FABLE [39] XXXIX. The Father and Jupiter. John Gay Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T13818 Gay, John, 1685-1732. FABLES. By Mr. GAY. London Printed for J. Tonson and J. Watts, MDCCXXVII. 1727 pp. 130-133. [14],173,[1]p.: ill.; 4°.

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FABLE [ 39 ] XXXIX . The Father and Jupiter . The Man to Jove his suit preferr'd ; He begg'd a wife ; his prayer was heard . Jove wonder'd at his bold addressing . For how precarious is the blessing ! A wife he takes . And now for heirs Again he worries heav'n with prayers . Jove nods assent . Two hopeful boys And a fine girl reward his joys . Now more solicitous he grew , And set their future lives in view ; He saw that all respect and duty Were paid to wealth , to power , and beauty . Once more , he cries , accept my prayer , Make my lov'd progeny thy care : Let my first hope , my fav'rite boy , All fortune's richest gifts enjoy . My next with strong ambition fire , May favour teach him to aspire , 'Till he the step of power ascend , And courtiers to their idol bend . With ev'ry grace , with ev'ry charm My daughter's perfect features arm . If Heav'n approve , a father's blest . Jove smiles , and grants his full request . The first , a miser at the heart , Studious of ev'ry griping art , Heaps hoards on hoards with anxious pain , And all his life devotes to gain . He feels no joy , his cares encrease , He neither wakes nor sleeps in peace , In fancy'd want , ( a wretch compleat ) He starves , and yet he dares not eat . The next to sudden honours grew , The thriving art of courts he knew ; He reach'd the height of power and place , Then fell , the victim of disgrace . Beauty with early bloom supplies His daughter's cheek , and points her eyes : The vain coquette each suit disdains , And glories in her lovers pains . With age she fades , each lover flies , Contemn'd , forlorn , she pines and dies . When Jove the father's grief survey'd , And heard him Heav'n and Fate upbraid , Thus spoke the God . By outward show Men judge of happiness and woe : Shall ignorance of good and ill Dare to direct th' eternal will ? Seek virtue ; and of that possest , To Providence resign the rest .