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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| XXVIII. | FABLE XXVIII. The Cock and Jewel: |
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
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FABLE XXVIII. The Cock and Jewel:
Or, Pearls before Swine.
As once a Cock of the Plebeian Brood,
Scrap'd o'er a Dunghil for his daily Food,
He found a Jewel from the Rubbish rise,
Of dazling Lustre, and transcending Price:
But at this Baulk displeas'd, the Craven said,
Why are my Pains with this bright Trifle paid?
Some Lapidary might (with real Joy)
Have found, and justly priz'd the shining Toy;
But I a single Grain of Corn prefer
To all the Jewels Eastern Monarchs wear:
Let them with fancy'd Worth themselves delight,
Give me what feeds my craving Appetite.
Scrap'd o'er a Dunghil for his daily Food,
He found a Jewel from the Rubbish rise,
Of dazling Lustre, and transcending Price:
But at this Baulk displeas'd, the Craven said,
Why are my Pains with this bright Trifle paid?
Some Lapidary might (with real Joy)
Have found, and justly priz'd the shining Toy;
But I a single Grain of Corn prefer
To all the Jewels Eastern Monarchs wear:
Let them with fancy'd Worth themselves delight,
Give me what feeds my craving Appetite.
The MORAL.
‘The Mean-soul'd Wretch, whose low and grov'ling Mind‘Is to the Dunghil of the World confin'd,
‘In sordid Pleasures centers his Delight,
‘To gratifie his sensual Appetite:
‘While (in their Worth unskill'd) he treats, with Scorn,
‘The Gems that shou'd his nobler Part adorn;
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‘Its Value know, and, as they know, admire.
| Truth in Fiction | |