Behind she hears the hunter's cries,
And from the deep-mouth'd thunder flies.
She starts, she stops, she pants for breath;
She hears the near advance of death;
She doubles to mislead the hound,
And measures back her

mazy

round:
Till fainting in the public way,
Half dead with rear she gasping lay.
What transport in her bosom grew,
When first the horse appeared in view !
“Let me,” says she, “your back ascend,
And owe my safety to a friend.
You know my feet betray my flight;
To friendship ev'ry burden’s light.

The Horse replied, “ Poor honest Puss,
It grieves my heart to see thee thus.
Be comforted, relief is near;
For all your friends are in the rear.”

She next the stately Bull implor'd:
And thus replied the mighty lord.
“Since ev'ry beast alive can tell
That I sincerely wish you well,
I may without offence pretend
To take the freedom of a friend.
Love calls me hence; a fav'rite cow
Expects me near yon barley-mow;
And when a lady's in the case,
You know, all other things give place.
To leave you thus may seem unkind,
But see the goat is just behind.”

The Goat remark'd her pulse was high, Her languid head, her heavy eye: “My back," says he, “may do

you

harm; The sheep's at hand, and wool is warm.”

The Sheep was feeble, and complain'd
His sides a load of wool sustain'd :
Said he was slow, confess'd his fears :
For hounds eat sheep, as well as hares.

She now the trotting Calf address'd,
To save from death a iriend distress'd.

a

a

“Shall I,” says he,“ of tender age,
In this important care engage ?
Older and abler pass'd you by ;
How strong are they! how weak am I!
Should I presume to bear you hence,
Those friends of mine may take offence.
Excuse me then ; You know my heart,
But dearest friends, alas! must part.
How shall we all lament! Adieu :
For see the hounds are just in view.”

2. TRUE LOVE.
No power on earth can e'er divide
The knot which sacred love hath tied;
When parents draw against our mind,
The true love's knot they faster bind.

3. THE FOX.
I like the fox shall grieve,

Whose mate hath left her side ;
Whom hounds, from morn to eve,

Chase o'er the country wide.
Where can my lover hide ?

Where cheat the weary pack ?
If love be not his guide,

He never will come back.

4. SWEET WILLIAM'S FAREWELL TO BLACK

EYED SUSAN.

All in the Downs the fleet was moor’d,

The streamers waving in the wind, When black-ey'd Susan came aboard.

“Oh! where shall I my true-love find ? Tell me, ye jovial sailors, tell me true, If my

sweet William sails among the crew." William, who high upon the yard

Rock'd with the billow to and fro, Soon as her well known voice he heard,

He sigh’d and cast his eyes below: The cord slides swiftly through his glowing bands, And (quick as lightning) on the deck he stands.

So the sweet lark, high pois'd in air,

Shuts close his pinions to his breast
(If chance his mate’s thrill call he hear)

And drops at once into her nest.
The noblest captain in the British fleet
Might envy William's lip those kisses sweet.
" O Susan, Susan, lovely dear,

My vows shall ever true remain ;
Let me kiss off that falling tear;

We only part to meet again. Change, as ye list, ye winds; my heart shall be The faithful compass that still points to thee. Believe not what the landmen

say, Who tempt with doubts thy constant mind. They'll tell thee, sailors, when away,

In every port a mistress find :
Yes, yes, believe them when they tell thee so,
For thou art present wheresoe'er I go.
If to fair India's coast we sail,

Thy eyes are seen in diamonds bright,
Thy breath is Afric's spicy gale,

Thy skin is ivory so white.
Thus every beauteous object that I view,
Wakes in my soul some charm of lovely Sue,
Though battle call me from thy arms,

Let not my pretty Susan mourn;
Though cannons roar, yet, safe from harms,

William shall to his dear return.
Love turns aside the balls that round me fly,
Lest precious drops should fall from Susan's eye."
The boatswain

gave

the dreadful word, The sails their swelling bosom spread; No longer must she stay aboard :

They kiss'd, she sigh’d, he hung his head, Her lessening boat unwilling rows to land: “Adieu !” she cries : and wav'd her lily ballü.

:

Q

Where grows

CXXVII. POPE.

1. ON HAPPINESS. O happiness! our being's end and aim ! Good, pleasure, ease, content, whate'er thy n.2o: That something still which prompts th' eternal sign, For which we bear to live, or dare to die; Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies, O’erlook’d, seen double, by the fool and wise: Plant of celestial seed! if dropt below, Say in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow i Fair opening to some court's propitious shine, Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine ? Twin’d with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield, Cr reap'd in iron harvests of the field ?

s ?—where grows it not? If vain our toil, We ought to blame the culture, not the soil : Fix'd to no spot is happiness sincere, 'Tis nowhere to be found, or every where : 'Tis never to be bought, but always free, And, fled from monarchs, St John! dwells with thee,

Ask of the learned the way! the learned are blind This bids to serve, and that to shun mankind : Some place the bliss in action, some in case, Those call it Pleasure, and Contentment these : Some, sunk to beasts, find pleasure end in pain : Some, swell’d to gods, confess e'en Virtue vain : Or indolent to each extreme they fall, To trust in every thing, or doubt of all.

Who thus define it, say they more or less Than this, that happiness is happiness ?

Take Nature's path, and mad opinion's leave : All states can reach it and all heads conceive : Obvious her goods, in no extreme they dwell : There needs but thinking right, and meaning weli; And, mourn our various portions as we please, Equal is common ase and common ease. Remember, man, " the Universal Cause Acts not by partial, but by general laws ;" And makes, what Happiness we justly call, Subsist not in the good of one, but all.

:

There's not a blessing individuals find,
But some way leans and hearkens to the kind.
No bandit fierce, no tyrant mad with pride,
No cavern’d hermit, rests self-satisfied:
Who most to shun or hate mankind pretend,
Seek an admirer, or would fix a friend,
Abstract what others feel, what others think,
All pleasures sicken and all glories sink;
Each has his share; and who would more obtain,
Shall find the pleasure pays not half the pain.

Order is heaven's first law: and, this confest,
Some are and must be, greater than the rest:
More rich, more wise: but who infers from hence
That such are happier, shock3 all common sense.
Heaven to mankind impartial we confess,
If all are equal in their happiness :
But mutual wants this happiness increase ;
All Nature's difference keeps all. Nature's peace.
Condition, circumstance, is not the thing:
Bliss is the same in subject or in king:
In who obtain defence, or who defend,
In him who is, or him who finds a friend.
Heaven breathes through every member of the whole
One common blessing as one common soul.
But Fortune's gifts if each alike possest,
And each were equal, must not all contest ?
If then to all men Happiness was meant,
God in externals could not place content.

Fortune her gifts may variously dispose,
And these be happy call'd, unhappy those ;
But heaven's just balance equal will appear,
While those are plac'd in hope, and these in fear;
Not present good or ill, the joy or curse,
But future views of better or of worse.
Oh sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise,
By mountains pil'd on mountains, to the skies
Heaven still with laughter the vain toil survey.
And buries madmen in the heaps they raise.

Know, all the good that individuals find,
Or God and Nature meant to mere mankind,