University of Virginia Library

A lion, whose blood-thirsty reign
Bespoke him Nero of the plain;
Who judg'd the sole intent of pow'r
Was to destroy and to devour;
Who knew no law but tyrant Will,
Still prompt to ravage, fleece, and kill,
Thus proudly roars—“With Jove I vie,
“I rule the Earth, he rules the Sky;
“His Thunder makes the Heavens quake,
“My Roaring makes the Forests shake;
“Death ever waits my kingly sway,
“While four-legg'd crouching slaves obey;
“They breathe but by my courtesy,
“And the whole world was made for Me;—
“Britannia's Monarch I disdain,
“Who rules by Love a willing plain;
“Like fam'd Morocco's Prince I move,
“By Fear I govern, not by Love,
“My Sceptre's summit bears no Dove.”

Thus vaunts the Grand Monarque: Around
His servile Courtiers lick the ground,
When with a careless air and grace,
A buzzing Wasp flies near the place,
Skims thro' the air, nor bends the wing
In homage to the mighty King;—
Incens'd, his shagg-rob'd Majesty,
With vengeful tail erected high,
The Insect tumbles to the Earth,
And spoils his Music and his Mirth:—
“Shall a mean worthless Insect dare
“Unbidden, in our Sight appear?
“When low-bred Creatures thus presume,
“Death, certain Death shall be their doom.”

Tho' stunn'd at first—with venom'd spite
The Wasp soon wings his circling flight;
He vows revenge, and on his foe,
With sting high-brandish'd aims the blow:
“Tyrant (he cries) what cou'd provoke
“Without a cause, thy barb'rous stroke?
“From want of food can it proceed?
“Lions on Insects never feed:—
“The reason's plain, thy cruel breast
“Is with a human soul possest;
“'Twas wantonness provok'd the deed,
“To please your pride, ev'n Wasps must bleed;
“But, Tyrant, take before I die
“An injur'd Wasp's last legacy:”
So said, he darts with rapid wing
The nostrils of the shaggy King,
To the extremest verge ascends,
There all his waspish venom spends,
And near the brain's monastic cell
He pours his macerating spell:
The Tyrant roars, and o'er the plain,
Drives wild in all the hell of pain;
The forests tremble with his cries,
Quick to his brain the venom flies,
And raging mad, he tears, blasphemes, and dies.
Thus bubble Pride and Cruelty,
Those pageant Tyrants of an hour,
Are often forc'd to bend the knee,
Ev'n to a paltry Insect's power.