"You do, though!" was the cruel beast's reply;

"And more, you

slandered me the

year gone by."

"How could I when I was not born?"

The lamb replied; "d'en now I suck my mother." "That it had been yourself I could have sworn,

At all events, your brother."

"I have no brother." 66
None of your kindred spare me.
Your dogs and shepherds scare me,
So I am told; I must avenge this sin."
And so, without another word, he bore
The lamb into the forests to devour,
With greedy maw,

One, then, of your kin.

And without form of law!

Fable 11.-The Man and his Reflection.

A MAN, whose love for self no rival brooked,
Thought in this world that he was handsomest,
And charged each mirror into which he looked
Of false reflection of him, and wrong test.
Thus more than pleased, he lived in deep mistake.
Anxious the man from self-conceit to break,

Officiously, by chance, was found a cure

Through those dumb counsellors our ladies use

Placed everywhere his senses to allure,

And satisfy his views.

Mirrors at home, mirrors in shops,

Miroirs aux poches des galants,

Miroirs aux ceintures des femmes.
Que fait notre Narcisse? il se va confiner
Aux lieux les plus cachés qu'il peut s'imaginer,
N'osant plus de miroirs éprouver l'aventure.
Mais un canal formé par une source pure,
Se trouve en ces lieux écartés :

Il s'y voit; il se fâche; et ses yeux irrités
Pensent apercevoir une chimère vaine.

Il fait tout ce qu'il peut pour éviter cette eau :
Mais quoi le canal est si beau,
Qu'il ne le quitte qu'avec peine.
On voit bien où je veux venir.

Je parle à tous ; et cette erreur extrême

Est un mal que chacun se plaît d'entretenir.

Notre âme, c'est cet homme amoureux de lui-même.

Tant de miroirs, ce sont les sottises d'autrui,

Miroirs, de nos défauts les peintres légitimes :
Et quant au canal, c'est celui

Que chacun sait, le livre des maximes.

Mirrors in pockets of delicate fops,

Mirrors from sashes of woman worn!

What can our Narcissus do in this sad plight? To get himself from such-like torments torn? Why he slinks out of sight,

In the loneliest spot ;

In the darkness of night

Bound never with mirrors to cast in his lot!
But it happed a canal was gliding by,

In the unknown spot where he sought to fly,
From a pure-sourced spring; in its clear smooth face
Himself again he seems to trace !
How the sight does displease

As his own face he sees!

He thinks a chimera has taken place!

He would fain rush away this canal to avoid,

He cannot-but why?

What has now met his eye,

His reflection he feels he has too much enjoyed.
Reader, you see what I want to imply !

To all does this error directly apply.

'Tis a fault which we each entertain.

The man who's so fond of himself is our soul;
All these mirrors, the faults of our neighbours,
Mirrors which justly show sins up as foul;
A legitimate part of their labours.

The canal represents what we all of us know,
The book of the maxims of Rochefoucauld,

Which maxims we hope were not written in vain.

Fable 12.-Le Dragon à plusieurs têtes, et le

Dragon à plusieurs queues.

UN envoyé du grand Seigneur

Préférait, dit l'histoire, un jour chez l'empereur
Les forces de son maître à celles de l'empire.
Un Allemand se mit à dire :
Notre prince a des dépendants

Qui de leur chef, sont si puissants,

Que chacun d'eux pourrait soudoyer une armée.
Le chiaous, homme de sens,

Lui dit je sais par renommée

Ce que chaque électeur peut de monde fournir :
Et cela me fait souvenir

D'une aventure étrange, et qui pourtant est vraie.
J'étais en un lieu sûr, lorsque je vis passer
Les cent têtes d'une hydre au travers d'une haie.
Mon sang commence à se glacer;

Et je crois qu'à moins on s'effraie.

Je n'en eus toutefois que la peur sans le mal :

Fable 12.-The Dragon with many Heads,

and the Dragon with many Tails.

AN envoy of the Grand Turk, we are told,
His master's army to the emperor's made bold,
Even in the latter's presence, to prefer.

On this a German did aver,

"Our prince's servants all as chieftains rise.
So powerful are they

That each, in his independent way,

An army of his own could subsidise!"
The Turk, a man of sense, replied,

"I know, at least by reputation,
What each elector can provide

In way of subsidy to help the nation,

And this reminds me, these dependants' pride

Of a strange but true narration.

"I was in some safe place, when I saw wedge
A dragon's hundred heads right through the hedge
Quite near me, and my blood began to freeze;