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MODERN FABLES
In other folks we faults can spy,
And blame the mote that dims their eye;
Each little speck and blemish find:—
To our own grosser errors blind.
(John Gay.)
THE BOY AND THE RAINBOW
ONE evening, as a simple Swain
His flocks attended on the plain,
The shining Bow he chanced to spy
Which warns us when a shower is nigh.
With brightest rays it seemed to glow;
Its distance, eighty yards or so.
This bumpkin had, it seems, been told
The story of the Cup of Gold,
Which, Fame reports, is to be found
Just where the Rainbow meets the ground.
He therefore felt a sudden itch
To seize the goblet and be rich;
Hoping, yet hopes are oft but vain,
No more to toil through wind and rain,
But sit indulging by the fire,
Midst ease and plenty like a Squire.
