No. XL.

DREAM S.

DRYDEN.

From the Tale of "The Cock and the Fox.”

Two friends or brothers, with devout intent,
On fome far pilgrimage together went.
It happen'd fo that, when the fun was down,
They just arrived by twilight at a town:
That day had been the baiting of a bull,
"Twas at a feaft, and every inn fo full,
That no void room in chamber, or on ground,
And but one forry bed was to be found:
And that fo little it would hold but one,
Though till this hour they never lay alone.

So were they forced to part: one stay'd behind, His fellow fought what lodging he could find : At laft he found a ftail where oxen stood, And that he rather chofe than lie abroad.

Twas in a farther yard without a door;
But, for his eafe, well litter'd was the floor.

His fellow, who the narrow bed had kept,
Was weary, and without a rocker slept :
Supine he fnored; but in the dead of night,
He dreamt his friend appear'd before his fight,
Who, with his ghaftly look, and doleful cry,
Said,—“ Help me, brother, or this night I die :
"Arife and help, before all help be vain,

Or in an ox's ftall I fhall be flain."
Roufed from his reft, he waken'd in a start,
Shivering with horrour, and with aching heart;
At length to cure himself by reason tries;

-"'Tis but a dream, and what are dreams but lies?"-
So thinking, changed his fide, and closed his eyes.
His dream returns; his friend appears again:

"The murderers come; now help, or I am flain :""Twas but a vifion ftill, and visions are but vain. He dreamt the third: but now his friend appear'd Pale, naked, pierced with wounds, with blood befmear'd Thrice warn'd,-" Awake," faid he, "relief is late, "The deed is done; but thou revenge my fate : « Tardy of aid, unfeal thy heavy eyes, "Awake, and with the dawning day arise: "Take to the western gate thy ready way, "For by that paffage they my corpse convey: "My corpfe is in a tumbril laid, among

"The filth and ordure, and inclosed with dung:

That

"That cart arreft, and raise a common cry; "For facred hunger of my gold, I die ;"Then fhew'd his grifly wound; and last he drew A piteous figh, and took a long adieu. The frighted friend arofe by break of day, And found the stall where late his fellow lay. Then of his impious hoft inquiring more, Was anfwer'd that his gueft was gone before: "Muttering, he went," said he, "by morning light, "And much complain'd of his ill reft by night." This raised fufpicion in the pilgrim's mind; Because all hofts are of an evil kind;

And oft, to share the fpoils, with robbers join'd.

}

His dream confirm'd his thought; with troubled look, Straight to the western gate his way he took; There, as his dream foretold, a cart he found, That carried compoft forth to dung the ground. This, when the pilgrim faw, he ftretch'd his throat, And cried out" murder !"—with a yelling note. My murder'd fellow in this cart lies dead, Vengeance and justice on the villain's head." Ye magiftrates, who facred laws dispense, On you I call, to punish this offence.

The word thus given, within a little space,
The mob came roaring out, and throng'd the place;
All in a trice they caft the cart to ground,

And in the dung the murder'd body found;

Though breathlefs, warm, and reeking, from the wound.

Good

Good heaven, whofe darling attribute, we find,
Is boundless grace, and mercy to mankind,
Abhors the cruel: and the deeds of night
By wondrous ways reveals in open light :
Murder may pafs unpunifh'd for a time,
But tardy juftice will o'ertake the crime:
And oft a speedier pain the guilty feels:
The hue and cry of heaven pursues him at the heels.
Fresh from the fact, as in the present cafe,

The criminals are feized upon the place:
Carter and hoft confronted face to face.
Stiff in denial, as the law appoints,

On engines they diftend their tortur'd joints:
So was confeffion forced, th' offence was known,
And public juftice on th' offenders done.

"Here may you fee, that visions are to dread; "And, in the page that follows this, I read,”

Of two young merchants, whom the hope of gain

Induced in partnership to cross the main :

Waiting till willing winds their fails supplied,
Within a trading town they long abide,

Full fairly fituate on a haven's fide;

One evening it befel, that, looking out,

The wind they long had wifh'd was come about:
Well pleafed they went to reft; and if the gale
Till morn continued, both refolved to fail.

But,

But, as together in a bed they lay,
The younger had a dream at break of day.
A man, he thought, ftood frowning at his fide:
Who warn'd him for his fafety to provide,
Nor put to fea, but fafe on shore abide.

"I come, thy genius, to command thy stay;
"Truft not the winds, for fatal is the day,
"And death, unhoped, attends the watery way."

The vision said: and vanish'd from his fight:
The dreamer waken'd in a mortal fright :
Then pull'd his drowfy neighbour, and declared
What, in his flumber, he had feen and heard;
His friend fmiled fcornful, and with proud contempt
Rejects as idle, what his fellow dreamt.

-"Stay, who will stay; for me no fears restrain,
"Who follow Mercury, the god of gain;

"Let each man do as to his fancy seems,
"I wait not, I, till you have better dreams.
"Dreams are but interludes which fancy makes;
"When monarch reason fleeps, this mimic wakes:
"Compounds a medley of disjointed things,
"A mob of coblers, and a court of kings:
"Light fumes are merry, groffer fumes are fad:
"Both are the reasonable foul run mad;
"And many monftrous forms in fleep we see,
"That neither were, nor are, nor e'er can be.
"Sometimes forgotten things, long caff behind,
"Rush forward in the brain, and come to mind.
"The nurfe's legends are for truths received,
"And the man dreams but what the boy believed.

VOL. II.

F

"Some