Than this, not plagues are sooner caught,
Nor with more dreadful evils fraught,
The other, meek, in secret pines,

And friends he could not keep resigns;
Resigns, tho' late, with yearning heart,
And mourns persuasion's useless art.
Retiring now, he leaves the fray,
The Fox still mark'd his pensive way,
The Lion found and seiz'd his prize,
And, like the first, the second dies.

The two who yet alive remain,
In dreadful conflict shake the plain;
The Fox observes the doubtful fight,
One drops-he smiles with fell delight;
Flies with the joyful news, and brings
The King to take what's now the King's.
Faint, breathless, bleeding on the ground,
The hapless victor soon they found;
He falls an unresisting prey,

And crowns the triumphs of the day.

This tale a sage once told his son, And thus apply'd it when he'd done :—

"Do you, my child, with unsuspecting eye, O'erlook what others labour to descry; Kind to all faults, and to all failings blind, Be you the last to think affronts design'd. Cold seems thy friend?—by the severest laws Thy conduct try, to find the latent cause. Let thy heart pant for universal praise, Such as, unbrib'd, to virtue, virtue pays. Is this withheld? try ev'ry winning art To melt the hard, to soothe the froward heart.

Sue for esteem-to all but fawning bend,
Whom this will purchase is a worthless friend;
But scorn the thought as vainest of the vain,
That what good-nature loses, pride will gain.
Less than your merit does your friend approve?
Still merit more-his love constrain with love.
This conduct try'd remains he still the same?
Learn you to pity what the world will blame.
The gen'ral censure, his neglect ensures.
Thy honour brightens and thy praise secures."

THE

And Tom was call'd to take away: Tom clear'd the board with dextrous art : But, willing to secure a tart,

The liquorish youth had made an halt,
And left the pepper-box and salt

Alone upon the marble table:

Who thus, like men, were heard to squabble.

Pepper began, "Pray, sir," says he,
"What business have you here with me?
Is't fit that spices of my birth

Should rank with thee, thou scum of earth?
I'd have you know, sir, I've a spirit
Suited to my superior merit-

Tho' now, confin'd within this caster,
I serve a Northern Gothic master;
Yet born in Java's fragrant wood,
To warm an Eastern monarch's blood,
The sun those rich perfections gave me,
Which tempted Dutchmen to enslave me.

"Nor are my virtues here unknown,
Tho' old and wrinkled now I'm grown.
Black as I am, the fairest maid
Invokes my stimulating aid,

To give her food the poignant flavour,
And, to each sauce, its proper savour.
Pasties, ragouts, and fricassees,
Without my seasoning, fail to please :
'Tis I, like wit, must give a zest,

And sprightliness to ev'ry feast.

'Physicians too my use confess;

My influence sagest matrons bless;

When drams prove vain, and cholics teaze,
To me they fly for certain ease.
Nay, I fresh vigour can dispense,
And cure ev'n age and impotence:

And when of dulness wits complain,
I brace the nerves, and clear the brain.

"But to the 'squire here, I appeal— He knows my real value well:

Who, with one pepper-corn content,
Remits the vassal's annual rent-

Hence then, Sir Brine, and keep your distance, Go lend the scullion your assistance;

For culinary uses fit,

To salt the meat upon the spit;

Or just to keep our meat from stinking—
And then-a special friend to drinking!"

"Your folly moves me with surprise,"
The silver tripod thus replies,
"Pray, Master Pepper, why so hot?
First cousin to the mustard-pot!
What boots it how our life began?
'Tis breeding makes the Gentleman;
Yet would you search my pedigree,
I rose like Venus from the sea :
The sun, whose influence you boast,
Nurs'd me upon the British coast.

"The chymists know my rank and place,

When nature's principles they trace:

And wisest moderns yield to me

The elemental monarchy.

By me all nature is supply'd

With all her beauty, all her pride!

In vegetation I ascend;

To animals their vigour lend;

Corruption's foe, I life preserve,

And stimulate each slacken'd nerve.

I give jonquils their high perfume;

The peach its flavour, rose its bloom:
Nay, I'm the cause, when rightly trac'd,
Of Pepper's aromatic taste.

"Such claims you teach me to produce; But need I plead my obvious use, In seasoning all terrestrial food; When Heaven declares, that Salt is good.

"Grant, then, some few thy virtues find; Yet Salt gives health to all mankind : Physicians sure will side with me, While cooks alone shall plead for thee: In short, with all thine airs about thee, The world were happier far without thee."

The 'squire, who all this time sat mute,
Now put an end to their dispute:
He rung the bell-bade Tom convey
The doughty disputants away-

The Salt, refresh'd by shaking up,
At night did with his master sup:
The Pepper, Tom assign'd his lot
With vinegar, and mustard-pot:
A fop with bites and sharpers join'd,
And, to the side-board, well confin'd.