She was his only joy, and he her pride,
She, when he walk'd, went pecking by his fide
If, fpurning up the ground, he fprung a corn,
The tribute in his bill to her was borne.
But, oh! what joy it was to hear him fing
In fummer, when the day began to spring,
Stretching his neck, and warbling in his throat,
"Solus oum fola," then was all his note.

For in the days of yore, the birds of parts

Were bred to speak, and fing, and learn the liberal arts. It happ'd that, perching on the parlour-beam

Amidst his wives, he had a deadly dream,

Just at the dawn; and figh'd, and groan'd so fast,
As every breath he drew would be his laft.

Dame Partlet, ever nearest to his fide,

Heard all his piteous moan, and how he cry'd
For help from Gods and men and fore aghaft
She peck'd and pull'd, and waken'd him at last.
Dear heart, faid fhe, for love of Heaven, declare
Your pain, and make me partner of your care.
You groan, Sir, ever fince the morning-light,
As fomething had disturb'd your noble spright.
And madam, well I might, faid Chanticleer,
Never was fhrovetide cock in fuch a fear,
Ev'n ftill I run all over in a sweat,
My princely fenfes not recover'd yet.
For fuch a dream I had of dire portent,

That much I fear my body will be shent:
It bodes I fhall have wars and woeful ftrife,
Or in a loathfome dungeon end my life.

Know,

Know, dame, I dreamt within my troubled breast,
That in our yard I faw a murderous beast,
That on my body would have ma le arrest.
With waking eyes I ne'er beheld his fellow;
His colour was betwixt a red and yellow :
Tipp'd was his tail, and both his pricking ears
Were black; and much unlike his other hairs:
The rest, in shape a beagle's whelp throughout,
With broader forehead, and a sharper fnout :
Deep in his front were funk his glowing eyes,
That yet methinks I see him with furprize.
Reach out your hand, I drop with clammy sweat,
And lay it to my heart, and feel it beat.
Now fy for fhame, quoth fhe, by Heaven above,-
Thou haft for ever loft thy lady's love;

No woman can endure a recreant knight,
He must be bold by day, and free by night:
Our fex defires a husband or a friend,
Who can our honour and his own defend;
Wise, hardy, secret, liberal of his purse :
A fool is naufeous, but a coward worse :
No bragging coxcomb, yet no baffled knight.
How dar'ft thou talk of love, and dar'ft not fight?
How dar'ft thou tell thy dame thou art affear'd?
Haft thou no manly heart, and haft a beard?
If aught from fearful dreams may be divin'd,
They fignify a cock of dunghill kind.

}

All dreams, as in old Galen I have read,
Are from repletion and complexion bred;

From

From rifing fumes of indigested food,

And noxious humours that infect the blood:
And fure, my lord, if I can read aright,
These foolish fancies, you have had to-night,
Are certain fymptoms (in the canting ftile)
Of boiling choler, and abounding bile;
This yellow gall that in your ftomach floats,
Engenders all these visionary thoughts.
When choler overflows, then dreams are bred
Of flames, and all the family of red;

Red dragons, and red beafts, in sleep we view,
For humours are distinguish'd by their hue.
From hence we dream of wars and warlike things,
And wasps and hornets with their double wings.

Choler aduft congeals our blood with fear,
Then black bulls tofs us, and blacks devils tear.
In fanguine airy dreams aloft we bound,
With rheums oppress'd we fink in rivers drown'd.
More I could fay, but thus conclude my theme,
The dominating humour makes the dream.
Cato was in his time accounted wife,
And he condemns them all for empty lies.
Take my advice, and when we fly to ground,
With laxatives preferve your body found,
And purge the peccant humours that abound.
I fhould be loth to lay you on a bier;
And though there lives no 'pothecary near,
I dare for once prescribe for your disease,
And fave long bills, and a damn'd doctor's fees.

}

Two

Two fovereign herbs which I by practice know,
And both at hand (for in our yard they grow);
On peril of my foul shall rid you wholly

Of yellow choler, and of melancholy :
You must both purge and vomit; but obey,
And for the love of heaven make no delay.
Since hot and dry in your complexion join,
Beware the fun when in a vernal fign;
For when he mounts exalted in the ram,
If then he finds your body in a flame,
Replete with choler, I dare lay a groat,
A tertian ague is at least your lot.

Perhaps a fever (which the Gods forefend)
May bring your youth to fome untimely end:
And therefore, fir, as you desire to live,
A day or two before your laxative,

Take juft three worms, nor under nor above,
Because the Gods unequal numbers love.
Thefe digeftives prepare you for

your purge;

Of fumetery, centaury, and spurge,
And of ground-ivy add a leaf or two,
All which within our yard or garden grow.
Eat these, and be, my lord, of better cheer;
Your father's fon was never born to fear.

Madam, quoth he, grammercy for your care,
But Cato, whom you quoted, you may spare:
'Tis true, a wife and worthy man he feems,
And (as you fay) gave no belief to dreams :
But other men of more authority,

And, by th' immortal powers, as wife as he,

VOL. III.

L

Maintain,

Maintain, with founder fenfe, that dreams forebode;
For Homer plainly fays they come from God.
Nor Cato faid it: but fome modern fool

Impos'd in Cato's name on boys at school.

Believe me, madam, morning dreams forefhow
Th' events of things, and future weal or woe:
Some truths are not by reafon to be try'd,
But we have fure experience for our guide.
An ancient author, equal with the best,
Relates this tale of dreams among the reft.

Two friends or brothers, with devout intent,
On fome far pilgrimage together went.
It happen'd fo that, when the fun was down,
They just arriv'd by twilight at a town:
That day had been the baiting of a bull,
'Twas at a feaft, and every inn fo full,
That no void room in chamber, or on ground;
And but one forry bed was to be found:
And that fo little it would hold but one,

Though till this hour they never lay alone.

So were they fore'd to part; one ftay'd behind,
His fellow fought what lodging he could find:
At laft he found a ftall where oxen ftood,
And that he rather choose than lie abroad.
'Twas in a farther yard without a door;
But, for his eafe, well litter'd was the floor.

His fellow, who the narrow bed had kept,
Was weary, and without a rocker slept :
Supine he fnor'd; but in the dead of night,
He dreamt his friend appear'd before his fight,

Who,