With a set of uncivil and turbulent cocks, That deserved for their noise to be put in the stocks, A partridge was placed to be rear'd. Her sex, by politeness revered, Made her hope, from a gentry devoted to love, For the courtesy due to the tenderest dove; Nay, protection chivalric from knights of the yard. That gentry, however, with little regard For the honours and knighthood wherewith they were deck'd, And for the strange lady as little respect, Her ladyship often most horribly peck'd. At first, she was greatly afflicted therefor, But when she had noticed these madcaps at war With each other, and dealing far bloodier blows, Consoling her own individual woes,-- 'Entail'd by their customs,' said she, 'is the shame; Let us pity the simpletons rather than blame. Our Maker creates not all spirits the same; The cocks and the partridges certainly differ, By a nature than laws of civility stiffer. Were the choice to be mine, I would finish my life In society freer from riot and strife. But the lord of this soil has a different plan; His tunnel our race to captivity brings, He throws us with cocks, after clipping our wings. 'Tis little we have to complain of but man.' [16] Aesop. IX.--THE DOG WHOSE EARS WERE CROPPED. 'What have I done, I'd like to know, To make my master maim me so? A pretty figure I shall cut! From other dogs I'll keep, in kennel shut. Ye kings of beasts, or rather tyrants, ho! Would any beast have served you so?' Thus Growler cried, a mastiff young;-- The man, whom pity never stung, Went on to prune him of his ears. Though Growler whined about his losses, He found, before the lapse of years, Himself a gainer by the process; For, being by his nature prone To fight his brethren for a bone, He'd oft come back from sad reverse With those appendages the worse. All snarling dogs have ragged ears. The less of hold for teeth of foe, The better will the battle go. When, in a certain place, one fears The chance of being hurt or beat, He fortifies it from defeat. Besides the shortness of his ears, See Growler arm'd against his likes With gorget full of ugly spikes. A wolf would find it quite a puzzle To get a hold about his muzzle. X.--THE SHEPHERD AND THE KING.[17] Two demons at their pleasure share our being-- The cause of Reason from her homestead fleeing; No heart but on their altars kindleth flames. If you demand their purposes and names, The one is Love, the other is Ambition. Of far the greater share this takes possession, For even into love it enters, Which I might prove; but now my story centres Upon a shepherd clothed with lofty powers: The tale belongs to older times than ours.