Bald, naked, of a human shape, With fleet wings ready to escape, Upon a razor’s edge his toes, And lock that on his forehead grows-- Him hold, when seized, for goodness’ sake, For Jove himself cannot retake The fugitive when once he’s gone. The picture that we here have drawn Is Opportunity so brief.-- The ancients, in a bas-relief, Thus made an effigy of Time, That every one might use their prime; Nor e’er impede, by dull delay, Th’ effectual business of to-day. IX. THE BULL AND THE CALF. A Bull was struggling to secure His passage at a narrow door, And scarce could reach the rack of hay, His horns so much were in his way. A Calf officious, fain would show How he might twist himself and go. “Hold thou thy prate; all this,” says he, “Ere thou wert calved was known to me.” He, that a wiser man by half Would teach, may think himself this Calf. X. THE OLD DOG AND THE HUNTSMAN. A Dog, that time and often tried, His master always satisfied; And whensoever he assail’d, Against the forest-beasts prevail’d Both by activity and strength, Through years began to flag at length. One day, when hounded at a boar, His ear he seized, as heretofore; But with his teeth, decay’d and old, Could not succeed to keep his hold. At which the huntsman, much concern’d, The vet’ran huff’d, who thus return’d: “My resolution and my aim, Though not my strength, are still the same; For what I am if I am chid, Praise what I was, and what I did.” Philetus, you the drift perceive Of this, with which I take my leave. THE END. LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Errata (noted by transcriber) Inconsistencies in fable numbering are described at the beginning of the Table of Contents. All footnotes (Fn.), Æsopian Fables (AF) and New Fables (NF) are in Riley only. “Invisible” means that there is an appropriately sized blank space in the text, but the letter itself is absent. Fn. I.26 The “lagena,” or “lagona,” was a long-necked bottle [_standard spelling is “lagoena” or “lagœna”_] Fn. II.6 she is called “anus,” “an Old Woman,” [_The Latin language had two unrelated words spelled “anus”. The one referenced here is “anūs” with long final U._] Fn. V.7 the word “tibia,” which signifies the main bone of the leg [_Not an error: until recently, English “leg” often had the narrower meaning of “lower leg”._] Errors and inconsistencies: RILEY