The Works of John Hall-Stevenson ... Corrected and Enlarged. With Several Original Poems, Now First Printed, and Explanatory Notes. In Three Volumes |
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The Works of John Hall-Stevenson | ||
191
FABLE I. THE RESIGNATION .
A certain house swarmed with huge Rats,Traps, poison failed, baits they touched none;
An able chief amongst the Cats
Picked them up slily one by one.
All Libertines that stayed out late,
All vagabonds, shared the same fate;
This rous'd the Hanoverian breed ,
It grew to be a serious case;
If he was suffer'd to proceed,
He would extinguish the whole race.
A vote ensu'd, an order pass'd,
A proclamation for a fast.
Pursuant to their resolution,
They watch'd and pray'd, entrench'd like moles,
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Studied to draw them from their holes.
He knew 'twas folly to pretend
To act the patriot, or the friend.
What people wish they soon believe,
The Cat fell sick , and took his bed;
He formed his project to deceive,
By lying down and seeming dead;
He shut his eyes, his breath held in,
Stretch'd out and streight,
He lay in state,
Just like a cat, worth nothing but his skin.
He cannot long continue so,
Says an old sage, stir not from hence;
This dying comes too à propos,
To be aught else than a pretence.
The wiser sort maintain'd their ground;
Grimalkin, baffled for this bout,
Rose from the dead, and with a bound
Rais'd the blockade, and let them out.
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That sally'd forth, paid for their peeping.
Even thus, according to report,
Edward's Grimalkin left his post;
Or, in the language of the court,
Thus Gaveston gave up the ghost.
And though the subtile Gascoon lord
Assur'd the barons he was dead;
The barons would not take his word,
Till they had taken off his head.
The court declar'd him dead in law,
And some weak folks bit at the show;
But found that his contracted paw
Retir'd to strike the surer blow.—
Cats seldom die a natural death,
As seldom favourites resign
Naturally, without design,
Till they resign their forfeit breath.
The Works of John Hall-Stevenson | ||