Cole (1)

This book of fables bears an impressive title: Select Tales and Fables With Prudential Maxims and Other Little Lessons of Morality in Prose and Verse Equally Instructive and Entertaining for the Use of Both Sexes, published in 1780 with engravings by B. Cole, whom I assume is Benjamin Cole (1697-1783; more information at the British Museum). I used the better scan at Hathi Trust for snagging the illustrations.

The Bull and the Mastiff

A Mastiff (train'd to hostile Deeds)

Seiz'd a young Bull. The Monarch bleeds,

And roars aloud: Suspend the War;

Nor dare to urge my Rage too far.

Thy Rage, he answer'd, I defy;

I'm bred to conquer or to die.

Thy Folly then be on thy Head,

The Monarch cry'd, and struck him dead.

As Education rules our Will,

Our future Fortune's good or ill.

The Elephant and the Bookseller

An Elephant, in Days of Yore,

(So Pliny says) on Books would pore,

Visit the Shops, learn'd Volumes spread,

And make Remarks on what he read.

A Bookseller, who heard him speak

And with just Accent mouthe the Greek,

Addrest him thus: Exert your Skill

Against Mankind, I'll pay you well.

No, Sir, Let Man commence the Fray;

Envy's a sharper Spur than Pay.

The Wolf and the Lamb

As once a Wolf his Thirst allay'd

At a cool Spring, a Lamb essay'd

To taste at Distance of the Stream;

Nor thought it would Presumption seem.

But Isgrim with Resentment said,

Who's that disturbs the Fountain-head?

In vain the Lamb NOT GUILTY pleads,

And Right or Wrong that Instant bleeds.

Thus Tyrants keep the World in Awe:

Their boundless Will is all their Law.

The Fox and the Mask

The Fox an Actor's Vizard found,

And peer'd and felt, and turn'd it round;

Then threw it in Contempt away,

And thus old Phaedrus heard him say:

What noble Part can thou sustain,

Thou spurious Head, without a Brain?

The Daw and the Peacocks

A Daw, in pilfer'd Plumes array'd,

Imagin'd she a Figure made;

With Affectation toss'd her Head,

And straightway to the Peacocks fled:

But there th'Impostor play'd her Part,

So vainly, with so little Art,

That soon the Birds, with high Disdain,

Stripp'd her, and sent her Home again.

Thus when a Coxcomb apes the Great,

Derision and Contempt's his Fate.