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 stately
Elm, that many Years had stood,
And over-top'd his Neighbours of the Wood;
Cut down at last, and order'd to be sawn,
Was to the Pit, by sweating Oxen, drawn.
The Tree believ'd himself unkindly us'd,
And of Ingratitude the Beasts accus'd;
That they, whom he had fed, and shelter'd long,
Unmindful of his Kindness, did him Wrong,
And, void of Pity, drag'd him through the Mire,
Whose Age, and Love, did more Respect require.
And over-top'd his Neighbours of the Wood;
Cut down at last, and order'd to be sawn,
Was to the Pit, by sweating Oxen, drawn.
The Tree believ'd himself unkindly us'd,
And of Ingratitude the Beasts accus'd;
That they, whom he had fed, and shelter'd long,
Unmindful of his Kindness, did him Wrong,
And, void of Pity, drag'd him through the Mire,
Whose Age, and Love, did more Respect require.
The faultless Beasts, to sooth his Woe, reply'd,
Our Sighs, our Groans, and ev'ry goaded Side,
Shew how in all your Pains we sympathize,
Whose weighty Grief on us more heavy lies.
This soft, kind Answer, pacify'd the Beam,
And he no more griev'd for himself, but them.
Our Sighs, our Groans, and ev'ry goaded Side,
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Whose weighty Grief on us more heavy lies.
This soft, kind Answer, pacify'd the Beam,
And he no more griev'd for himself, but them.
| Truth in Fiction | |