The Ant

I.
Forbear, thou great good husband, little ant;
  A little respite from thy flood of sweat!
Thou, thine own horse and cart under this plant,
  Thy spacious tent, fan thy prodigious heat;
Down with thy double load of that one grain!
It is a granarie for all thy train.

                     II.
Cease, large example of wise thrift, awhile
  (For thy example is become our law),
And teach thy frowns a seasonable smile:
  So Cato sometimes the nak'd Florals saw.<67.2>
And thou, almighty foe, lay by thy sting,
Whilst thy unpay'd musicians, crickets, sing.

                    III.
LUCASTA, she that holy makes the day,
  And 'stills new life in fields of fueillemort,<67.3>
Hath back restor'd their verdure with one ray,
  And with her eye bid all to play and sport,
Ant, to work still! age will thee truant call;
And to save now, th'art worse than prodigal.

                     IV.
Austere and cynick! not one hour t' allow,
  To lose with pleasure, what thou gotst with pain;
But drive on sacred festivals thy plow,
  Tearing high-ways with thy ore-charged wain.
Not all thy life-time one poor minute live,
And thy ore-labour'd bulk with mirth relieve?

                     V.
Look up then, miserable ant, and spie
  Thy fatal foes, for breaking of their<67.4> law,
Hov'ring above thee: Madam MARGARET PIE:
  And her fierce servant, meagre Sir JOHN DAW:
Thy self and storehouse now they do store up,
And thy whole harvest too within their crop.

                     VI.
Thus we unt[h]rifty thrive within earth's tomb
  For some more rav'nous and ambitious jaw:
The grain in th' ant's, the ant<67.5> in the pie's womb,
  The pie in th' hawk's, the hawk<67.6> ith' eagle's maw.
So scattering to hord 'gainst a long day,
Thinking to save all, we cast all away.

<67.1> A writer in CENSURA LITERARIA, x. 292 (first edit.)—the late E. V. Utterson, Esq.—highly praises this little poem, and says that it is not unworthy of Cowper. I think it highly probable that the translation from Martial (lib. vi. Ep. 15), at the end of the present volume, was executed prior to the composition of these lines; and that the latter were suggested by the former. Compare the beautiful description of the ant in the PROVERBS OF SOLOMON:—"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.—PROVERBS, vi. 6-8.

In the poems of John Cleveland, 1669, is a piece entitled "Fuscara, or the Bee Errant," which is of a somewhat similar character, and is by no means a contemptible production, though spoiled by that LUES ALCHYMISTICA which disfigures so much of the poetry of Cleveland's time. The abilities of Cleveland as a writer seem to have been underrated by posterity, in proportion to the undue praise lavished upon him by his contemporaries.

<67.2> The Floralia, games antiently celebrated at Rome in honour of Flora.

<67.3> Here used for DEAD OR FADED VEGETATION, but strictly it means DEAD OR FADED LEAF. FILEMORT is another form of the same word.

<67.4> Original has HER.

<67.5> Original reads ANTS.

<67.6> Original reads HAWKS.

SONG.

                     I.
  Strive not, vain lover, to be fine;
  Thy silk's the silk-worm's, and not thine:
You lessen to a fly your mistriss' thought,
To think it may be in a cobweb caught.
  What, though her thin transparent lawn
  Thy heart in a strong net hath drawn:
Not all the arms the god of fire ere made
Can the soft bulwarks of nak'd love invade.

                     II.
  Be truly fine, then, and yourself dress
  In her fair soul's immac'late glass.
Then by reflection you may have the bliss
Perhaps to see what a true fineness is;
  When all your gawderies will fit
  Those only that are poor in wit.
She that a clinquant outside doth adore,
Dotes on a gilded statue and no more.