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Enfin, enfin, ayant long-tems couru
Il le trouva de fatigue abattu,
Languiffamment étendu fur la terre.
Notre effouflé l'entend, reprend vigueur;
Mais il ne peut rejoindre le trotteur,
Qui jusqu'au bout conferva fon allure,
Toucha le but, et gagna la gageure.

L'heureux vainqueur, par fon fuccès,
Leur prouva ce trait de morale :
Qu'il faut favoir tenir entre les deux excès
Le milieu le plus jufte et la balance égale.

Didot.
Gay.

Gan.

(So klaffisch, wie Lafontane bei den Franzosen, ift John Gay in dieser Dichtungsart bei den Engländern; eiz ner ihrer beliebtesten Dichter, der von 1688 bis 1732 lebte. Von seinen Fabeln, die aus zwei Theilen bestehen, wovon der zweite durchgehends von politischer Beziehung ist, ers schien der erste 1726, und der zweite erst nach seinem Tode. Beide sind seitdem ungemein oft wieder gedruckt worden. Sie find, wie Dr. Johnson sehr richtig bemerkt, nicht sowohl eigentliche Fabeln, als Erzählungen und Allegorien, und manchen fehlt es ganz an moralischer Lehre. Indeß sind sie lebhaft erzählt, glücklich vorgetragen und versificirt.)

THE COUNCIL OF HORSES. *)

Upon a time a neighing steed,

Who graz'd among a num'rous breed,

With muting had fir'd the train,

And

*) Eine deutscher Nachahmung von Gleim findet man

unter den deutschen Beispielen.

Beisp. S. 1. B.

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Gay.

And spread diffenfion through the plain.

On matters that concern'd the state
The council met in grand debate.
A colt, whofe eye-balls flam'd with ire,
Flate with ftrength and youthful fire,
In hafte ftept forth before the reft
And thus the liftning throng addrest.
Good Gods! how abject is our race,
Condemn'd to flav'ry and difgrace!
Shall we our fervitude retain,

Because our fires have born the chain?
Confider, friends, your ftrength and fight;
'Tis conqueft to affert your right.

How cumb'rous is the gilded coach!
The pride of man is our reproach.
Were we defign'd for daily toil,

To drag the plough-fhare through the foil,
To fweat in harness through the road,
To groan beneath the carrier's load?
How feeble are the two-legg'd kind!
What force is in our nerves combin'd!
Shall then our nobler jaws fubmit
To foam and champ the galling bit?
Shall haughty man my back beftride?
Shall the tharp fpur provoke my fide?
Forbid it Heav'ns! Reject the rein,
Your fhame, your infamy disdain.
Let him the lion firft controul,
And still the tiger's famith'd growle:
Let us, like them, our freedom claim,
And make him tremble at our name.
A general nod approv'd the caufe,
And all the circle neigh'd applaufe.
When, lo, with grave and folemn pace
A steed advanc'd before the race,
With age and long experience wife,
Around he caft his thoughtful eyes,
And, to the murmurs of the train,
Thus fpoke the Neftor of the plain.

When I had health and ftrength, like you
The toils of fervitude I knew;

Now

Now grateful man rewards my pains,
And gives me all thefe wide domains;
At will I crop the year's increase,
My latter life is reft and peace.
I grant to man we lend our pains;
And aid him to correct the plains:
But does not he divide the care,
Through all the labours of the year?
How many thousand structures rife,
To fence us from inclement skies!
For us he bears the fultry day,
And stores up all our winter's hay;
He fows, he reaps the harvest's gain,
We share the toil, and fhare the grain,
Since ev'ry creature was decreed
To aid each other's mutual need,
Appease your difcontented mind,
And act the part by Heav'n affign'd.
The tumult ceaf'd. The colt submitted,
And, like his ancestors, was bitted.

Gay. Denis.

Denis.

(Charles Denis, den man nicht mit den mehr verrus fenen als berühmten Dichter und Kritiker, John Dennis verwechseln muß, suchte dem Vortrage der Fabel in seiner Sprache die Leichtigkeit, Anmuth und Abwechselung des las fontänischen Tons zu ertheilen; es lag aber wohl mehr an der Mittelmäßigkeit seiner Talente, als an der Unfähigkeit feiner Sprache, daß sein Versuch mißlang.)

THE FOX AND THE GRAPES.

A Fox once chanc'd fome grapes to spy,
Plump, lufeious, tempting to the eye,
€ 2

And

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And much he long'd fome few to munch:
But by ill luck they hung so high,

He could not reach bunch.
At which he cried, quite in a huff,
I would not leave a hair in pledge,
For a whole bufhel of this stuff;
No need to tafte, the fight 's enough:
Their very looks have fet my teeth an edge.

Whenever an attempt proves vain,
As well to fneer, as to complain.

THE COCK AND THE FOX.

Full in the center of a lofty tree

An old wife Cock had made his neft:
And there, from doubts and dangers free,
In fafety took his rest.

A Fox, who fpied him, perch'd secure,
With foften'd voice and air demure
Thus Chanticleer addrefs'd:
Dear Brother, why fo very high?
I bring you tidings full of joy.

Twixt birds and beafts henceforth there 's peace:
Then prithee don't be shy!

Come down, and in a clofe embrace
We will the knot of friendship tie.
Why, this is welcome news indeed,
Replied the crested bird.
And fee, a Mastiff on full speed
Directs his steps this way;

He comes, no doubt, to make a third,
And celebrate with us this happy day. -
What's that, quoth Reynard in a fright,
Farewell: we'll e'en poftpone the kifs;
And talk fome other time of this;

He

He said, and scamper'd out of fight. To bite the biter doubles the delight.

Dents. Moore.

Moore.

(In Edward Moore's Fables for the Female Sex, die Hr. Weiße in deutsche Prose übersezt hat, gebührt der gefälligen Einkleidung, dem leichten Versbaue, und der zweckmäßigen Wahl und Einkleidung, des moralischen Unterrichts, mehr Lob, als der Erfindungsgabe ihres Verfas fers.)

THE GOOSE AND THE SWANS. ·

I hate the face, however fair,

That carries an affected air,

The lifping tone, the fhape conftrain'd,
The ftudied look, the paffion feign'd,
Are fopperies, which only tend
To injure, what they ftrive to mend.
With what fuperior grace inchants
The face, which Nature's pencil paints,
Where eyes, unexercis'd in art

Glow with the meaning of the heart,
Where freedom and good humour fit,
And eafy gaiety and wit!

Tho' perfect beauty be not there,
The master lines, the finish'd air,
We catch from ev'ry look delight,
And grow enamour'd at the fight:
For beauty, tho' we all approve,
Excites our wonder more than love,
While the agreeable strikes fure,
And gives the wounds, we cannot cure.

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