the Ganges, is still an unscrupulous knave, and for that reason, and that alone, is chosen as ambassador by his great kinsman, the Lion.
"'T was then agreed the Cat should try
If he could not the Fox outvie
In trickery and dissimulation,
And thus do service to the nation.
For he was, by all men's admission,
A wary, skilful politician."
Frankly does the King of the Beasts admit the cousinship and honourable station of his little relative. There is respect, mingled with cajolery, in the monarch's parting words.
"Tybert, forget not, I beseech,
How far back doth your lineage reach;
Much farther back than mice and rats,
Which but created were for cats.
So foolish folks who sometime curse them.
Were only made that they might nurse them.
Never forget, I pray, that ye
Spring from our old nobility."
.......
"Well taught you are, and quick and wise.
Fulfilled of wit in all men's eyes;
And plenteous therefore is my hope
That with this sinner you may cope.
For craft with craft may better fight.
Than mere brute strength that lacks foresight."
Tybert is foiled by the arch-villany of the Fox. He comes to grief, and his prestige fades before Reynard's superior knavery; yet, even in defeat, his
