HOME R'S

BATTLE OF THE FROGS, &c.

BOOK I.

To fill my rifing fong with facred fire,

Ye tuneful Nine, ye fweet celeftial quire! From Helicon's imbowering height repair, Attend my labours, and reward my prayer; The dreadful toils of raging Mars I write, The fprings of conteft, and the fields of fight; How threatening mice advanc'd with warlike grace, And wag'd dire combats with the croaking race. Not louder tumults fhook Olympus' towers, When earth-born giants dar'd immortal powers. Thefe equal acts an equal glory claim, And thus the Mufe records the tale of fame.

Once on a time, fatigued and out of breath, And just escap'd the ftretching claws of death, A gentle Mouse, whom cats pursued in vain, Fled fwift of foot across the neighbouring plain, Hung o'er a brink, his eager thirst to cool, And dipp'd his whiskers in the standing pool; When near a courteous Frog advanc'd his head; And from the waters, hoarse-refounding, faid, What art thou, stranger? what the line you boast? What chance has caft thee panting on our coaft? With strictest truth let all thy words agree, Nor let me find a faithlefs Moufe in thec.

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 guessing eyes.
Thus ceas'd the Frog, and thus the Moufe 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 fhe, and princefs 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, fince our natures nought in common know,
From what foundation can a friendship grow?
Thefe 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 cheeses, 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 braveft, and unknown to flight,
Though large to mine, the human form appear,
Not man himself can frite my foul with fear,
Sly to the bed with filent fteps I go,

Attempt his finger, or attack his toe,

And fix indented wounds with dextrous (kill,
Sleeping he feels, and only feems to feel.
Yet have we foes which direful dangers caufe,
Grim owls with talons arm'd, and cats with claws,
And that falfe trap, the den of filent fate,

Where death his ambush plants around the bait :
All dreaded these, and dreadful o'er the reft
The potent warriors of the tabby veft,
If to the dark we fly, the dark they trace,
And rend our heroes of the nibbling race,
But me, nor ftalks nor waterish herbs delight,
Nor can the crimson radish charm my fight,
The lake-refounding Frogs felected fare,
Which not a Mouse of any taste 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, stranger, we can boast of bounteous Jove :
We sport in water, or we dance on land,
And, born amphibious, food from both command.

But truft thyself where wonders ask thy view,
And fafely tempt those feas, I'll bear thee through:
Afcend my shoulders, firmly keep thy seat,

And reach my marshy court, and feast in state.
He faid, and bent his back; with nimble bound
Leaps the light Mouse, and elafps his arms around,
Then wondering floats, and fees with glad furvey
The winding banks resembling ports at sea.
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 unaccustom`d fears;
He fighs, and, chill'd with danger, longs for fhore:
His tail extended forms a fruitlefs 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 fea,
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 last, may thus the Frog support
My trembling limbs to reach his ample court!
As thus he forrows, death ambiguous grows,
Lo! from the deep a Water-Hydra rose ;
He rolls his fanguin'd eyes, his bofom heaves,
And darts with active rage along the waves.
Confus'd the monarch fees his hifling foe,
And dives, to shun the fable fates below.

For

Forgetful Frog! the friend thy fhoulders bore,
Unskill'd in swimming, floats remote from shore.
He grafps with fruitless 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 vest,

And thus the prince his dying rage expreft :

Nor thou, that fling'ft me floundering from thy back,
As from hard rocks rebounds the shattering wrack,
Nor thou shalt 'fcape thy due, perfidious king!
Purfued by, vengeance on the swifteft 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 fearching eyes:
Ye Mice, ye Mice, my great avengers rife!
This faid, he fighing gafp'd, and gafping dy'd,
His death the young Lychopynax espy'd,

As on the flowery brink he pass'd the day,

Bafk'd in the beams, and loiter'd life away,

Loud fhrieks the Moufe, his fhrieks the hores repeats
The nibbling nation learn their hero's fate :

Grief, difmal grief enfues; deep murmurs found,

And fhriller 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,
Plycarpax' father, father now no more!

For poor Pfycarpax lies remote from shore;