ABSTRACT
Date and publication. First printed 1700 in Fables Ancient and Modern (see headnote to ‘Dedication and Preface to Fables’ for further details). D. had written the poem by October 1699, when it is mentioned in a letter to Charles Montague (Letters 120, 184). He subsequently told Mrs Steward in a letter (7 November 1699) that the Earl of Dorset had also seen it (Letters 123).
