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A Miscellany of Poems

consisting of Original Poems, Translations, Pastorals in the Cumberland Dialect, Familiar Epistles, Fables, Songs, and Epigrams, by the late Reverend Josiah Relph ... With a Preface and a Glossary

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125

The Snails and the Fruit.

A Snail some tempting apples spy'd,
And to her fellows near her cry'd,
See what a load yon boughs display,
Come let us climb and seize the prey.
Ah! no the thought is rash and vain,
Replies the slimy crew again,
That fruit for reptiles hangs too high
Reserv'd for happy birds that fly.
The other was not satisfy'd,
But pluck'd her courage up and try'd,
Slowly she crawl'd but kept her pace,
And perfected at last the race.
And now of all her wish possest,
She dropt this maxim to the rest,
That still lay groveling on the plain,
What cannot diligence attain?