
Tho’ judgment and sentence are pass’d on your side,
By Jove, you’ll be fleec’d to your skin.
Fable XXV.
The Blackbird and Bullfinch.
Perch’d on a poplar’s verdant spray,
A Blackbird sung the hours away;
Charm’d all around, and seem’d to call
On echo from his Lordship’s hall.
Confin’d in state a Bullfinch there,
The melting music chanc’d to hear—
Bursting with envy, silence broke,
And thus from gilded cage he spoke:—
“Cease, bungler, thy discordant noise,
Untun’d thy throat, and harsh thy voice;
How dar’st thou, vagrant, as thou art,
To me thy dissonance impart?
Know’st thou I sing by studied rules,
And brag the learning of the schools?
Soft rapture to the heart convey,
And charm the list’ning soul away?
To please my Lord, and soothe his cares,
I warble soft Italian airs;
Which he in gratitude repays
With costly food, and gen’rous praise:
Whilst thou, condemn’d through air to rove,
Or hide thee in the gloomy grove,
To feebly suck thy beverage scant,
And pine in endless care and want;
To rocks and woods thy tale belongs,
Fit audience for thy stupid songs!
Away! no more my palace dun,
Or Dick, or Tom, shall fetch the gun.”
He ceas’d—The fable bird returns
(With rising scorn his bosom burns),
“Thou little lordling, void of sense,
Dar’st thou, imperious, warn me hence?
Know, parasite, thy threats are nought,
Nor boast thy cage too dearly bought:
Above the frigid rules of art,
’Tis nature’s dictates I impart;
Nor ever prostitute my lays,
But grateful sing my Maker’s praise;
Whilst echoing o’er the hills and plains,
I cheer the nymphs and lab’ring swains;
Whether the rising notes I swell,
Or lightly load the passing gale;
With bolder music fill the grove,
Or gently call my mate to love:
Whether the joys of summer sing,
Or chant the beauties of the spring;
The varied notes still new appear,
And sweet transition charms the ear:
Whilst thou, puff’d up with self-conceit,
And idle thoughts of being great,
Nor freedom canst thyself allow,
Nor give to others what is due;
But pedant-like, in pride, elate
(With notions, as thy prison, strait),
Think’st thou alone can urge the strain,
Thy boasted learning then, how vain!
Attend this truth, and know for once,
That learning ne’er unmade the dunce.”
Fable XXVI.
The Conceited Fly.
’Twas in the charming month of May
(No matter, critics, for the day),
When Phœbus had his noon attain’d,
And in his blaze of glory reign’d;
A Fly as gay as e’er was seen,
Clad o’er in azure, jet, and green;
Gay, for his part, as birthday beau,
Whose soul is vanish’d into show;
On Paul’s famed temple chanc’d to light,
To ease his long laborious flight:
There, as his optics gaz’d around
(An inch or two their utmost bound),
He thus began:—“Men vainly tell
How they in works of skill excel:
This edifice they proudly show
To prove what human art can do;
’Tis all a cheat—before my eyes
What infinite disorders rise!
Here hideous cavities appear,
And broken precipices There:
They never us’d the plane or line,
But jumbled heaps without design.”
He ceas’d contemptuous;—and as Flies
Discern with microscopic eyes,
From what he saw he reason’d right,
But how inadequate the sight!
To mark the building from its base,
The pillar’d pomp, the sculptur’d grace,
The dome, the cross, the golden ball,
Much less the grand result of all!
So impious wits, with proud disdain,
Redemption’s hidden ways arraign,
Deem it beneath a being wise,
And, judging with their insect eyes,
View but a part, and then deny
Th’ eternal wisdom of the sky.
But can thy ken, presumptuous man,
Unfold this deep and wondrous plan?
As well might insect organs see
Th’ harmonious structure rais’d by thee,
As thine imperfect tube explore
This wise and gracious system o’er.
FINIS.
FOOTNOTES
[1] An impression is given in “Jackson,” at page 477 (Edition 1861, Bohn). See also next page.
[2] Suidas.
[3] Alsop.
[4] Philostratus.
[5] Pliny.
[6] Priscian.
[7] Institut. Orat. i. c. 9.
[8] De Repub. Lib. ii.
[9] This alludes to the well-known Fable of The Fox and the Grapes, which, however absurd it may appear in this part of the world, is not so in the East, for Dr Hasselquist, in his Travels, p. 184, observes, that “the Fox is an animal common in Palestine, and that there is plenty of them near the convent of St John in the Desert about vintage time; and they destroy all the vines unless they are strictly watched.” To the same effect Solomon saith in the Canticles, ii. 15, “Take us the Foxes, the little Foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” Therefore this ancient Apologue is very properly restored, without prejudice to nature or common sense.
[10] The Lion.
THE INDEX.
| PAGE | |
| PART I. | |
| Ass and his Master | 25 |
| Ant and Caterpillar | 52 |
| Bee and the Fly | 11 |
| Bear and the Bees | 31 |
| Bear and Two Friends | 33 |
| Belly and the Limbs | 37 |
| Beggar and his Dog | 61 |
| Blind Man and Lame | 47 |
| Boy and the Nettle | 60 |
| Butterfly and the Rose | 4 |
| Clock and the Dial | 5 |
| Country Maid and the Milk-Pail | 8 |
| Daw with borrowed Feathers | 40 |
| Dog and the Crocodile | 23 |
| Eagle and the Crow | 27 |
| Eagle and the Owl | 43 |
| Fortune and School-boy | 36 |
| Fox and the Bramble | 3 |
| Fox and the Stork | 63 |
| Genius, Virtue, and Reputation | 15 |
| Hermit and the Bear | 18 |
| Huron and Frenchman | 12 |
| Industry and Sloth | 16 |
| Jupiter’s Lottery | 54 |
| Lion and the Gnat | 22 |
| Lion, Bear, Monkey, and Fox | 48 |
| Lion and the Ass | 29 |
| Lion, Tiger, and Fox | 28 |
| Miller, his Son, and Ass | 1 |
| Mock-bird | 51 |
| Oak and the Willow | 32 |
| Partial Judge | 20 |
| Passenger and Pilot | 19 |
| Sick Lion, Fox, and Wolf | 45 |
| Snipe Shooter | 56 |
| Spider and Silkworm | 10 |
| Sun and the Wind | 59 |
| Tortoise and Two Crows | 7 |
| Trees and the Bramble | 65 |
| Trumpeter | 30 |
| Two Horses | 49 |
| Two Dogs | 57 |
| Trouts and Gudgeon | 58 |
| Two Lizards | 53 |
| Wasps and the Bees | 35 |
| Wolf in Disguise | 24 |
| Wolf and the Lamb | 39 |
| Wolf and Shepherds | 42 |
| PART II. | |
| Age to be Honoured | 164 |
| Ant and Fly | 79 |
| Ants and Grasshopper | 130 |
| Ass, Ape, and Mole | 76 |
| Bald Cavalier | 132 |
| Boar and Fox | 140 |
| Boy and False Alarms | 91 |
| Boy and his Mother | 218 |
| Brother and Sister | 172 |
| Cat and Fox | 201 |
| City Mouse and Country Mouse | 69 |
| Cock and the Jewel | 67 |
| Cock and Fox | 161 |
| Collier and Fuller | 216 |
| Countryman and Snake | 100 |
| Countryman and Ass | 148 |
| Crow and Pitcher | 180 |
| Discontented Ass | 142 |
| Dog and the Shadow | 87 |
| Dog, Cock, and Fox | 128 |
| Dog and Cat | 134 |
| Dog and Sheep | 209 |
| Dog and Bee | 214 |
| Eagle, Cat, and Sow | 158 |
| Father and his Sons | 93 |
| Fir and Bramble | 106 |
| Fox and the Crow | 73 |
| Fox and Countryman | 109 |
| Fox and Ass | 138 |
| Fox and Ape | 153 |
| Fox and Grapes | 182 |
| Fox that had lost his Tail | 117 |
| Gnat and Bee | 102 |
| Hares and the Frogs | 76 |
| Hercules and Carter | 192 |
| Horse and Ass | 82 |
| Husbandman and Stork | 85 |
| Impertinent and Philosopher | 136 |
| Joy and Sorrow | 150 |
| Jupiter and Herdsman | 224 |
| Mercury and Woodman | 104 |
| Mice in Council | 175 |
| Mountains in Labour | 186 |
| Old Man and Death | 177 |
| Old Hound | 204 |
| One-eyed Stag | 111 |
| Peacock and Crane | 89 |
| Proud Frog | 211 |
| Satyr and Traveller | 155 |
| Seamen Praying to Saints | 115 |
| Sick Father and Children | 95 |
| Sick Kite | 195 |
| Scoffer Punished | 120 |
| Shepherd and Young Wolf | 119 |
| Sparrow and Hare | 199 |
| Splenetic Traveller | 166 |
| Stag looking into the Water | 97 |
| Swan and Stork | 123 |
| Swallow and Spider | 126 |
| Thief and Dog | 190 |
| There’s no To-morrow | 226 |
| Two Frogs | 188 |
| Two Pots | 197 |
| Two Young Men and Cook | 206 |
| Undutiful Young Lion | 146 |
| Viper and File | 184 |
| Wanton Calf | 221 |
| Young Man and Swallow | 169 |
| PART III. | |
| Angler and Philosopher | 276 |
| Ant and Grasshopper | 231 |
| Bears and Bees | 269 |
| Beau and Butterfly | 267 |
| Blackbird and Bullfinch | 304 |
| Butterfly and Boy | 239 |
| Camelion | 250 |
| Caterpillar and Butterfly | 257 |
| Cuckoo Traveller | 229 |
| Four Bulls | 293 |
| Conceited Fly | 306 |
| Goat and Fox | 284 |
| Hounds in Couples | 241 |
| King-Dove | 247 |
| Kite and Nightingale | 290 |
| Lion and other Beasts in Council | 278 |
| Pepper-box and Salt-cellar | 299 |
| Philosopher and Glow-worm | 274 |
| Sheep and Bramble-bush | 303 |
| Sow and Peacock | 244 |
| The Nightingale | 235 |
| Two Foxes | 237 |
| Three Warnings | 253 |
| Trees | 271 |
| Two Doves | 263 |
| Wolf and Dog | 233 |
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EDINBURGH AND LONDON