1804.
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Parables.

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Joy from that in type we borrow,
Which in life gives only sorrow.
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Joy.

A dragon-fly with beauteous wing
Is hov’ring o’er a silv’ry spring;
I watch its motions with delight,—­
Now dark its colours seem, now bright;
Chameleon-like appear, now blue,
Now red, and now of greenish hue. 
Would it would come still nearer me,
That I its tints might better see

It hovers, flutters, resting ne’er!

But hush! it settles on the mead. 
I have it safe now, I declare!

  And when its form I closely view,

’Tis of a sad and dingy blue—­
Such, Joy-Dissector, is thy case indeed

1767-9.
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Explanation of an antique Gem,

A young fig-tree its form lifts high

Within a beauteous garden;
And see, a goat is sitting by.

As if he were its warden.

But oh, Quirites, how one errs!

The tree is guarded badly;
For round the other side there whirrs

And hums a beetle madly.

The hero with his well-mail’d coat

Nibbles the branches tall so;
A mighty longing feels the goat

Gently to climb up also.

And so, my friends, ere long ye see

The tree all leafless standing;
It looks a type of misery,

Help of the gods demanding.

Then listen, ye ingenuous youth,

Who hold wise saws respected: 
From he-goat and from beetles-tooth

A tree should be protected!

1815.
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Cat-Pie.

While he is mark’d by vision clear

Who fathoms Nature’s treasures,
The man may follow, void of fear,

Who her proportions measures.

Though for one mortal, it is true,

These trades may both be fitted,
Yet, that the things themselves are two

Must always be admitted.

Once on a time there lived a cook

Whose skill was past disputing,
Who in his head a fancy took

To try his luck at shooting.

So, gun in hand, he sought a spot

Where stores of game were breeding,
And there ere long a cat he shot

That on young birds was feeding.

This cat he fancied was a hare,

Forming a judgment hasty,
So served it up for people’s fare,

Well-spiced and in a pasty.

Yet many a guest with wrath was fill’d

(All who had noses tender): 
The cat that’s by the sportsman kill’d

No cook a hare can render.

1810.
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Legend.

There lived in the desert a holy man

To whom a goat-footed Faun one day
Paid a visit, and thus began