"But, faith, she's so small I must mind how I shake her; "In a box I'll inclose her, for fear I should break her: "Though a god, I might suffer for being aggressor, "Since scorpions, and vipers, and hornets possess her; "The white cliffs of Albion I think I descry-- "And the hills of Plinlimmon appear rather nigh-- "But, Vulcan, inform me what creatures are these, "That smell so of onions, and garlick, and cheese?" Old Vulcan replied--"Odds splutter a nails! "Why, these are the Welch, and the country is Wales! "When Taffy is vext, no devil is ruder-- "Take care how you trouble the offspring of Tudor! "On the crags of the mountains _hur_ living _hur_ seeks, "_Hur_ country is planted with garlick and leeks; "So great is _hur_ choler, beware how you teaze _hur_, "For these are the Britons--unconquered by Caesar."[148] "But now, my dear Juno, pray give me my mittens, "(These insects I am going to handle are Britons) "I'll draw up their isle with a finger and thumb, "As the doctor extracts an old tooth from the gum." Then he raised her aloft--but to shorten our tale, She looked like a clod in the opposite scale-- Britannia so small, and Columbia so large-- A ship of first rate, and a ferryman's barge! Cried Pallas to Vulcan, "Why, Jove's in a dream-- "Observe how he watches the turn of the beam! "Was ever a mountain outweighed by a grain? "Or what is a drop when compared to the main?" But Momus alledged--"In my humble opinion, "You should add to Great-Britain her foreign dominion, "When this is appended, perhaps she will rise, "And equal her rival in weight and in size." "Alas! (said the monarch), your project is vain, "But little is left of her foreign domain; "And, scattered about in the liquid expanse, "That little is left to the mercy of France; "However, we'll lift them, and give her fair play"-- And soon in the scale with their mistress they lay; But the gods were confounded and struck with surprise, And Vulcan could hardly believe his own eyes! For (such was the purpose and guidance of fate) Her foreign dominions diminished her weight-- By which it appeared, to Britain's disaster, Her foreign possessions were changing their master. Then, as he replaced them, said Jove with a smile-- "Columbia shall never be ruled by an isle-- "But vapours and darkness around her may rise, "And tempests conceal her awhile from our eyes; "So locusts in Egypt their squadrons display, "And rising, disfigure the face of the day; "So the moon, at her full, has a frequent eclipse, "And the sun in the ocean diurnally dips. "Then cease your endeavours, ye vermin of Britain-- (And here, in derision, their island he spit on) "'Tis madness to seek what you never can find, "Or to think of uniting what nature disjoined;