Secure, for no alarming cranes molest, And all their woes in long oblivion rest: THE HARES, A FABLE. YES, yes, I grant the sons of earth Are doom'd to trouble from their birth. We all of sorrow have our share ; But say, is yours without compare? Look round the world; perhaps you'll find Each individual of our kind Press'd with an equal load of ill, And own your lamentable case Or see, transfix'd with keener pangs, The jolly hunting band convene, The beagle's breast with ardour burns, The bounding steed the champaign spurns, And Fancy oft the game descries Through the hound's nose, and huntsman's eyes. Just then, a council of the hares Had met, on national affairs. The chiefs were set; while o'er their head The furze its frizzled covering spread. Long lists of grievances were heard, "Our harmless race shall every savage "Both quadruped and biped ravage? "Shall horses, hounds, and hunters still "For youth, alas, nor cautious age, "Nor strength, nor speed, eludes their rage. "In every field we meet the foe, "Each gale comes fraught with sounds of wo; "The morning but awakes our fears, "The evening sees us bathed in tears. "But must we ever idly grieve, "Nor strive our fortunes to relieve? "Small is each individual's force: "To stratagem be our recourse; "And then, from all our tribes combined, "The murderer to his cost may find "No foes are weak, whom Justice arms, "Whom Concord leads, and Hatred warms. "Be roused; or liberty acquire, He said no more, for in his breast. Swell in the wind. Now louder cries Distinct of hounds and men arise. Forth from the brake, with beating heart, And, every straining nerve on wing, The hunting band, a signal given, Thick thundering o'er the plain are driven ; O'er cliff abrupt, and shrubby mound, Now plunge amid the forest shades, Glance through the openings of the glades ; Now o'er the level valley sweep, Now with short steps strain up the steep; |