Blind Fortune follows daring blind. Oft executes the wisest man, Ere yet the wisdom of his mind Is task'd his means or end to scan. [21] Bidpaii; also in Lokman. [22] _Sixtus_.--Pope Sixtus V., who simulated decrepitude to get elected to the Papal chair, and when elected threw off all disguise and ruled despotically. XV.--THE RABBITS.[23] An Address To The Duke De La Rochefoucauld.[24] While watching man in all his phases, And seeing that, in many cases, He acts just like the brute creation,-- I've thought the lord of all these races Of no less failings show'd the traces Than do his lieges in relation; And that, in making it, Dame Nature Hath put a spice in every creature From off the self-same spirit-stuff-- Not from the immaterial, But what we call ethereal, Refined from matter rough. An illustration please to hear. Just on the still frontier Of either day or night,-- Or when the lord of light Reclines his radiant head Upon his watery bed, Or when he dons the gear, To drive a new career,-- While yet with doubtful sway The hour is ruled 'twixt night and day,-- Some border forest-tree I climb; And, acting Jove, from height sublime My fatal bolt at will directing, I kill some rabbit unsuspecting. The rest that frolick'd on the heath, Or browsed the thyme with dainty teeth, With open eye and watchful ear, Behold, all scampering from beneath, Instinct with mortal fear. All, frighten'd simply by the sound, Hie to their city underground. But soon the danger is forgot, And just as soon the fear lives not: The rabbits, gayer than before, I see beneath my hand once more! Are not mankind well pictured here? By storms asunder driven, They scarcely reach their haven, And cast their anchor, ere They tempt the same dread shocks Of tempests, waves, and rocks. True rabbits, back they frisk To meet the self-same risk!