[Page 283]

The Battle between the Rats and the Weazles.

1 IN dire Contest the Rats and Weazles met,
2 And Foot to Foot, and Point to Point was set:
3 An ancient Quarrel had such Hatred wrought,
4 That for Revenge, as for Renown, they fought.
[Page 284]
5 Now bloody was the Day, and hard the Strife,
6 Wherein bold Warriors lost neglected Life:
7 But as, some Errors still we must commit,
8 Nor Valour always ballanc'd is by Wit;
9 Among the Rats some Officers appear'd,
10 With lofty Plumage on their Foreheads rear'd,
11 Unthinking they, and ruin'd by their Pride:
12 For when the Weazels prov'd the stronger Side,
13 A gen'ral Rout befell, and a Retreat,
14 Was by the Vanquish'd now implor'd of Fate;
15 To slender Crannies all repair'd in haste,
16 Where easily the undress'd Vulgar past:
17 But when the Rats of Figure wou'd have fled,
18 So wide those branching Marks of Honour spread,
19 The Feather in the Cap was fatal to the Head.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): The Battle between the Rats and the Weazles.
Themes:
Genres: heroic couplet; fable

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Source edition

Winchilsea, Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of, 1661-1720. Miscellany poems, on several occasions: Written by the Right Honble Anne, Countess of Winchilsea. London: printed for J. B. and sold by Benj. Tooke, William Taylor, and James Round, 1713, pp. 283-284. [8],390p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T94539; Foxon pp. 274-5; OTA K076314.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Buxton 100].)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Anne Finch (née Kingsmill), countess of Winchilsea