FABLE II. THE LOOKING-GLASSES. PROEM. WHERE Kings have been by mob-elections Some, liking monarchs large and plumpy, Have chos'n their Sovereigns by the weight;Some wish'd them tall, some thought your dumpy, Dutch-built, the true Legitimate.* The Easterns in a Prince, 'tis said, So that their Kings had not red hair- *The Goths had a law to choose always a short, thick man for their King. -MUNSTER, Cosmog. lib. iii. p. 164. "In a Prince a jolter-head is invaluable." Oriental Field Sports. A thousand more such illustrations Touching th' acquir'd or natural right Which some men have to rule their fellows, There's one, which I shall here recite: FABLE. There was a land—to name the place What was the cut legitimate Of these great persons' chins and noses, By right of which they rul'd the state, No history I have seen discloses. But so it was-a settled case Some Act of Parliament, pass'd snugly, Had voted them a beauteous race, And all their faithful subjects ugly. As rank, indeed, stood high or low, Of course, if any knave but hinted That the King's nose was turn'd awry, Or that the Queen (God bless her!) squintedThe judges doom'd that knave to die. But rarely things like this occurr'd, The people to their King were duteous, And took it, on his Royal word, That they were frights, and He was beauteous. The cause whereof, among all classes, Had never yet seen looking-glasses, And, therefore, did not know themselves. Sometimes, indeed, their neighbours' faces Might strike them as more full of reason, More fresh than those in certain places But, Lord, the very thought was treason! Besides, howe'er we love our neighbour, And take his face's part, 'tis known 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, '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 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, 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 That fatal freight had broke the spell; If chance a Duke, of birth sublime, |