Thus Esop has the folly shown,
To build on merits not your own.
A jackdaw, empty, pert and vain,
Who held his equals in disdain,
One day some beauteous feathers found,
Left by a peacock on the ground.
When in the gaudy plumage dress'd,
The shallow thing his fortune bless'd;
With stately gesture strode along,
And boldly join'd the peacock throng;