A Wolf, with hunger fierce and bold,     Ravag'd the plains, and thinn'd the fold:
  Deep in the wood secure he lay,
  The thefts of night regal'd the day.
  In vain the shepherd's wakeful care
  Had spread the toils, and watch'd the snare;
  In vain the Dog pursued his pace,
  The fleeter robber mock'd the chase.
  As Lightfoot rang'd the forest round,
  By chance his foe's retreat he found.
  "Let us a while the war suspend,
  And reason as from friend to friend."
    "A truce?" replies the Wolf. "'Tis done."
  The Dog the parley thus begun.
    "How can that strong intrepid mind
  Attack a weak defenceless kind?
  Those jaws should p............