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 |  |
A heavy
Beam, by lab'ring Oxen drawn,
And mark'd, in sev'ral Scantlings, to be sawn;
Insensible of his own wretched Case,
Blam'd the Beasts Sloth, and bid them mend their Pace.
The Beasts reply'd, Did you your Fate foresee,
You wou'd, Brisk Sir, be less in Haste than we;
Nor with Reproach our weary Pains deride,
But rather grieve at those you must abide:
We of our Load shall very soon be freed,
And, when turn'd loose, shall in rich Pastures feed;
But you a sorer Burden shall sustain,
Shall, more oppress'd, and pity'd less, complain.
And mark'd, in sev'ral Scantlings, to be sawn;
Insensible of his own wretched Case,
Blam'd the Beasts Sloth, and bid them mend their Pace.
The Beasts reply'd, Did you your Fate foresee,
You wou'd, Brisk Sir, be less in Haste than we;
Nor with Reproach our weary Pains deride,
But rather grieve at those you must abide:
We of our Load shall very soon be freed,
And, when turn'd loose, shall in rich Pastures feed;
217
Shall, more oppress'd, and pity'd less, complain.
At this the Beam, in deep Affliction, roar'd
With louder Out-cries than the Groaning-Board;
No longer he the Oxens Sloth reprov'd,
But thought they too precipitantly mov'd.
With louder Out-cries than the Groaning-Board;
No longer he the Oxens Sloth reprov'd,
But thought they too precipitantly mov'd.
| Truth in Fiction | |