ed at the sound of his name.
Did anyone spy
My papa coming by--
Two hundred or more--Oh! he made them all fly!
One day, by a blow,
He was conquered, I know;
But no wonder at last he should yield to a foe:
He yielded, poor fellow!
The conquering bellow
Resounds in my ears as my poor father's knell--Oh!"
A Fox then replied,
While, leering aside,
He laughed at his folly and vapouring pride:
"My chattering youth,
Your nonsense, forsooth,
Is more like a funeral sermon than truth.
Let history tell
How your old father fell;
And see if the narrative sounds as well.
Your folly surpasses,
Of monkeys all classes;
The beasts which he frightened, or conquered, were asses,
Except a few sheep,
When the shepherd, asleep,
The dog by his side for safety did keep.
Your father fell back,
Knocked down by a whack
From the very first bull that he dared to attack.
Away he'd have scoured,
But soon overpowered,
He lived like a thief, and he died like a coward."

FABLE LV.

THE BELLY AND THE MEMBERS.

In former days, when the Belly and the other parts of the body
enjoyed the faculty of speech, and had separate views and designs
of their own; each part, it seems, in particular, for himself,
and in the name of the whole, took exception at the conduct of
the Belly, and were resolved to grant him supplies no longer.

They said they thought it very hard that he should lead an idle,
good-for-nothing life, spending and squandering away upon his own
vile appetites all the fruits of their labour; and that, in
short, they were resolved for the future to strike off his
allowance, and let him shift for himself as well as he could.

The hands protested they would not lift a finger to keep him from
starving; and the mouth wished he might never speak again if he
took in the least bit of nourishment for him as long as he lived;
and the teeth said, "May we be rotten if ever we chew a morsel
for him for the future!" This solemn league and covenant was kept
so long, until each of the rebel members pined away to the skin
and bone, and could hold out no longer. Then they found there was
no doing without the Belly, and that, as idle and insignificant
as he seemed, he contributed as much to the maintenance