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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| VII. | FABLE VII. Mercury and the Statuary:
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
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FABLE VII. Mercury and the Statuary:
Or, Vain-glory mortified.
Ambitious
Mercury, grown fond to know
In what Esteem his Godship was Below;
In Air, resembling Human Form, array'd,
His Visit to a Graver's Work house made.
This Chapman seen, the Man began to cry,
Welcome, Good Sir; What will you please to buy?
Pray, what siz'd Figures do's your Worship want,
To set in Niches, or on Grass-plots plant?
I have of all Sorts, 'tis right Work I sell;
Pray, cheapen something, Sir; I'll use you well.
In what Esteem his Godship was Below;
In Air, resembling Human Form, array'd,
His Visit to a Graver's Work house made.
This Chapman seen, the Man began to cry,
Welcome, Good Sir; What will you please to buy?
Pray, what siz'd Figures do's your Worship want,
To set in Niches, or on Grass-plots plant?
I have of all Sorts, 'tis right Work I sell;
Pray, cheapen something, Sir; I'll use you well.
The curious Feigner, from Discov'ry free,
Desir'd some Statues of the Gods to see.
The Workman smil'd, to hear him so inclin'd,
For he few Customers for them did find.
He had of refuse Stone good store of these,
The first Essays of his raw Prentices;
That did behind the Door all dusty stand,
And long had lain a Drug upon his hand:
These he produc'd, and having brush'd them well,
Thus, in his usual Cant, began to sell:
Here's Jupiter, and very nicely wrought,
But yet Dog-cheap; he's yours, Sir, for a Groat:
Here's Juno too, and graven to the Life,
She'll be a Peny less, because the Wife.
The God, with Smiles, deriding their low Rate,
For his own Statue call'd, and cheapned that:
For, big with Self-conceit, he vainly thought,
A Price much higher wou'd for that be sought:
But he was baulk'd in his Vain-glorious Pride;
The Artist, willing to take Money, cry'd,
Sir, if you like to buy the others thus,
I'll throw you this in for for an Overplus.
Desir'd some Statues of the Gods to see.
The Workman smil'd, to hear him so inclin'd,
For he few Customers for them did find.
He had of refuse Stone good store of these,
The first Essays of his raw Prentices;
That did behind the Door all dusty stand,
And long had lain a Drug upon his hand:
These he produc'd, and having brush'd them well,
Thus, in his usual Cant, began to sell:
Here's Jupiter, and very nicely wrought,
But yet Dog-cheap; he's yours, Sir, for a Groat:
Here's Juno too, and graven to the Life,
She'll be a Peny less, because the Wife.
288
For his own Statue call'd, and cheapned that:
For, big with Self-conceit, he vainly thought,
A Price much higher wou'd for that be sought:
But he was baulk'd in his Vain-glorious Pride;
The Artist, willing to take Money, cry'd,
Sir, if you like to buy the others thus,
I'll throw you this in for for an Overplus.
The MORAL.
‘Vain-glorious Men, in Self-opinion great,‘Believe themselves such in the World's Conceit:
‘But, in Attempts to gratifie their Pride,
‘By Disappointments, oft' are mortify'd:
‘They find they are not valu'd as they deem,
‘Their Worth is only in their own Esteem.
| Truth in Fiction | |