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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| LXIV. | FABLE LXIV. The Funeral:
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
183
FABLE LXIV. The Funeral:
Or, Mercenary Mourners.
A wealthy Man, with two fair Daughters bless'd,
By Death, of half his Stock was dispossess'd;
And (as if real Woe cou'd find Relief
In the false Sounds of Artificial Grief)
Did a vast Tribe of Hackney-Mourners call,
With their strain'd Notes, to grace the Funeral:
Which they perform'd with such dissembl'd Shew,
That their feign'd Sorrow soon outvy'd the true.
When the surviving Sister heard their Cries,
That to a Pitch she cou'd not reach, did rise;
She said, Alas! Why are not we as learn'd,
To vent our Passion, who are more concern'd?
Her Mother answer'd, They may best complain,
Whose mercenary Plaints are hir'd for Gain:
For diff'rent Reasons we our Tears employ;
Ours spring from Trouble, theirs proceed from Joy:
Those Counterfeits, by Noise, promote their Trade;
For that are better lik'd, and better paid:
We need no Witness to attest our Moan;
True Mourners grieve in silence, and alone.
By Death, of half his Stock was dispossess'd;
And (as if real Woe cou'd find Relief
In the false Sounds of Artificial Grief)
Did a vast Tribe of Hackney-Mourners call,
With their strain'd Notes, to grace the Funeral:
Which they perform'd with such dissembl'd Shew,
That their feign'd Sorrow soon outvy'd the true.
When the surviving Sister heard their Cries,
That to a Pitch she cou'd not reach, did rise;
She said, Alas! Why are not we as learn'd,
To vent our Passion, who are more concern'd?
Her Mother answer'd, They may best complain,
Whose mercenary Plaints are hir'd for Gain:
For diff'rent Reasons we our Tears employ;
Ours spring from Trouble, theirs proceed from Joy:
Those Counterfeits, by Noise, promote their Trade;
For that are better lik'd, and better paid:
We need no Witness to attest our Moan;
True Mourners grieve in silence, and alone.
The MORAL.
‘So some false-Friends, who, for base Lucre's sake,‘A Profit of their Neighbour's Losses make;
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‘Tho', in his Suff'rings, they find true Content;
‘Hug the Mishaps by which their Fortunes thrive,
‘And best are pleas'd, when most they seem to grieve.
| Truth in Fiction | |