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You, if your goodness does not plead my caufe,
May think I broke all hofpitable laws,
To bear you from your palace-yard by might,
And put your noble person in a fright:
This, fince you take it ill, I must repent,

Tho' Heav'n can witness with no bad intent:

I practis'd it, to make you tafte your cheer
With double pleasure, firft prepar'd by fear.
So loyal fubjects often feize their prince,
Forc'd (for his good) to feeming violence,
Yet mean his facred perfon not the leaft offence.
Defcend; fo help me Jove as you shall find
That Reynard comes of no diffembling kind.
Nay quoth the cock; but I befhrew us both,
If I believe a faint upon his oath:

An honeft man may take a knave's advice,
But idiots only may be cozen'd twice:
Once warn'd is well bewar'd; not flatt'ring lies
Shall footh me more to fing with winking eyes,
And open mouth, for fear of catching flies.
Who blindfold walks upon a river's brim,
When he should fee, has he deferv'd to swim?
Better, Sir cock, let all contention cease,
Come down, faid Reynard, let us treat of peace.
A peace with all my foul, faid Chanticleer;
But, with your favour, I will treat it here:
And left the truce with treason should be mixt,
'Tis my concern to have the tree betwixt.

The MORAL.

In this plain fable you th' effect may fee
Of negligence, and fond credulity:
And learn befides of flatt'rers to beware,

Then most pernicious when they speak too fair.

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The

The cock and fox, the fool and knave imply;
The truth is moral, tho' the tale a lye.
Who spoke in parables, I dare not fay;
But fure he knew it was a pleafing way,
Sound fenfe, by plain example, to convey.
And in a heathen author we may find,
That pleasure with inftruction fhou'd be join'd;
So take the corn, and leave the chaff behind.

THE

FLOWER and the LEAF:

ÖR, THE

LADY in the ARBOUR.

A VISION.

N His course exalted thro' the Ram had run,

OW turning from the wintry figns, the fun

And whirling up the fkies, his chariot drove
Thro' Taurus, and the lightsome realms of love;
Where Venus from her orb defcends in fhow'rs,
To glad the ground, and paint the fields with flow'rs:
When firft the tender blades of grass appear,

And buds, that yet the blast of Eurus fear,
Stand at the door of life, and doubt to clothe the
year:
Till gentle heat, and foft repeated rains,
Make the green blood to dance within their veins:
Then, at their call, embolden'd out they come,
And fwell the gems, and burft the narrow room;
Broader and broader yet, their blooms difplay,
Salute the welcome fun, and entertain the day.
Then from their breathing fouls the fweets repair
To scent the skies, and purge th' unwholesom air:
Joy spreads the heart, and, with a general song,
Spring iffues out, and leads the jolly months along.
In that sweet feafon, as in bed I lay,

And fought in fleep to pafs the night away,
I turn'd my weary'd fide, but still in vain,
Tho' full of youthful health, and void of pain:
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Cares

Cares I had none, to keep me from my reft,
For love had never enter'd in my breast;
I wanted nothing fortune could supply,
Nor did fhe flumber till that hour deny.
I wonder'd then, but after found it true,
Much joy had dry'd away the balmy dew:
Seas wou'd be pools, without the brushing air,
To curl the waves; and fure fome little care
Shou'd weary nature so, to make her want repair.
When Chanticleer the second watch had fung,
Scorning the scorner fleep, from bed I sprung;
And dreffing, by the moon, in loose array,
Pafs'd out in open air, preventing day,
And fought a goodly grove, as fancy led my way.
Straight as a line in beauteous order stood
Of oaks unfhorn a venerable wood;

Fresh was the grafs beneath, and ev'ry tree,
At distance planted in a due degree,
Their branching arms in air with equal space
Stretch'd to their neighbours with a long embrace:
And the new leaves on ev'ry bough were seen,
Some ruddy colour'd, fome of lighter green.
The painted birds, companions of the spring,
Hopping from fpray to fpray, were heard to fing.
Both eyes and ears receiv'd a like delight,
Enchanting mufic, and a charming fight.
On Philomel I fix'd my whole defire;
And liften'd for the queen of all the quire;
Fain would I hear her heavenly voice to fing;
And wanted yet an omen to the spring.

Attending long in vain, I took the way,
Which through a path, but scarcely printed, lay;
In narrow mazes oft it seem'd to meet,
And look'd, as lightly prefs'd by fairy feet.
Wandring I walk'd alone, for ftill methought
To fome ftrange end fo ftrange a path was wrought:

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At

At laft it led me where an arbour stood,
The facred receptacle of the wood:

This place unmark'd, tho' oft I walk'd the

In all my progress I had never seen :

green,

And feiz'd at once with wonder and delight,
Gaz'd all around me, new to the tranfporting fight.
'Twas bench'd with turf, and goodly to be feen,
The thick young grafs arofe in fresher green:
The mound was newly made, no fight could pafs
Betwixt the nice partitions of the grass;
The well-united fods fo clofely lay;

And all around the shades defended it from day,
For fycamores with eglantine were spread,
A hedge about the fides, a covering over head.
And fo the fragrant brier was wove between,
The fycamore and flow'rs were mix'd with green,
That nature feem'd to vary the delight;

And fatisfy'd at once the fmell and fight.
The mafter workman of the bow'r was known
Through fairy-lands, and built for Oberon;
Who twining leaves with fuch proportion drew,
They rose by measure, and by rule they grew;
No mortal tongue can half the beauty tell:
For none but hands divine could work fo well.
Both roof and fides were like a parlour made,
A soft recess, and a cool summer shade;
The hedge was fet fo thick, no foreign eye
The perfons plac'd within it could espy:
But all that pass'd without with ease was seen,
As if nor fence nor tree was plac'd between.
'Twas border'd with a field; and fome was plain
With grafs, and fome was fow'd with rifing grain.
That (now the dew with fpangles deck'd the ground)
A sweeter spot of earth was never found.

I look'd and look'd, and still with new delight;
Such joy my foul, fuch pleasures fill'd my fight:

And

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