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The Brass-Pot, and Stone-Jugg.

A FABLE.

1 A Brazen Pot, by scouring vext,
2 With Beef and Pudding still perplext,
3 Resolv'd t' attempt a nobler Life,
4 Urging the Jugg to share the Strife:
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5 Brother, quoth he, (Love to endear)
6 Why shou'd We Two continue here,
7 To serve and cook such homely Cheer?
8 Who tho' we move with awkward pace,
9 Your stony Bowels, and my Face,
10 Abroad can't miss of Wealth and Place.
11 Then let us instantly be going,
12 And see what in the World is Doing.
13 The bloated Jugg, supine and lazy,
14 Who made no Wish, but to be easy,
15 Nor, like it's Owner, e'er did think
16 Of ought, but to be fill'd with Drink;
17 Yet something mov'd by this fine Story,
18 And frothing higher with Vain-glory,
19 Reply'd, he never wanted Metal,
20 But had not Sides, like sturdy Kettle,
21 That in a Croud cou'd shove and bustle,
22 And to Preferment bear the Justle;
23 When the first Knock would break His Measures,
24 And stop his Rise to Place and Treasures.
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25 Sure (quoth the Pot) thy Scull is thicker,
26 Than ever was thy muddiest Liquor:
27 Go I not with thee, for thy Guard,
28 To take off Blows, and Dangers ward?
29 And hast thou never heard, that Cully
30 Is borne thro' all by daring Bully?
31 Your self (reply'd the Drink-conveigher)
32 May be my Ruin and Betrayer:
33 A Superiority you boast,
34 And dress the Meat, I but the Toast:
35 Than mine your Constitution's stronger,
36 And in Fatigues can hold out longer;
37 And shou'd one Bang from you be taken,
38 I into Nothing shou'd be shaken.
39 A d'autre cry'd the Pot in scorn,
40 Dost think, there's such a Villain born,
41 That, when he proffers Aid and Shelter,
42 Will rudely sall to Helter-Skelter?
43 No more, but follow to the Road,
44 Where Each now drags his pond'rous Load,
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45 And up the Hill were almost clamber'd,
46 When (may it ever be remember'd!)
47 Down rolls the Jugg, and after rattles
48 The most perfidious of all Kettles;
49 At every Molehill gives a Jump,
50 Nor rests, till by obdurate Thump,
51 The Pot of Stone, to shivers broken,
52 Sends each misguided Fool a Token:
53 To show them, by this fatal Test,
54 That Equal Company is best,
55 Where none Oppress, nor are Opprest.

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Title (in Source Edition): The Brass-Pot, and Stone-Jugg. A FABLE.
Themes: politics; social order; objects
Genres: fable
References: DMI 23848

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Winchilsea, Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of, 1661-1720. Miscellany poems, on several occasions: Written by the Right Honble Anne, Countess of Winchilsea. London: printed for J. B. and sold by Benj. Tooke, William Taylor, and James Round, 1713, pp. 55-58. [8],390p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T94539; Foxon pp. 274-5; OTA K076314.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Buxton 100].)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Anne Finch (née Kingsmill), countess of Winchilsea