A30125:227
A book for boys and girls, or, Country rhymes for childrenA book for boys and girls, or, Country rhimes for children
A book for boys and girls, or, Country rhymes for children by J.B.A book for boys and girls, or, Country rhimes for children by J.B.
London: printed for N.P., 1686
Title page typeset from the transcription.
A BOOK FOR Boys and Girls, &c. › Poem 22: XXII. Of the Fly at the Candle.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
XXII. Of the Fly at the Candle.
What ails this Fly thus desperately to enter A Combat with the Candle? will she venture To clash at light? Away thou silly fly; Thus doing, thou wilt burn thy wings and dye. But 'tis a folly her advice to give, She'll kill the Candle, or she will not live. Slap, says she, at it; then she makes retreat, So wheels about and doth her blows repeat. Nor doth the Candle let her quite escape, But gives some little check unto the Ape: Throws up her heels it doth, so down she falls, Where she lies sprawling, and for succour calls. When she recovers, up she gets again, And at the Candle comes with might and main, But now behold, the Candle takes the Fly, And holds her till she doth by burning dye.
What ails this Fly thus desperately to enter A Combat with the Candle? will she venture To clash at light? Away thou silly fly; Thus doing, thou wilt burn thy wings and dye. But 'tis a folly her advice to give, She'l kill the Candle, or she will not live. Slap, says she, at it; then she makes retreat, So wheels about and doth her blows repeat. Nor doth the Candle let her quite escape, But gives some little check unto the Ape: Throws up her heels it doth, so down she falls, Where she lies sprawling, and for succor calls. When she recovers, up she gets again, And at the Candle comes with might and main, But now behold, the Candle takes the Fly, And holds her till she doth by burning dye.
Comparison. This Candle is an Emblem of that Light, Our Gospel gives in this our darksome night. The Fly a lively Picture is of those That hate, and do this Gospel light oppose. At last the Gospel doth become their snare, Doth them with burning hands in pieces tear.