Fable II. the Nile and the Sea

Life a dependant chain appears, With links to join its sev'ral spheres; Shew judging reason when you will, One plac'd on high, there's higher still; 'Till strain'd progression mounts the sky, And melts in vast infinity.

Pride, like a prism, such tints reveals As Wisdom's naked eye conceals; How idly vain then mortal man, Whose fleeting life is but a span, Tho' rais'd on Fortune's boldest wing, A rich, a brave, a happy king, Who thinks, with self-sufficient spirit, All centers in his boundless merit; Who, void of gratitude and sense, Disclaims parental PROVIDENCE; Whence all above, and all below, Wealth, happiness, and courage flow?

The king of rivers, sev'n-mouth NILE, Which yearly floods the neighbouring soil; Which loads with grain the teeming earth, And gives a thousand harvests birth— Once, like a human Coxcomb, thought His pow'r, alone, those blessings wrought— What is, he cried, the thirsty Sea In competition set with me? My springs, my streams support its tide, Whose mighty gulph must, unsupplied, Turn to a wild, and barren shore; The boasting watry world no more.

To scatter blessings round, I reign, And fertilize a vast domain; Which wisely annual homage pays, In fit returns of grateful praise; While yonder congregated flood Does none, or very little good— And yet its haughty billows rise, As if to brave th' unheeding skies. What stoic here could check a smile, To hear the SEA compar'd with NILE?

The self-sufficient river spoke, In sounds, like clouds of thunder broke, 'Till ev'n its CROCODILES began To vie with huge LEVIATHAN; And thought they must in reason be Of greater size and quality.

Old OCEAN heard, and tho' disdain Had best repaid a speech so vain; He chose, with condescension mild, Thus to rebuke his eldest child.

Restrain, presuming brook, thy pride; Though thou, and all thy springs, were dry'd, Thy petty tribute hardly miss'd, In glory I should still exist.

Who gives the SUN'S exhaling beams The moisture to supply thy streams? Who gives the fleecy clouds their rain, To sprinkle thirsty earth again? Thou but return'st what I have lent, To form a fruitful continent.

Rais'd in thy own opinion high, Thou think'st not, that beyond the sky There dwells a Pow'r, a gen'ral source, Who gave the elements their course; Who gave the lower world its birth, Of water framing it, and earth; Who fix'd to each the proper bound, And mantled them with Aether round; Who mark'd the glorious Sun his way, Who bid it shine, and give the day; Who spangled o'er with gems of light, The mild cerulean robe of night; Who gave, in his omnipotence, To beasts their strength, to man his sense; Who cloath'd the birds with plumed grace, Who fishes form'd a scaly race; Who fix'd the seasons varying round, With diff'rent fruits, and emblems crown'd; The eye-enliv'ning, pregnant Spring, With vegetation on its wing; The bridegroom Summer deck'd with flow'rs, And blooming Nature's strongest pow'rs; Autumn in golden honours clad, The peasant's humble hopes to glad; Hoar Winter, with its chilly train Of earth-refreshing frosts and rain.

'Tis PROVIDENCE which all bestows; No atom self-existent grows; 'Twas PROVIDENCE created me, And hence was form'd a source for thee; 'Tis PROVIDENCE that gives again Thy borrow'd waters to the main; 'Tis PROVIDENCE suspends them high, Condens'd in clouds 'twixt earth and sky; 'Tis PROVIDENCE, with boundless pow'rs, That melts them to propitious show'rs; From PROVIDENCE all blessings flow, Which animated beings know; 'Tis PROVIDENCE which reigns thro' all; Which guides, and shields this earthly ball.

Content with thy exalted state, Learn wisdom—and be truly great— Remember, thy majestic flood Th' ETERNAL gave for others good; Not for thyself alone design'd, But to enrich and bless mankind.—

Perform, on Nature's stage, thy part, Well satisfied with what thou art; Wisely support thy rank and spirit, By aiming at superior merit; Nor, vainly seeking higher stile, In claiming more, be less than NILE; Like human fools who with such care Build baseless castles in the air; Which rise at magic Folly's call, And with the breath of Reason fall.

Thus venerable OCEAN said— And sunk beneath the waves his head.