THE HOG AND OTHER ANIMALS.

A DEBATE once arose among the animals in a farm-yard, which of them was most valued by their common master. After the horse, the ox, the cow, the sheep, and the dog, had stated their several pretensions, the hog took up the discourse.

"It is plain," said he, "that the greatest value must be set upon that animal which is kept most for his own sake, without expecting from him any return of use and service. Now which of you can boast so much in that respect as I can ? "As for you, horse, though you are very well fed and lodged, and have servants to attend upon you, and make you sleek and clean, yet all this is for the sake of your labour. Do not I see you taken out early every morning, put in chains, or fastened to the shafts of a heavy cart, and not brought back till noon; when, after a short respite, you are taken to work again till late in the evening? I may say just the same to the ox, except that he works for poorer fare.

"For you, Mrs. Cow, who are so dainty over your chopped straw and grains, you are thought worth keeping only for your milk, which is drained from you twice a day, while your young ones are taken from you, and sent I know not whither.

'You, poor innocent sheep, who are turned out to shift for yourselves upon the bare hills, or penned upon the fallows, with now and then a withered turnip, or some musty hay-you pay dearly enough for your keep, by resigning your warm coat every year, for want of which you are liable to be starved to death on some of the cold nights before summer.

"As for the dog, who prides himself so much on being admitted to our master's table, and made his companion, that he will scarcely condescend to reckon himself one of us, he is obliged to do all the offices of a domestic servant by day, and to keep watch all the night, while we are quietly asleep.

In short, you are all of you creatures maintained for use; poor, subservient things, made to be enslaved or pillaged. I, on the contrary, have a warm sty, and plenty of provisions, all at free cost. I have nothing to do but to grow fat, and follow my amusement; and my master is best pleased when he sees me lying at ease in the sun, or filling my belly."

Thus argued the hog, and put the rest to silence by so much logic and rhetoric. This was not long before winter set in. It proved a very scarce season for fodder of all kinds; so that the farmer began to consider how he was to maintain all his live stock till spring. "It will be impossible for me," thought he, "to keep them all; I must therefore part with those I can best spare. As for my horses and working oxen, I shall have business enough to employ them; they must be kept, cost what it will. My cows will not give me much milk in the winter, but they will calve in the spring, and be ready for the new grass. I must not lose the profit of my dairy. The sheep, poor things, will take care of themselves as long as there is a bite upon the hills; and if deep snow comes, we must do with them as well as we can, by the help of a few turnips and some hay, for I must have their wool at shearing time, to make out my rent with. But my hogs will eat me out of house and home, without doing me any good. They must go to pot, that's certain; and the sooner I get rid of the fat ones, the better."

So saying, he singled out the orator as one of the prime among them, and sent him to the butcher the very next day.

R

THE GOLDFINCH AND THE LINNET.

A GAUDY goldfinch, pert and gay,
Hopping blithe from spray to spray,
Full of frolic, full of spring,

With head well plumed and burnished wing,
Spied a sober linnet hen,

Sitting all alone,

And bowed, and chirped, and bowed again,

And with familiar tone

He thus the dame addressed,

As to her side he closely pressed:

"I hope, my dear, I don't intrude,

By breaking on your solitude;
But it has always been my passion
To forward pleasant conversation;
And I should be a stupid bird
To pass the fair without a word;
I, who have been for ever noted
To be the sex's most devoted.
Besides, a damsel unattended,
Left unnoticed and unfriended,
Appears, excuse me, so forlorn,

That I can scarce suppose,
By any she that e'er was born,
"Twould be the thing she chose.
How happy, then, I'm now at leisure
To wait upon a lady's pleasure;
And all this morn have nought to do

But pay my duty, love, to you.

"What, silent!-Ah! those looks demure,

And eyes of languor, make me sure

That in my random idle chatter

I quite mistook the matter!

It is not spleen or contemplation
That draws you to the cover;
But 'tis some tender assignation:

Well! who's the favoured lover?
I met hard by, in quaker suit,
A youth sedately grave and mute;
And from the maxim, like to like,'
Perhaps the sober youth might strike.
Yes, yes, 'tis he, I'll lay my life,
Who hopes to get you for his wife.
But come, my dear, I know you're wise,
Compare and judge, and use your eyes;

Of being slighted.

Now, Sir, the sober-suited youth,

Whom you were pleased to mention,

'To those small merits, sense and truth,
And generous love, has some pretension :
And then, to give him all his due,
He sings, Sir, full as well as you,
And sometimes can be silent too.
In short my taste is so perverse,
And such my wayward fate,
That it would be my greatest curse

To have a coxcomb for my mate."

This said, away she scuds,

And leaves Beau Goldfinch in the suds.

THE FARMER, THE CRANES, AND THE STORK.

A STORK was unfortunately drawn into company with some cranes, who were just setting out on a party of pleasure, as they called it, though in truth it was to rob the fish-ponds of a neighbouring farmer. Our simple stork agreed to make one; and it so happened that they were all taken in the fact. The cranes, having been old offenders, had very little to say for themselves, and were presently despatched; but the stork pleaded hard for his life. He urged that it was his first offence, that he was not naturally addicted to stealing fish, that he was famous for piety to his parents, and, in short, had many virtues. "Your piety and virtue," said the farmer, " may for aught I know be exemplary; but your being in company with thieves renders it very suspicious; and you must, therefore, submit with patience to share the same punishment with your companions."

THE CAMELEON.

Two travellers on their journey, happened to be engaged in a warm dispute about the colour of the cameleon. One of them affirmed it was blue; that he had seen it with his own eyes upon the naked branch of a tree, feeding on the air, in a very clear day. The other strongly asserted it was green, and that he had viewed it very closely and minutely on the broad leaf of a fig-tree. Both of them were positive, and the dispute was rising to a quarrel; but a third person luckily coming by, they agreed to refer the question to his decision. "Gentlemen," said the arbitrator, with a smile of great self-satisfaction, "you could not have been more lucky in your reference, as I happen to have caught one of them last summer, and the creature is totally black.”—“ Black! impossible !"—" Nay," quoth the umpire, with great assurance, the matter may soon be decided, for I immediately enclosed my cameleon in a little paper box, and here it is." So saying, he drew it out of his pocket, opened his box, and behold, it was as white as snow. The positive disputants looked equally surprised, and equally confounded: while the sagacious reptile, assuming the air of a philosopher, thus admonished them: "Ye children of men, learn diffidence and moderation in your opinions. It is true, you happen, in the present instance, to be all in the right, and have only considered the subject under different circumstances; but pray, for the future, allow others to have eye-sight as well as yourselves, and be candid enough not to condemn any man for judging of things as they appear to his own view."

THE BUTTERFLY, THE SNAIL, AND THE BEE.

A BUTTERFLY, proudly perched on the gaudy leaves of a French marygold, was boasting the vast extent and variety of his travels. "I have ranged," said he, over the graceful and majestic scenes of Windsor, and have feasted my syee with elegance and variety at Ampthill. I have wandered through regions of eglantine and honey-suckle, have revelled in kisses on beds of violets and cowslips, and enjoyed the delicious fragrance of roses and carnations. In short, my fancy unbounded, and my flights unrestrained, I have visited with perfect freedom all the flowers of the field or garden, and must be allowed to know the world, in a superlative degree."

A snail, who hung attentive to his wonders on a cabbage-leaf, was struck with admiration; and concluded him, from all this experience, to be the wisest of animal creatures.

It happened that a bee pursued her occupation on a neighbouring bed of marjoram, and having heard our ostentatious vagrant, reprimanded him in this manner: "Vain, empty flutterer," said she, "whom instruction cannot improve, nor experience itself enlighten! Thou hast rambled over the world, wherein does thy knowledge of it consist? Thou hast seen a variety of objects, what conclusions hast thou drawn from them? Thou hast tasted of every amusement; hast thou extracted anything for use? I too am a traveller: go and look into my hive, and let my treasures intimate to thee, that the end of travelling is, to collect materials either for the use and emolument of private life, or for the advantage of the community."

THE SNUFF-BOX AND SPECTACLES.

A GENTLEMAN having finished his book, when he had taken a pinch of snuff, took off his spectacles and laid them down beside his snuff-box. "Ah!" cried the latter to the former, "I am a better assistant to my master than you, for I clear his head, and make him comprehend what he reads."-"Nonsense!" answered the spectacles, "he could not read at all only for my aid; you serve for his amusement, and are a mere superfluity."

THE RAT AND THE IDOL.

A RAT had found a snug abode;
(The belly of a wooden god)
And there a jovial life he led :

Each morn a bull or heifer bled,

And smeared the shrine with gore and tallow,

In which, at will, the rat could wallow,

And, by his luck perhaps grown vain,
The false idea caught his brain,
He was, in truth, himself the god,
For whom the altar bore its load;
But all things end in this frail state:
Such the supreme decree of Fate,
Whose law, with equal rigour, flings
Its common chain o'er rats and kings.
One day the idol chanc'd to fall,
Shook from its tottering pedestal,
And broke to pieces. Then the train
Of priests and votaries left the fane!
At other shrines their vows they paid,
Where other rats their nests had made.
Our hero too for want of bread,

At last his holy refuge fled,

Whence he had long with pride look'd down

On all the mousers of the town;

But now, while thro' the porch he hurried,

By a revengeful cat was worried;

And this wise lesson left his brats,

A HEN who had lost her sight, and was accustomed to scratching up the earth in search of food; although blind, still continued to scratch away most diligently. Of what use was it to the industrious fool? Another sharp-sighted hen who spared her tender feet, never budged from her side, and enjoyed, without scratching, the fruit of the other's labour. For as often as the blind hen scratched up a barley-corn, her watchful companion devoured it.