Two doves once cherish’d for each otherThe love that brother hath for brother.But one, of scenes domestic tiring,To see the foreign world aspiring,Was fool enough to undertakeA journey long, o’er land and lake.‘What plan is this?’ the other cried;‘Wouldst quit so soon thy brother’s side?This absence is the worst of ills;Thy heart may bear, but […]

Thanks to Memory’s daughters nine,Animals have graced my line:Higher heroes in my storyMight have won me less of glory.Wolves, in language of the sky,Talk with dogs throughout my verse;Beasts with others shrewdly vie,Representing characters;Fools in furs not second-hand,Sages, hoof’d or feather’d, stand:Fewer truly are the latter,More the former–ay, and fatter.Flourish also in my sceneTyrants, villains, […]

No pond nor pool within his hauntBut paid a certain cormorantIts contribution from its fishes,And stock’d his kitchen with good dishes.Yet, when old age the bird had chill’d,His kitchen was less amply fill’d.All cormorants, however grey,Must die, or for themselves purvey.But ours had now become so blind,His finny prey he could not find;And, having neither […]

A noted thief, the kite,Had set a neighbourhood in fright,And raised the clamorous noiseOf all the village boys,When, by misfortune,–sad to say,–A nightingale fell in his way.Spring’s herald begg’d him not to eatA bird for music–not for meat.‘O spare!’ cried she, ‘and I’ll relate‘The crime of Tereus and his fate.’–‘What’s Tereus? Is it food for […]

A man whose credit fail’d, and what was worse,Who lodged the devil in his purse,–That is to say, lodged nothing there,–By self-suspension in the airConcluded his accounts to square,Since, should he not, he understood,From various tokens, famine would–A death for which no mortal wightHad ever any appetite.A ruin, crown’d with ivy green,Was of his tragedy […]

How danger would the gods enrich,If we the vows remember’d whichIt drives us to! But, danger past,Kind Providence is paid the last.No earthly debt is treated so.‘Now, Jove,’ the wretch exclaims, ‘will wait;He sends no sheriff to one’s gate,Like creditors below;’But, let me ask the dolt,What means the thunderbolt? A passenger, endanger’d by the sea,Had […]

A man that loved,–and loved his wife,–Still led an almost joyless life.No tender look, nor gracious word,Nor smile, that, coming from a bride,Its object would have deified,E’er told her doting lordThe love with which he burn’dWas in its kind return’d.Still unrepining at his lot,This man, thus tied in Hymen’s knot,Thank’d God for all the good […]

A mouse once from an owl’s beak fell;I’d not have pick’d it up, I wis;A Brahmin did it: very well;Each country has its prejudice.The mouse, indeed, was sadly bruised.Although, as neighbours, we are usedTo be more kind to many others,The Brahmins treat the mice as brothers.The notion haunts their heads, that whenThe soul goes forth […]

An Address To The Duke De La Rochefoucauld While watching man in all his phases,And seeing that, in many cases,He acts just like the brute creation,–I’ve thought the lord of all these racesOf no less failings show’d the tracesThan do his lieges in relation;And that, in making it, Dame NatureHath put a spice in every […]

No flowery path to glory leads.This truth no better voucher needsThan Hercules, of mighty deeds.Few demigods, the tomes of fableReveal to us as being ableSuch weight of task-work to endure:In history, I find still fewer.One such, however, here behold–A knight by talisman made bold,Within the regions of romance,To seek adventures with the lance.There rode a […]

Two parrots lived, a sire and son,On roastings from a royal fire.Two demigods, a son and sire,These parrots pension’d for their fun.Time tied the knot of love sincere:The sires grew to each other dear;The sons, in spite of their frivolity,Grew comrades boon, in joke and jollity;At mess they mated, hot or cool;Were fellow-scholars at a […]

Thrysis–who for his Annette dearMade music with his flute and voice,Which might have roused the dead to hear,And in their silent graves rejoice–Sang once the livelong day,In the flowery month of May,Up and down a meadow brook,While Annette fish’d with line and hook.But ne’er a fish would bite;So the shepherdess’s baitDrew not a fish to […]

Two demons at their pleasure share our being–The cause of Reason from her homestead fleeing;No heart but on their altars kindleth flames.If you demand their purposes and names,The one is Love, the other is Ambition.Of far the greater share this takes possession,For even into love it enters,Which I might prove; but now my story centresUpon […]

With a set of uncivil and turbulent cocks,That deserved for their noise to be put in the stocks,A partridge was placed to be rear’d.Her sex, by politeness revered,Made her hope, from a gentry devoted to love,For the courtesy due to the tenderest dove;Nay, protection chivalric from knights of the yard.That gentry, however, with little regardFor […]

A close-fist had his money hoardedBeyond the room his till afforded.His avarice aye growing ranker,(Whereby his mind of course grew blanker,)He was perplex’d to choose a banker;For banker he must have, he thought,Or all his heap would come to nought.‘I fear,’ said he, ‘if kept at home,And other robbers should not come,It might be equal […]

To judge no man by outside view,Is good advice, though not quite new.Some time ago a mouse’s frightUpon this moral shed some light.I have for proof at present,With, Aesop and good Socrates,[A]Of Danube’s banks a certain peasant,Whose portrait drawn to life, one sees,By Marc Aurelius, if you please.The first are well known, far and near:I […]

The lion, for his kingdom’s sake,In morals would some lessons take,And therefore call’d, one summer’s day,The monkey, master of the arts,An animal of brilliant parts,To hear what he could say.‘Great king,’ the monkey thus began,‘To reign upon the wisest planRequires a prince to set his zeal,And passion for the public weal,Distinctly and quite high aboveA […]

Long since, a Mogul saw, in dream,A vizier in Elysian bliss;No higher joy could be or seem,Or purer, than was ever his.Elsewhere was dream’d of by the sameA wretched hermit wrapp’d in flame,Whose lot e’en touch’d, so pain’d was he,The partners of his misery.Was Minos mock’d? or had these ghosts,By some mistake, exchanged their posts?Surprise […]

The wolf and fox are neighbours strange:I would not build within their range.The fox once eyed with strict regardFrom day to day, a poultry-yard;But though a most accomplish’d cheat,He could not get a fowl to eat.Between the risk and appetite,His rogueship’s trouble was not slight.‘Alas!’ quoth he, ‘this stupid rabbleBut mock me with their constant […]

For Monseigneur The Duke Du Maine. To Jupiter was born a son,[3]Who, conscious of his origin,A godlike spirit had within.To love, such age is little prone;Yet this celestial boyMade love his chief employ,And was beloved wherever known.In him both love and reasonSprang up before their season.With charming smiles and manners winning,Had Flora deck’d his life’s […]