View source for Smart's Fables

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2012}}
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[[Image:Smart Fables 1791.jpg|thumb|290px|Fables. The opening page from ''The Poems, of the Late Christopher Smart'', volume II, 1791]]

The '''''Fables''''' by [[Christopher Smart]] were written  between 1750 and 1767 and partly published in the periodicals ''The Midwife; or The Old Woman's Magazine'', ''[[The Gentleman's Magazine]]'', ''The Literary Magazine'', etc. The order in this collection of the fables was made by Smart himself and Christopher Hunter, Smart's biographer and nephew, after him, as it was printed posthumously in 1791 edition.

==Contents==

{|
|-
|Fable I. || [[s:Wholesale Critic and Hop-Merchant|The Wholesale Critic and Hop-Merchant]] ''17??,  publ. posth. 1791'' 
|-
|Fable II. || [[s:English Bull Dog, Dutch Mastiff, and Quail|The English Bull Dog, Dutch Mastiff, and Quail]]  ''1755, publ. 1758'' 
|-
|Fable III. || [[s:Fashion and Night|Fashion and Night]]   ''[[w:1751|1751]], publ. 1752'' 
|-
|Fable IV. ||  [[s:Where's the Poker?|Where's the Poker?]]  ''1752''
|-
|Fable V. ||  [[s:Tea Pot and Scrubbing Brush|The Tea Pot and Scrubbing Brush]]  ''1753''
|-
|Fable VI. || [[s:Duellists|The Duellist[s] ]]  ''[[w:1754|1754]]''
|-
|Fable VII. || [[s:Country Squire and the Mandrake|The Country Squire and the Mandrake]]    ''1755'' 
|-
|Fable VIII. || [[s:Brocaded Gown and Linen Rag|The Brocaded Gown and Linen Rag]]   ''1754'' 
|-
|Fable IX. || [[s:Madam and the Magpie|Madam and the Magpie]] ''1767''
|-
|Fable X. ||  [[s:Blockhead and Beehive|The Blockhead and Beehive]]  ''1754''
|-
|Fable XI. || [[s:Citizen and the Red Lion of Brenton|The Citizen and the Red Lion of Brenton]]   ''1754'' 
|-
|Fable XII. || [[s:Herald and Husband-Man|The Herald and Husband-Man]] ''17??,  publ. posth. 1791'' 
|-
|Fable XIII. ||  [[s:Story of a Cock and a Bull|A Story of a Cock and a Bull]]   ''[[:1756|1756]]'' 
|-
|Fable XIV.|| [[s:Snake, the Goose, and Nightingale|The Snake, the Goose, and Nightingale]]   ''1754'' 
|-
|Fable XV.|| [[s:Mrs. Abigail and the Dumb Waiter|Mrs. Abigail and the Dumb Waiter]]    ''[[w:1755|1755]]'' 
|-
|Fable XVI.|| [[s:Bag-Wig and the Tobacco-Pipe|The Bag-Wig and the Tobacco-Pipe]] ''[[w:1750|1750]]''
|-
|Fable XVII.|| [[s:Care and Generosity|Care and Generosity]]  ''[[w:1751|1751]]'' 
|-
|Fable XVIII.|| [[s:Pig (Smart)|The Pig]]   ''[[w:1752|1752]]''  
|}

<references/>

==Quotations==
{{cquote|Among the shorter poems, the fables were the pieces most highly prized by Smart's contemporaries, and they still wear well, showing a lightness of touch and acuteness of social observation that made eighteenth-century critics put him in the same league as John Gay. Charles Burney in the Monthly Review (January 1792) rated him "the most agreeable metrical Fabulist in our language" after Gay, finding that although his versification was less polished and "his apologues in general perhaps less correct" than those of Gay and Edward Moore, nevertheless "in originality, in wit, in humour, the preference seems due to Smart."}} 
<div style align="right">— ''Karina Williamson, St. Hilda's College, Oxford, and University of Edinburgh''</div>

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Fables (Smart)|Smart's Fables}}
{{Commons category|Fables}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=y10CAAAAQAAJ&dq=The+ENGLISH+BULL+DOG,+DUTCH+MASTIFF,+and+QUAIL.&pg=PP1 Poems of Smart, volume II, 1791]
* [http://dev.hil.unb.ca/Texts/EPD/UNB/view-works.cgi?c=smartchr.1112&pos=9 Selected Poems by Christopher Smart]{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=y10CAAAAQAAJ&dq=The+Herald+and+Husband-man&pg=PP9 on "books.google.co.uk" (1)]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=iHAJAAAAQAAJ&dq=The+Herald+and+Husband-man&pg=PA65  on "books.google.co.uk" (2)]

==Bibliography==
* The Poetical Works of Christopher Smart: Volume IV: Miscellaneous Poems, English and Latin Edited by Karina Williamson Oxford University Press, USA (May 21, 1987) {{ISBN|0-19-812768-5}} {{ISBN|978-0-19-812768-0}}

{{Christopher Smart}}

[[Category:Poetry by Christopher Smart]]
[[Category:Fables]]
[[Category:Works originally published in British magazines]]