27S SomervIIe*s [fourth 



So highly honour'd ; kind, fagacious brute ! 

 Not ev'n Minerva's wifdom cou'd conceal 

 Thy much-lov'd mafter from thy nicer fenfe. 

 Dying his lord heown'd, view'd him all o'er 

 With eager eyes, then clos'd thofe eye«i, well pleas'd* 



Of lefler ills the Mufe declines to fing, 

 Nor ftoops fo low ; of thefe each groom can tell 

 The proper remedy, ButO \ what care ! 

 What prudence can prevent madnefs, theworft 

 Of maladies ? Terrific peft ! that blafls 

 The huntfman's hopes, and defolation fpreads 

 Thro' all th' unpeopled kennel unreftrain'd. 

 More fatal than th' envenom'd viper's bite ; 

 Or that Apiilian fpider's pois'nous fting, 

 Heal'd by the pleafing antidote of founds. 



When Sirius reigns, and the fun's parching beams 

 Bake the dry gaping furface, vifit thou 

 Each ev'n and morn, with quick obfervant eye. 

 Thy panting pack. If, in dark fullen mood. 

 The glouting hound refufe his wonted meal. 

 Retiring to fome clofe, obfcure retreat, 

 Gloomy, difconfolate ; with fpeed remove 

 The poor infedious wretch, and in ilrong chains 

 Bind him fufpe6ted. Thus that dire difeafe, 

 Which art can'c cure, wife caution may prevent, 



But this negledted, foon expedt a change, 

 A dilmal change, confuiion, frenzy, death. 

 Or in fome dark recefs, the fenfelefs brute 

 Sits fadly pining: deep melancholy. 



And 



