His wild disorder'd walk, his haggard eyes,
Did all the bestial citizens furprize.

Though fear'd and hated, yet he rul'd a while,
As captain or companion of the spoil.
Full many a year his hateful head had been
For tribute paid, nor fince in Cambria feen :
The last of all the litter fcap'd by chance,
And from Geneva firft infefted France.
Some authors thus his pedigree will trace,
But others write him of an upstart race;
Because of Wickliff's brood no mark he brings,
But his innate antipathy to kings.

These last deduce him from th' Helvetian kind,
Who near the Leman-lake his confort lin'd:
That fiery Zuinglius first th'affection bred,
And meagre Calvin bleft the nuptial bed.
In Ifrael fome believe him whelp'd long fince,
When the proud fanhedrim opprefs'd the prince,
Or, fince he will be Jew, derive him higher,
When Corah with his brethren did conspire
From Mofes' hand the fovereign fway to wrest,
And Aaron of his ephod to divest:
Till opening earth made way for all to pass,
And could not bear the burden of a class.
The fox and he came fhuffled in the dark,
If ever they were ftow'd in Noah's ark:
Perhaps not made; for all their barking train
The dog (a common species) will contain.

And

And fome wild curs, who from their masters ran,
Abhorring the fupremacy of man,

In woods and caves the rebel-race began.

O happy pair, how well have increas'd!

you

What ills in church and state have you

redrefs'd?
With teeth untry'd, and rudiments of claws,
Your first effay was on your native laws :
Those having torn with ease, and trampled down,
Your fangs you fasten'd on the mitred crown,
And freed from God and monarchy your town.
What though your native kennel still be small,
Bounded betwixt a puddle and a wall;
Yet your victorious colonies are fent
Where the north ocean girds the continent.
Quicken'd with fire below, your monsters breed
In fenny Holland, and in fruitful Tweed:
And like the firft the laft affects to be

Drawn to the dregs of a democracy.

As, where in fields the fairy rounds are seen,
A rank four herbage rifes on the green;
So, fpringing where those midnight elves advance,
Rebellion prints the footsteps of the dance.
Such are their doctrines, fuch contempt they fhow
To heaven above, and to their prince below,
As none but traitors and blafphemers know.
God, like the tyrant of the skies, is plac'd,
And kings, like flaves, beneath the crowd debas'd.
So fulfome is their food, that flocks refuse
To bite, and only dogs for phyfic ufe.

}

2

As,

As, where the lightning runs along the ground,
No husbandry can heal the blasting wound;
Nor bladed grafs, nor bearded corn fucceeds,
But scales of fcurf and putrefaction breeds :
Such wars, fuch waste, such fiery tracks of dearth
Their zeal has left, and such a teemless earth.
But, as the poifons of the deadlieft kind

Are to their own unhappy coafts confin'd;
As only Indian fhades of fight deprive,
And magic plants will but in Colchos thrive;
So prefbytery and peftilential zeal
Can only flourish in a commonweal.

From Celtic woods is chas'd the wolfish crew;
But ah! fome pity ev'n to brutes is due :
Their native walks methinks they might enjoy,
Curb'd of their native malice to destroy.
Of all the tyrannies on human-kind,
The worst is that which perfecutes the mind.
Let us but weigh at what offence we strike,
'Tis but because we cannot think alike.
In punishing of this, we overthrow
The laws of nations and of nature too.
Beafts are the fubjects of tyrannic fway,
Where till the stronger on the weaker prey.
Man only of a fofter mold is made,
Not for his fellow's ruin, but their aid:
Created kind, beneficent, and free,
The noble image of the Deity.

One portion of informing fire was given
To brutes, th' inferior family of heaven:

The fmith divine, as with a careless beat,
Struck out the mute creation at a heat:
But when arriv'd at last to human race,
The Godhead took a deep considering space;
And to distinguish man from all the reft,
Unlock'd the facred treasures of his breast;
And mercy mixt with reason did impart,
One to his head, the other to his heart:
Reason to rule, but mercy to forgive :
The first is law, the last prerogative.

And like his mind his outward form appear'd,
When, iffuing naked, to the wondering herd,
He charm'd their eyes; and, for they lov'd, they fear'd:
Not arm'd with horns of arbitrary might,

Or claws to feize their furry spoils in fight,

Or with increase of feet t' o'ertake them in their flight:
Of eafy shape, and pliant every way;
Confeiling ftill the softness of his clay,
And kind as kings upon their coronation-day:
With open hands, and with extended space
Of arms, to fatisfy a large embrace.

Thus kneaded up with milk, the new-made man
His kingdom o'er his kindred world began :
Till knowledge mifapply'd, misunderstood,
And pride of empire four'd his balmy blood.
Then, first rebelling, his own stamp he coins;
The murderer Cain was latent in his loins:
And blood began its first and loudest cry,
For differing worship of the Deity.

VOL. II.

C

Thus

Thus perfecution rofe, and farther space
Produc'd the mighty hunter of his race.
Not fo the bleffed Pan his flock increas'd,
Content to fold them from the famifh'd beast:
Mild were his laws; the sheep and harmless hind
Were never of the perfecuting kind.

Such pity now the pious paftor shows,
Such mercy from the British lion flows,
That both provide protection from their foes.
Oh happy regions, Italy and Spain,
Which never did those monsters entertain!
The wolf, the bear, the boar, can there advance
No native claim of juft inheritance.

And felf-preferving laws, fevere in fhow,

May guard their fences from th' invading foe.
Where birth has plac'd them, let them fafely share
The common benefit of vital air.

Themselves unharmful, let them live unharm'd;
Their jaws difabled, and their claws disarın’d:
Here, only in nocturnal howlings bold,

They dare not seize the Hind, nor leap the fold.
More powerful, and as vigilant as they,

The lion awfully forbids the prey.

Their rage reprefs'd, though pinch'd with famine fore,
They stand aloof, and tremble at his roar:
Much is their hunger, but their fear is more.
These are the chief: to number o'er the reft,
And stand, like Adam, naming every beaft,
Were weary work; nor will the Mufe defcribe
A flimy-born and fun-begotten tribe;

}