The Dog that Carried his Master's Dinner

Our eyes are not made proof against the fair, / Nor hands against the touch of gold. / Fidelity is sadly rare, / And has been from the days of old. / Well taught his appetite to check, / And do full many a handy trick, / A dog was trotting, light and quick, / His master's dinner on his neck. / A temperate, self-denying dog was he, / More than, with such a load, he liked to be. / But still he was, while many such as we / Would not have scrupled to make free. / Strange that to dogs a virtue you may teach, / Which, do your best, to men you vainly preach! / This dog of ours, thus richly fitted out, / A mastiff met, who wish'd the meat, no doubt. / To get it was less easy than he thought: / The porter laid it down and fought. / Meantime some other dogs arrive: / Such dogs are always thick enough, / And, fearing neither kick nor cuff, / Upon the public thrive. / Our hero, thus o'ermatch'd and press'd, -- / The meat in danger manifest, -- / Is fain to share it with the rest; / And, looking very calm and wise, / 'No anger, gentlemen,' he cries: / 'My morsel will myself suffice; / The rest shall be your welcome prize. ' / With this, the first his charge to violate, / He snaps a mouthful from his freight. / Then follow mastiff, cur, and pup, / Till all is cleanly eaten up. / Not sparingly the party feasted, / And not a dog of all but tasted.

In some such manner men abuse / Of towns and states the revenues. / The sheriffs, aldermen, and mayor, / Come in for each a liberal share. / The strongest gives the rest example: / 'Tis sport to see with what a zest / They sweep and lick the public chest / Of all its funds, however ample. / If any commonweal's defender / Should dare to say a single word, / He's shown his scruples are absurd, / And finds it easy to surrender -- / Perhaps, to be the first offender.