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This simple poem is based upon the old fable preceding. It does not follow out the idea of the fable, but limits itself to awakening our sympathy for the garden mouse.
THE CITY MOUSE AND THE GARDEN MOUSE
CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI
The city mouse lives in a house;—
The garden mouse lives in a bower;
He's friendly with the frogs and toads,
And sees the pretty plants in flower.
The city mouse eats bread and cheese;—
The garden mouse eats what he can;
We will not grudge him seeds and stocks,
Poor little timid furry man.
[212]
The most famous use of this fable in literature is found in the Satires of the great Roman poet, Horace (b.c. 65-8). He is regarded as one of the most polished of writers, and the ancient world's most truthful painter of social life and manners. Horace had a country seat among the Sabine hills to which he could retire from the worries and distractions of the world. His delight in his Sabine farm is shown clearly in his handling of the story. The passage is a part of Book II, Satire 6, and is in Conington's translation. Some well-known appearances of this same fable in English poetry may be found in Prior and Montagu's City Mouse and Country Mouse and in Pope's Imitations of Horace.
THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE TOWN MOUSE
HORACE