Classic Poem

A YOUNGLING Fox, by hounds pursu'd,
With trembling heart his danger view'd;
At last he scap'd the noisy pack,
Doubled, and trac'd his footsteps back;
The scent was lost; but yet his foes
Follow'd by chance, and follow'd close —
Too close indeed! Amidst the train
He stood, and found resistance vain.
Just then, when flight he knew must fail,
He made his cunning arts avail.
Ere of their prey they rightly deem'd,
A dog among the dogs he seem'd;
Now Reynard frisks in wanton play,
Then joins the chace as well as they;
Deceiv'd, they take him for a friend,
And all pursuit is at end.
The huntsman well the stranger knows,
And to his lord the wonder shows:
The lord resolves his life to spare,
And keeps him with domestic care.
Well hous'd and fed the Fox remain'd,
Yet thought his liberty restrain'd;
So on a time astray he went,
On theft and slaughter fully bent;
A neighb'ring farmer's goose he seiz'd,
And with his luck was highly pleas'd:
But bore in vain the bird away,
For soon he lost the feather'd prey,
By men and dogs most closely prest,
Too late his roguery stands confest:
He yields to the unequal strife,
His tricks no more can save his life,
Caught in the theft he yields his prize,
And justly as a felon dies.