The Battell betweene
Onely the Owle I dread, and eye-bright Cat,
Two cursed murdrers in the dismall night,
Whose monstrous jawes spare neither Mouce nor Rat,
But quicke devoure us without law or right:
Yet chiefly of the Cat I stand in feare,
Whose puling voyce I never love to heare;
A hel-bred Harpie, ranging round about,
Watching our comming in and going out.
Two cursed murdrers in the dismall night,
Whose monstrous jawes spare neither Mouce nor Rat,
But quicke devoure us without law or right:
Yet chiefly of the Cat I stand in feare,
Whose puling voyce I never love to heare;
A hel-bred Harpie, ranging round about,
Watching our comming in and going out.
[1]I tell thee Frog, I lothe to live on weeds,
Roots, coleworts, garlicke, or the foolish beet,
Or stinking mushroms, growing with the reedes:
Such vulgar diet for base Frogs is meet:
Meat fit for Frogs which haunt the watry Fen,
Not for the gallant Mouce that feeds with men.
And here abruptly ending in disdaine,
Thus smilingly the Frog replyde againe:
Roots, coleworts, garlicke, or the foolish beet,
Or stinking mushroms, growing with the reedes:
Such vulgar diet for base Frogs is meet:
Meat fit for Frogs which haunt the watry Fen,
Not for the gallant Mouce that feeds with men.
And here abruptly ending in disdaine,
Thus smilingly the Frog replyde againe:
Stoutly thou brag'st upon thy costly cheare,
Thy dainty dishes and thy kingly fare;
Much honour to thy belly thou dost beare,
Vaunting what pleasures fall unto thy share,
And what a warlike heart in thee doth dwell,
Which pale-fac'd feare of death could never quell:
"But reason shewes by daily practise found,
"That empty vessels yeeld the greatest sound.
Thy dainty dishes and thy kingly fare;
Much honour to thy belly thou dost beare,
Vaunting what pleasures fall unto thy share,
And what a warlike heart in thee doth dwell,
Which pale-fac'd feare of death could never quell:
"But reason shewes by daily practise found,
"That empty vessels yeeld the greatest sound.
- ↑ Satietas nauseam parit.
And
