Truth in Fiction Or, Morality in Masquerade. A Collection of Two hundred twenty five Select Fables of Aesop, and other Authors. Done into English Verse. By Edmund Arwaker |
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
FABLE XII. The Negro:
Or, Labour in Vain.
A shallow 'Squire, who had a Negro bought,
His Sooty Face too long neglected thought;
And, in great hope to make him White and Fair,
Had him well Scour'd with wond'rous Pains and Care:
But spent his Labour, Soap, and Time, in vain;
The Native Black, did still a Black remain.
His Sooty Face too long neglected thought;
And, in great hope to make him White and Fair,
Had him well Scour'd with wond'rous Pains and Care:
But spent his Labour, Soap, and Time, in vain;
The Native Black, did still a Black remain.
The MORAL.
‘The Characters that Nature has impress'd,‘Keep their primæval Stamp on ev'ry Breast;
‘And he that wou'd, what's printed there, erase,
‘As well might hope to blanch a Negro's Face.
‘No Pow'r an Innate Quality can sway,
‘That to its Native Bent will force its Way:
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‘Recurrs with more impetuous Violence.
| Truth in Fiction | |