Besides, howe'er we love our neighbour,

And take his face's part, 'tis known
We ne'er so much in earnest labour,
As when the face attack'd's our own.

So, on they went-the crowd believing(As crowds well govern'd always do) Their rulers, too, themselves deceivingSo old the joke, they thought 'twas true.

But jokes, we know, if they too far go,
Must have an end-and so, one day,
Upon that coast there was a cargo
Of looking-glasses cast away.

'Twas said, some Radicals, somewhere,

Had laid their wicked heads together, And forc'd that ship to founder there,While some believe it was the weather.

However this might be, the freight
Was landed without fees or duties;

And from that hour historians date

The downfal of the Race of Beauties.

The looking-glasses got about,

And grew so common through the land, That scarce a tinker could walk out, Without a mirror in his hand.

Comparing faces, morning, noon,

And night, their constant occupation –
By dint of looking-glasses, soon,
They grew a most reflecting nation.

In vain the Court, aware of errors

In all the old, establish'd mazards, Prohibited the use of mirrors,

And tried to break them at all hazards :

In vain their laws might just as well
Have been waste paper on the shelves;

That fatal freight had broke the spell;

:

People had look'd — and knew themselves.

If chance a Duke, of birth sublime,

Presum'd upon his ancient face,

(Some calf-head, ugly from all time,) They popp'd a mirror to his Grace:

Just hinting, by that gentle sign,

How little Nature holds it true, That what is call'd an ancient line, Must be the line of Beauty too.

From Dukes' they pass'd to regal phizzes,
Compar'd them proudly with their own,
And cried, "How could such monstrous quizzes
"In Beauty's name usurp the throne!"-

They then wrote essays, pamphlets, books,
Upon Cosmetical Economy,

Which made the King try various looks,
But none improv'd his physiognomy.

And satires at the Court were levell❜d,
And small lampoons, so full of slynesses,
That soon, in short, they quite be-devil'd
Their Majesties and Royal Highnesses.

At length-but here I drop the veil,
To spare some loyal folks' sensations;
Besides, what follow'd is the tale

Of all such late-enlighten'd nations;

Of all to whom old Time discloses

A truth they should have sooner knownThat Kings have neither rights nor noses A whit diviner than their own.

FABLE III.

THE TORCH OF LIBERTY.

I SAW it all in Fancy's glass-
Herself, the fair, the wild magician,
Who bid this splendid day-dream pass,
And nam'd each gliding apparition.

'Twas like a torch-race-such as they Of Greece perform'd, in ages gone, When the fleet youths, in long array, Pass'd the bright torch triumphant on.

I saw th' expectant nations stand,

To catch the coming flame in turn ;

I saw, from ready hand to hand,

The clear, though struggling, glory burn.