MERCURY
and
the
ELEPHANT
.
A
Prefatory
FABLE
.
AS
Merc'ry
travell'd
thro'
a
Wood
,
(
Whose
Errands
are
more
Fleet
than
Good
)
An
Elephant
before
him
lay
,
That
much
encumber'd
had
the
Way
:
The
Messenger
,
who's
still
in
haste
,
Wou'd
fain
have
bow'd
,
and
so
have
past
;
When
up
arose
th'
unweildy
Brute
,
And
wou'd
repeat
a
late
Dispute
,
In
which
(
he
said
)
he'd
gain'd
the
Prize
From
a
wild
Boar
of
monstrous
Size
:
But
Fame
(
quoth
he
)
with
all
her
Tongues
,
Who
Lawyers
,
Ladies
,
Soldiers
wrongs
,
Has
,
to
my
Disadvantage
,
told
An
Action
throughly
Bright
and
Bold
;
Has
said
,
that
I
foul
Play
had
us'd
,
And
with
my
Weight
th'
Opposer
bruis'd
;
Had
laid
my
Trunk
about
his
Brawn
,
Before
his
Tushes
cou'd
be
drawn
;
Had
stunn'd
him
with
a
hideous
Roar
,
And
twenty-thousand
Scandals
more
:
But
I
defy
the
Talk
of
Men
,
Or
Voice
of
Brutes
in
ev'ry
Den
;
Th'
impartial
Skies
are
all
my
Care
,
And
how
it
stands
Recorded
there
.
Amongst
you
Gods
,
pray
,
What
is
thought
?
Quoth
Mercury
—
Then
have
you
Fought
!
Solicitous
thus
shou'd
I
be
For
what's
said
of
my
Verse
and
Me
;
Or
shou'd
my
Friends
Excuses
frame
,
And
beg
the
Criticks
not
to
blame
(
Since
from
a
Female
Hand
it
came
)
Defects
in
Judgment
,
or
in
Wit
;
They'd
but
reply
—
Then
has
she
Writ
!
Our
Vanity
we
more
betray
,
In
asking
what
the
World
will
say
,
Than
if
,
in
trivial
Things
like
these
,
We
wait
on
the
Event
with
ease
;
Nor
make
long
Prefaces
,
to
show
What
Men
are
not
concern'd
to
know
:
For
still
untouch'd
how
we
succeed
,
'Tis
for
themselves
,
not
us
,
they
Read
;
Whilst
that
proceeding
to
requite
,
We
own
(
who
in
the
Muse
delight
)
'Tis
for
our
Selves
,
not
them
,
we
Write
.
Betray'd
by
Solitude
to
try
Amusements
,
which
the
Prosp'rous
fly
;
And
only
to
the
Press
repair
,
To
six
our
scatter'd
Papers
there
;
Tho'
whilst
our
Labours
are
preserv'd
,
The
Printers
may
,
indeed
,
be
starv'd
.