The Three Mice

A SHEPHERD , 'midst the smiles of May,
When all was chearful, blithe, and gay,
Lay languid stretch'd beside the path;
His nerveless hand had drop'd his staff;
His hair was floating to the wind,
Wild as the thoughts within his mind.
        A Hermit pass'd--"Say, friend, what grief?
"Let not reserve preclude relief."
        "There's none for me," reply'd the Swain:
"Vainetta's false, and mocks my pain."

        "That," said the Hermit, "straight implies,
"Nay, proves she's neither good nor wise.
"Your gentle soul, if form'd for love,
"Should find an object far above
"One who, from vanity, disdain
"Receiving pleasure, gives back pain.
"Then cease your fond, your fruitless care,
"And seek some kind, more gentle fair."
        "This to prove am I unable--
"Elucidate it by a fable."
        A DORMOUSE wrapp'd in cotton, lay
In painted box, and slept away
Her time, till hunger's grand appeal
Made her comply with ready zeal;
Slumber from her eyes was shaken,
By alluring bits of bacon.
Invigorated by her meal,
She ventured from her box to steal,

Just o'er the carpet's rim to creep,
Before she gave herself to sleep.
Her skin was as the ermine white;
No wonder then it should delight
A tawny Mouse, whose sparkling eye
Survey'd her just while running by:
Forth from his hiding he crept out,
And chas'd the little thing about,
Practis'd all art, that they might meet
Just at the brink of his retreat,
Where, granting Fortune stood his friend,
They both might luckily descend.
Whether some sylph, who guards the fair,
As many tell you some there are,
Or whether Coyness stood her friend,
As all its advocates pretend,
She safely gained the painted box,
As cunning as a little fox.
        Another female in the house
Watch'd about strict the tawny Mouse;

And witnessing the flirting scene,
In wrath cried out-- "What can he mean?"
"Such an insipid thing as her,
"He cannot possibly prefer;
"Sleep engrossing half her life--
"A pretty creature for a wife!
"I'll go direct, and let him know
"The folly of his thinking so."
To seek him, therefore, forth she went,
Convinc'd him to her heart's content;
For soon united, both declar'd
Two Mice were never better pair'd.

MORAL.

True happiness we often find
Not in the object, but the mind;
And missing that for which we strove,
Doth sometimes happiness improve.
Then ardent seek not to obtain
The wish, wherein may lurk a pain.

Original fables by a Lady

Printed by W. Calvert, Shire Lane, Lincoln's Inn, for B. Crosby and Co. London, 1810

To your Royal Highness the following Fables are dedicated, with a wish that in an interval of leisure some transient amusement may be obtained.