Or if, perhaps, he gives a loose, In wanton pride to shew his skill, And curb the people's rage at will; In wild uproar they hurry on ;- Are first mark'd out for sacrifice. When, to a height their fury grown, And truly sets the world on fire. A TALE OF A NETTLE. THESE verses occur on the same paper which contains the ballad, p. 278, and are also in the Dean's hand-writing. They relate to the proposed repeal of the Test-act, and may be compared with the "Fable of the Bitches," p. 325. A MAN with expense and infinite toil, No degenerate weeds the rich ground did produce, The gard'ner would wisely have rooted him up But the master forbid him, and after the fashion Kind sir, quoth the nettle, a stranger I come, There's none so renown'd for compassion as you; And, though in some things I may differ from these, The rest of your fruitful and beautiful trees; Though your digging and dunging, my nature much harms, And I cannot comply with your garden in forms : Will peaceably stick to our own education. Till flush'd with success, and of strength to be fear'd, * In allusion to the supremacy of Rome. gone; But now 'twas too late to bid him turn out, The master, who first the young brood had admitted, That would join to oppose the good man of the house. |