The daughters of the mud obtained Help from the star-king, while he reigned. Nor war, nor any like disaster, Could harm them under such a master. His empire was the most serene! The pond-queens (Frogs, I really mean: For why not give their honourable name?) Against their benefactors plotted; shame, Imprudence, pride, and base ingratitude, Good Fortunes children, roused the restless brood. They could not sleep a wink (to trust their cry): They would have stirred the world to mutiny Against the eye of nature--the great sun. It had begun to burn them: he must run To arms, and gather all his powerful band, Or he'd be driven from his own fair land. The croaking embassies would go Through all the regions, to and fro, To make the whole world hear their case, And gather pity from each place. All the world seemed bent on this, That four marshes took amiss. Still this rash complaint went on: Still this grumbling at the sun. Yet in vain the noise and riot,-- Frogs must, after all, be quiet; For, if the sun is once inflamed, They will very soon be tamed, And the Frog Republic will Find they've calculated ill. FABLE CCXL. THE ARBITRATOR, ALMONER, AND HERMIT. Three saints, by holy fervour fired, To gain the heights of heaven aspired; But, as the well-known proverb says, Rome can be reached by various ways, So these by different methods planned To gain the shores of Canaan's land. One, touched by the expense and care Which luckless suitors have to bear, Offered cases to determine Without a fee, or wig, or ermine. Since human laws were first began, Lawsuits have been the curse of man; Absorbing half, three-fourths, or all Of days which, at the best, are small. To cure a state of things so vicious, Our Umpire thought his plan judicious. The second of our saints declares The sick sole object of his cares; And I praise him: in truth, to me This seems the truest charity. But sick men, troublous then, as now, Our good man vexed enough, I vow. Capricious, restless, petulant, Each moment brings a separate want; And, if no other fault they find, They cry, "To such and such he's kind: Spends all his days and nights in caring For them, and leaves us here despairing." But these complaints were small to those Which harassed, every day, the heart Of him who, well-intentioned, chose To act the Arbitrator's part. The plaintiff and defendant, both, T' adopt his sentences were loth; And swore, with all their might and main, His partiality was plain. By such abuse as this disgusted, The Umpire and the Almoner Each unto each his woes entrusted; And each agreed he could not bear To be so shamefully mistrusted. This being so, they sought a glade