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The Poetical Works of Joseph Addison, Gay's Fables, and Somerville's Chase: With Memoirs and Critical Dissertations
The Poetical Works of Joseph Addison Gay's Fables and Somerville's Chase With Memoirs and Critical Dissertations Author:Joseph Addison, John Gay, William Somerville General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1859 Original Publisher: J. Nichol Subjects: Literary Criticism / Poetry Poetry / General Poetry / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy th... more »e General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: GAT'S FABLES, INTRODUCTION. PAET I. THE SHEPHERD AND THE PHILOSOPHER. Remote from cities lived a swain, Unvexed with all the cares of gain; His head was silvered o'er with age, And long experience made him sage; In summer's heat, and winter's cold, He fed his flock and penned the fold; His hours in cheerful labour flew, Nor envy nor ambition knew: His wisdom and his honest fame Through all the country raised his name. 10 A deep philosopher (whose rules Of moral life were drawn from schools) The shepherd's homely cottage sought And thus explored his reach of thought : 'Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consumed the midnight oil? Hast thou old Greece and Rome surveyed, And the vast sense of Plato weighed? Hath Socrates thy soul refined, And hast thou fathomed Tully's mind? 20 Or like the wise Ulysses, thrown By various fates, on realms unknown, Hast thou through many cities strayed, 23 Their customs, laws, and manners weighed?' The shepherd modestly replied, ' I ne'er the paths of learning tried; Nor have I roamed in foreign parts To read mankind, their laws and arts; For man is practised in disguise, He cheats the most discerning eyes; so Who by that search shall wiser grow, When we ourselves can never know ? The little knowledge I have gained, Was all from simple nature drained; Hence my life's maxims took their rise, Hence grew my settled hate to vice. The daily labours of the bee Awake my soul t...« less