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If worthy, friendship, proffer'd friendship take,
And entering view the pleasurable lake;
Range o'er my palace, in my bounty share,
And glad return from hofpitable fare :

This filver realm extends beneath my fway,
And me, their monarch, all its Frogs obey.
Great Phyfignathus I, from Peleus' race,
Begot in fair Hydromede's embrace,

Where, by the nuptial bank that paints his fide,
The swift Eridanus delights to glide.

Thee too, thy form, thy ftrength, and port, proclaim
A fcepter'd king; a fon of martial fame;

Then trace thy line, and aid my gueffing eyes.
Thus ceased the Frog, and thus the Mouse replies.
Known to the gods, the men, the birds that fly
Through wild expanfes of the midway sky,
My name refounds; and if unknown to thee,
The foul of great Pfycarpax lives in me.
Of brave Troxartas line, whofe fleeky down
In love comprefs'd Lychomile the brown.
My mother she, and princess of the plains
Where-e'er her father Pternotractas reigns.
Born where a cabbin lifts its airy shed,

With figs, with nuts, with vary'd dainties fed.
But, finte our natures nought in common know,
From what foundation can a friendship grow?
These curling waters o'er thy palace roll;
But man's high food fupports my princely foul:
In vain the circled loaves attempt to lye
Conceal'd in flaskets from my curious eye.

In vain the tripe that boasts the whitest hue,
In vain the gilded bacon fhuns my view,
In vain the cheefes, offspring of the pail,
Or honey'd cakes, which gods themselves regale,
And as in arts I fhine, in arms I fight,

Mix'd with the bravest, and unknown to flight,
Though large to mine, the human form appear,
Not man himself can fmite my foul with fear,
Sly to the bed with filent steps I go,
Attempt his finger, or attack his toe,
And fix indented wounds with dextrous skill,
Sleeping he feels, and only seems to feel.
Yet have we foes which direful dangers caufe,
Grim owls with talons arm'd, and cats with claws,
And that falle trap, the den of filent fate,

Where death his ambush plants around the bait:
All dreaded thefe, and dreadful o'er the reft
The potent warriors of the tabby vest,
If to the dark we fly, the dark they trace,
And rend our heroes of the nibbling race,
But me, nor stalks nor waterish herbs delight,
Nor can the crimson radifh charm my fight,
The lake-refounding Frogs selected fare,
Which not a Moufe of any tafte can bear.

As thus the downy prince his mind expreft,
His answer thus the croaking king addrest:

Thy words luxuriant on thy dainties rove,
And, ftranger, we can boast of bounteous Jove :
We sport in water, or we dance on land,
And, born amphibious, food from both command.

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But truft thyself where wonders ask thy view,

And fafely tempt thofe feas, I'll bear thee through:
Afcend my fhoulders, firmly keep thy feat,

And reach my marshy court, and feaft in ftate.
He faid, and bent his back; with nimble bound
Leaps the light Mouse, and clafps his arms around,
Then wondering floats, and fees with glad furvey
The winding banks refembling ports at fea.
But when aloft the curling water rides,
And wets with azure wave his downy fides,
His thoughts grow confcious of approaching woe,
His idle tears with vain repentance flow,

His locks he rends, his trembling feet he rears,
Thick beats his heart with unaccuftora'd fears;
He fighs, and, chill'd with danger, longs for fhore:
His tail extended forms a fruitless oar,

Half drench'd in liquid death his prayers he fpake,
And thus bemoan'd him from the dreadful lake :
So pafs'd Europa through the rapid sea,
Trembling and fainting all the venturous way.;
With oary feet the bull triumphant rode,
And fafe in Crete depos'd his lovely load.
Ah, fafe at laft, may thus the Frog fupport
My trembling limbs to reach his ample court!
As thus he forrows, death ambiguous grows,
Lo! from the deep a Water-Hydra rofe;
He rolls his fanguin'd eyes, his bofom heaves,
And darts with active rage along the waves.
Confus'd the monarch fees his hiffing foe,
And dives, to fhun the fable fates below.

For

Forgetful Frog! the friend thy fhoulders bore,
Unskill'd in swimming, floats remote from fhore.
He grafps with fruitlefs hands to find relief,
Supinely falls, and grinds his teeth with grief;
Plunging he finks, and ftruggling mounts again,
And finks, and strives, but strives with fate in vain.
The weighty moisture clogs his hairy veft,

And thus the prince his dying rage exprest:

Nor thou, that fling'st me floundering from thy back, As from hard rocks rebounds the shattering wrack, Nor thou fhalt 'fcape thy due, perfidious king! Purfued by vengeance on the swiftest wing! At land thy ftrength could never equal mine, At fea to conquer, and by craft, was thine. But heaven has Gods, and Gods have searching eyes: Ye Mice, ye Mice, my great avengers rife ! This faid, he fighing gafp'd, and gasping dy'd, His death the young Lychopynax efpy'd, As on the flowery brink he pass'd the day, Bask'd in the beams, and loiter'd life away,

Loud fhrieks the Mouse, his fhrieks the fhores repeat; The nibbling nation learn their hero's fate :

Grief, difmal grief enfues; deep murmurs found,

And thriller fury fills the deafen'd ground.

From lodge to lodge, the facred heralds run,

To fix their council with the rifing fun;

Where great Troxartas crown'd in glory reigns, And winds his lengthening court beneath the plains, Pfycarpax' father, father now no more!

For poor Pfycarpax lies remote from shore;

Supine he lies! the filent waters ftand,
And no kind billow wafts the dead to land!

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WHEN rofy-finger'd. morn had ting'd the clouds,

Around their Monarch-mouse the nation crouds,

Slow rofe the fovereign, heav'd his anxious breast,
And thus the council, fill'd with rage, addreft:
For loft Pfycarpax much my foul endures,
"T is mine the private grief, the public yours.
Three warlike fons adorn'd my nuptial bed,
Three fons, alas, before their father dead!
Our eldest perish'd by the ravening cat,
As near my court the prince unheedful sat.
Our next, an engine fraught with danger drew,
The portal gap'd, the bait was hung in view,
Dire arts affift the trap, the fates decoy,
And men unpitying kill'd my gallant boy!
The laft, his country's hope, his parent's pride,
Plung'd in the lake by Phyfignathus, dy'd;
Roufe all to war, my friends! avenge the deed;
And bleed that monarch, and his nation bleed.
His words in every breaft infpir'd alarms,
And careful Mars fupply'd their hoft with arms.
In verdant hulls defpoil'd of all their beans,
The bufkin'd warriors stalk'd along the plains:
Quills aptly bound their bracing corfelet made,
Fac'd with the plunder of a cat they flay'd:

The

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