42 As Iris from the bed of Juno flies To bear her queen's commands thro' yielding skies, With meffage heav'nly, and with equal light peace declares: 185 And in his miftrefs' name for That deal their wounds alike on either fide, 195 He, fir'd with glory and the publick good, aco Betwixt the people and their danger flood: Arm'd with convincing truths he did appear, And all he said was sparkling, bright, and clear. The lift'ning Senate with attention heard, And some admir'd while others trembling fear'd; Not from the tropes of formal eloquence, 206 210 Of Neftor's counfels or Ulyffes' tongue. Oh! all ye Nymphs! whilst time and youth allow Prepare the rose and lily for his brow. 115 Much he has done, but still has more in view, To Anna's int'reft and his country true. Such truths would make another mortal vain. 219 THE EAGLE AND THE ROBIN. An Apologue tranflated from the original of Æfop, written tro thousand Years fince, and now rendered in familiar Verfe by H. G. L. Mag. GOOD precepts and true gold are more valuable for their antiquity; and here I prefent my good reader with one delivered by the first founder of mythology, Afop himself. Maximus Planudes takes notice of it as a very excellent part of his production; and Phædrus, Camerarius, and others, seem to agree that his Eagle, and five others not yet tranflated, are equal to any of his that are handed down to us. Though Mr. Ogleby and Sir Roger L'Eftrange had the unhappiness to be unacquainted with them, yet I had the good fortune to discover them by the removal of my old library, which has made me amends for the trouble of getting to where I now teach. They were written, or dictated at least, by Æfop in the fifty-fourth Olympiad ; and though I designed them chiefly for the use of myschool, (this being tranflated by a youth defigned for a Greek profeffor) yet no man is fo wife as not to need instruction, ay, and by the way of fable too, fince the Holy Scriptures themselves, the best instructers, teach us by way of parable, fymbol, image, and figure and David was more moved with Nathan's "Thou art the man," than all the most rigid lectures in the world would have done. Whoever will be at the trouble of comparing this verfion with the original, let them begin at the tenth line, and they will find it metaphraftically done verbum verbo, as the best way of justice to the author. Thofe that are mere adorers of no óyou will not be angry that it is in this fort of metre, for which I gave leave, the lad having a turn to this fort of measure, which is pleasant and agreeable, though not lofty. For my own part, Iconcur with my mafter Ariftotle that ῥυθμὸς κι αρμον.kare very far from being unneceffary or unpleasant. May this be of use to thee, and it will please thine in all good wishes, HORAT. CRAMT THE EAGLE AND THE ROBIN. A Lady liv'd in former days That well deferv'd the utmost praise, Just like a palace it was fo neat, The man admiring made a stand; "What is that," fays fhe," that hangs its head? Sinking and faint! it is almoft dead." "Madam, a Redbreast that I found, * Queen Anne. If the reader recollects the change which she made in her miniftry in 1709, the year in which this poem was written, and looks into our Author's Rufinus, or, The Favourite, the political moral of this apologue will appear evident. |