81
Bear in a Boat 85
Squire and Cur 88
Countryman and Jupiter 91
Man, Cat, Dog, and Fly 95
Jackall, Leopard, and Beasts 98
Degenerate Bees 101
Packhorse and Carrier 104
Pan and Fortune 107
Plutus, Cupid, and Time 109
Owl, Swan, Cock, Spider, Ass, and Farmer 113
Cookmaid, Turnspit, and Ox 117
Raven, Sexton, and Earthworm 120
Town Mouse and Country Mouse 124
Magpie and Brood 126
The Three Warnings 129
POSTSCRIPT 131

GAY'S FABLES.

INTRODUCTION.

Remote from cities dwelt a swain,
Unvexed by petty cares of gain;
His head was silvered, and by age
He had contented grown and sage;
In summer's heat and winter's cold
He fed his flock and penned his fold,
Devoid of envy or ambition,
So had he won a proud position.

A deep philosopher, whose rules
Of moral life were drawn from schools,
With wonder sought this shepherd's nest,
And his perplexity expressed:

"Whence is thy wisdom? Hath thy toil
O'er books consumed the midnight oil,
Communed o'er Greek and Roman pages,
With Plato, Socrates--those sages--
Or fathomed Tully,--or hast travelled
With wise Ulysses, and unravelled
Of customs half a mundane sphere?"

The shepherd answered him: "I ne'er
From books or from mankind sought learning,
For both will cheat the most discerning;
The more perplexed the more they view
In the wide fields of false and true.

"I draw from Nature all I know--
To virtue friend, to vice a foe.
The ceaseless labour of the bee
Prompted my soul to industry;
The wise provision of the ant
Made me for winter provident;
My trusty dog there showed the way,
And to be true I copy Tray.
Then for domestic hallowed love,
I learnt it of the cooing dove;
And love paternal followed, when
I marked devotion in the hen.

"Nature then prompted me to school
My tongue from scorn and ridicule,
And never with impor