The Sun.
London, England, 1818-05-20 00:00:00

POETRY.

Atheuae qunm florerent trquis legibus,
Procitx libertas civitateni miscuit
Frenurnque sulvit prist inutn iicentia.

Dip; if qnti will, in gall your wrath•pens,
136 t what hare I to do with Athens ?
( tits -- ia my motto—
No more in truth thah daillest grotto
With the bright Stiti—•such is thy irtat--.
But I must un—so pray he (Pet.

Long Athens tbr©t•e, by juit laU,s tisrb'd
Till wanton freedom peace disturb'd;
Let licence loose and 'vizi% to action;
Hence faction striving against faction,
The fort was seiz'd by bold
(0 ! Britons. let make wiser this fate ui).
And when the Athenians loomed theft. slatreiY,
Not from his cruelty or knavery,
But that the unwonted load they hated,
&Cur this fable then related.

The frogs who free their marshes rove,
Loud for a King petition Jove ;
A King to rule them in their hog.
Jove smiles, and studs them down a log.
Scar'd by its splash upon the flood,
The timid race plung'd deep in mud.
Lung lie; till one pops up his head,
Explores the King, and, freed from dread,
Calls all, who swimming quick, up hop ;
On the scorn'd log their rile filth drop,
And.then to ask again they send
That Jove their King would change or mend.

A snake at his command soon follows,
Who quick the frogs by dozens swallows;
In vain they strive to fly the death,
Fear stops at once their voice and breath.
By stealth they Als:ucuitv send on high
Begging Jove's aid; this ilove'i reply :
" Since you your good have cast away,
" Bear now your bad as best you may."
" 0! men of Athens," &sue cries,
" Leara froth their folly to be wise."
And, men of England, 1 repeat,
Taught by their fate, be you discreet:

Although aware my fabled frogs
May lead to jokes on good King Loos;
That you may say, with aspect currish,
Jost Laws, not Kings, matte Athens flourish;
Alay tell me too the tale was told,
Nut rule by Monarchs to uphold,
But to wake men endure a curse,.
From dread lest change iniglit bring them worse;
All this allow'd as clear. and plain,
Yet still my table I retain;
And do it for this simple cause,
That we are bless'd with equal laws; •
Laws just as we ourselves can make them,
And Kings who would not, dare not, break them.
Despising then these weak objections,
I now go on to make reflections,
And point my fable's application
,To what took place in neighbour nation.
'Tis done that we may thence take warning,
And not in spite, Contempt, or scorning
Besides, both plan it suits awl metre,
Front frog to turn we to frog cater.

The Canis long in France had reign'd;
The people of some wrongs complaited,
Which had in lapse of aies grown.
One of these CAPETS fill d the throne
About the time of which I speak;
The factious spirits call'd him weak;
Truth is, mild, just, averse from blood,
And srz•king but his country's good, •
Ile would have heard them and redress'd t
But they with devils as possess'd,
And by some factious monsters led,
With guillotine took oft his-bead:
Then, once gay Frenchmen, steel'd to pity,
Because aband of fierce banditti;
Regarding neither sex nor age,
They massacred with brutal rage;
Accurst by all, to all a curse,
Than former worst they were far worse.
A thousand snakes, nut one, arose
To heighten ten-fold former woes;
And when they long around had spread
Want, desulal ion, death, and dread,
There came, at Despotism's call,
A Snake which far outvenom'd all;
A hydra vast, which rear'd his crest
And quickly swaflow'd all the rest.
So-use time at home he tir'd his jaw,
Then look'd abroad to fill his maw;
Destruction, famine, and dismay,
The dread attendants of his way ; '
He dragg'd along his filthy slime
Until he rcach'd a colder clime ;
There, numb'd with frost, with blood all stain'd,
lie was attack'd, o'erpower'd, and chain'd.

Such were the modern Gallic crimes,
And such were ours of older times;
Thu' nut of quite so black a dye;
For Citomweit., when he strove on high
To climb, did not such deeds of fear
As dark MARAT and RoaESP. LIME,
Or BVONAPARTE, his compeer.
Yet both times slim to demonstration
The horrors of mob-reformatitni;
That when the people break their tether,
And in mad meetings Nock together,
Awhile they rage and piay the savage,
Rob, plunder, murder, burn and ravage,
Till one 11::ilth, rabble rout,
The other halt quite wearied out, .
And like a restive ox, once broke,
Ceases to gibe and seeks the yoke.
Long in sad slavery they, groan;
At last their tyrants overthrown,
They wisdom by experience learn,
And to their former Kings return.
Such is the race they always run,—
Thus England did, thus France kits done.

Yet you who know what ills arise
Whene'er the mob rebellion tries,
By sophistry and specious reason,
Would urge the people on to treason;
Yet you who know, from Saxon times
Tbro' a long train of wars and crimes,
They never were so free as now,
No—not when acorns from the bough
They eat as food—would still persuade
That they are slaves oppress'd, betray'd;
You know, althu' a east taxation
Now presses hard upon the nation,
That commerce, arts, domestic. trade,
Have more than counter-progress made,
And that the people never were
• -Paid, taught, fed, dress'd as now theyare;
Yon know, if we old times examine,
That each tenth year was one of famine;
Yon know the plague, a; often sprvad,
!own and country with their dead;
Know Barons wag'il with Barons battle;
Know Serfs were bought and sold like cattle ;
You know too many a feudal chief,
Seting at nought his vassal's grief,
Might make the wife from church just led,
Seek his before her husband's tied.
At this how now would Hiltons frown;
What would they'do? Why knock hint down.
Nor need they dread the mao of might,
For all would shouting err---•'twas right.
Yet Britons, says your traitorous pen,
Are not now bless'd or free RS then ;
Most strange delusive doctrine this!
Result of factious prejudice !
•,,w We arc obliged to defer the conclusion of tibis Epistle
(o-morrow.

SEI'ESTH EPISTLE to the Elilßt7llGl3- REVIE;VERS