The fraud is sentenced; and his hoard, As due, to public use restored. * * * * * FABLE V. THE BEAR IN A BOAT. TO A COXCOMB. That man must daily wiser grow, Whose search is bent himself to know; Impartially he weighs his scope, And on firm reason founds his hope; He tries his strength before the race, And never seeks his own disgrace; He knows the compass, sail, and oar, Or never launches from the shore; Before he builds, computes the cost; And in no proud pursuit is lost: _10 He learns the bounds of human sense, And safely walks within the fence. Thus, conscious of his own defect, Are pride and self-importance check'd. If then, self-knowledge to pursue, Direct our life in every view, Of all the fools that pride can boast, A coxcomb claims distinction most. Coxcombs are of all ranks and kind: They're not to sex or age confined, _20 Or rich, or poor, or great, or small; And vanity besets them all. By ignorance is pride increased: Those most assume who know the least; Their own false balance gives them weight, But every other finds them light. Not that all coxcombs' follies strike, And draw our ridicule alike; To different merits each pretends. This in love-vanity transcends; _30 That smitten with his face and shape, By dress distinguishes the ape; T'other with learning crams his shelf, Knows books, and all things but himself. All these are fools of low condition, Compared with coxcombs of ambition. For those, puffed up with flattery, dare Assume a nation's various care. They ne'er the grossest praise mistrust, Their sycophants seem hardly just; _40 For these, in part alone, attest The flattery their own thoughts suggest. In this wide sphere a coxcomb's shown In other realms beside his own: The self-deemed Machiavel at large By turns controls in every charge. Does commerce suffer in her rights? 'Tis he directs the naval flights. What sailor dares dispute his skill? He'll be an admiral when he will. _50 Now meddling in the soldier's trade, Troops must be hired, and levies made. He gives ambassadors their cue, His cobbled treaties to renew; And annual taxes must suffice The current blunders to disguise When his crude schemes in air are lost, And millions scarce defray the cost, His arrogance (nought undismayed) Trusting in self-sufficient aid, _60 On other rocks misguides the realm, And thinks a pilot at the helm. He ne'er suspects his want of skill, But blunders on from ill to ill; And, when he fails of all intent, Blames only unforeseen event. Lest you mistake the application, The fable calls me to relation. A bear of shag and manners rough, At climbing trees expert enough; _70 For dextrously, and safe from harm, Year after year he robbed the swarm. Thus thriving on industrious toil, He gloried in his pilfered spoil.