Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) Moores Fables for _The Female Sex_ Embellished with Engravings [Illustration: "_Ye wretches, hence the Eagle cries,_ _Page 5._] London, _Printed for Scatchard & Letterman, Ave Maria Lane; Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, and H.D. Symonds, Paternoster Row. 1806._ (Printed by C. Whittingham) FABLES FOR _THE FEMALE SEX_. FABLE I. THE EAGLE AND THE ASSEMBLY OF BIRDS. To her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. The moral lay, to beauty due, I write, FAIR EXCELLENCE, to you; Well pleas'd to hope my vacant hours Have been employ'd to sweeten your's. Truth under fiction I impart, To weed out folly from the heart, And shew the paths that lead astray The wand'ring nymph from wisdom's way. I flatter none. The great and good Are by their actions understood; Your monument if actions raise, Shall I deface by idle praise? I echo not the voice of Fame; That dwells delighted on your name: Her friendly tale, however true, Were flatt'ry, if I told it you. The proud, the envious, and the vain, The jilt, the prude, demand my strain; To these, detesting praise, I write, And vent in charity my spite: With friendly hand I hold the glass To all, promiscuous, as they pass: Should folly there her likeness view, I fret not that the mirror's true; If the fantastic form offend, I made it not, but would amend. [Illustration: _With friendly hand I hold the glass To all promiscuous, as they pass;_ _Page 2._ _London: Published May 1st 1799 by T. Heptinstall. No. 304 High Holborn._] Virtue, in ev'ry clime and age, Spurns at the folly-soothing page; While satire, that offends the ear Of vice and passion, pleases her. Premising this, your anger spare; And claim the fable you who dare. The BIRDS in place, by faction press'd, To JUPITER their pray'rs address'd; By specious lies the state was vex'd, Their counsels libellers perplex'd; They begg'd (to stop seditious tongues) A gracious hearing of their wrongs. JOVE grants their suit. The EAGLE sate, Decider of the grand debate. The PYE, to trust and pow'r preferr'd, Demands permission to be heard. Says he, 'Prolixity of phrase You know I hate. This libel says, "Some birds there are, who, prone to noise, Are hir'd to silence WISDOM'S voice; And, skill'd to chatter out the hour, Rise by their emptiness to pow'r." That this is aim'd direct at me, No doubt, you'll readily agree: Yet well this sage assembly knows, By parts to government I rose; My prudent counsels prop the state; MAGPIES were never known to prate.'