ell! you artists flatter."
"That were, my lord, no easy matter."
"Ah well, ah well! you artists see best."
"My lord, I only (_aside_) earn my fee best."

So with a lady--he, between us,
Borrowed the face and form of Venus.
There was no fear of its rejection--
Her lover voted it perfection.
So on he went to fame and glory,
And raised his price--which ends the story;--
But not the moral,--which, though fainter,
Bids one to scorn an honest painter.

FABLE XIX.

LION AND CUB.

All men are fond of rule and place,
Though granted by the mean and base;
Yet all superior merit fly,
Nor will endure an equal nigh.
They o'er some ale-house club preside
With smoke and joke and paltry pride.
Nay, e'en with blockheads pass the night;
If such can read, to such I write.

A lion cub of sordid mind
Avoided all the lion-kind,
And, greedy of applause, sought feasts
With asses and ignoble beasts;
There, as their president appears,
An ass in every point, but ears.
If he would perpetrate a joke,
They brayed applause before he spoke;
And when he spoke, with shout they praised,
And said he beautifully brayed.

Elate with adulation, then
He sought his father's royal den,
And brayed a bray. The lion started,
The noble heart within him smarted.
"You lion cub," he said, "your bray
Proclaims where you pass night and day,--
'Midst coxcombs who, with shameless face,
Blush not proclaiming their disgrace."

"Father, the club deems very fine,
All that conforms with asinine."

"My son, what stupid asses prize
Lions and nobler brutes despise."

FABLE XX.

OLD HEN AND YOUNG COCK.

Once an old hen led forth her brood
To scratch and glean and peck for food;
A chick, to give her wings a spell,
Fluttered and tumbled in a well.
The mother wept till day was done,
When she met with a grown-up son,
And thus addressed him:--"My dear boy,
Your years and vigour give me joy:
You thrash all cocks around, I'm told;
'Tis right, cocks should be brave and bold:
But never--fears I cannot quell--
Never, my son, go near that well;
A hateful, false, and wretched place,
Which is most fatal to my race.
Imprint that counsel on your breast,
And trust to providence the rest."

He thanked t