They do; and with a distant view I see In orderly array, a martial, manly train. A conquering navy proudly spread; The asserted Ocean rears his reverend head, 505 510 515 Ver. 512. The British cannon, &c.] This conclusion is truly spirited, and the prophecy has been abundantly verified. Dryden gives the British king the proper title of ancient lord of the ocean. Camden, in his Britannia, had before denominated our island the lady of the sea; a very just and emphatical distinction: Esto perpetua! TODD. THE HIND AND THE PANTHER. A POEM. IN THREE PARTS. Antiquam exquirite matrem. Et vera, incessu, patuit Dea.-VIRG. THE PREFACE TO THE READER. THE nation is in too high a ferment for me to expect either fair war, or even so much as fair quarter from a reader of the opposite party. All men are engaged either on this side or that; and though Conscience is the common Word, which is given by both, yet if a writer fall among enemies, and cannot give the marks of their conscience, he is knocked down before the reasons of his own are heard. A preface, therefore, which is but a bespeaking of favour, is altogether useless. What I desire the reader should know concerning me, he will find in the body of the poem, if he have but the patience to peruse it. Only this advertisement let him take beforehand, which relates to the merits of the cause. No general characters of parties (call them either Sects or Churches) can be so fully and exactly drawn, as to comprehend all the several members of them; at least all such as are received under that denomination. For example: there are some of the Church by law established who envy not liberty of conscience to Dissenters; as being well satisfied that, according to their own principles, they ought not to persecute them. Yet these, by reason of their fewness, I could not distinguish from the numbers of the rest, with whom they are embodied in one common name. On the other side, there are many of our Sects, and more indeed than I could reasonably have hoped, who have withdrawn themselves from the communion of the Panther, and embraced this gracious indulgence of his Majesty in point of toleration. But neither to the one nor the other of these is this satire any way intended: it is aimed only at the refractory and disobedient on either side. For those who are come over to the royal party are consequently supposed to be out of gun-shot. Our physicians have observed, that, in process of time, some diseases have abated of their virulence, and have in a manner worn out their malignity, so as to be no longer mortal; and why may not I suppose the same concerning some of those who have formerly been enemies to Kingly Government, as well as Catholic Religion? I hope they have now another notion of both, as having found, by comfortable experience, that the doctrine of persecution is far from being an article of our faith. It is not for any private man to censure the proceedings of a foreign prince; but without suspicion of flattery, I may praise our own, who has taken contrary measures, and those more suitable to the spirit of Christianity. Some of the Dissenters, in their addresses to his Majesty, have said, "That he has restored God to his empire over conscience." I confess I dare not stretch the figure to so great a boldness; but I may safely say, that conscience is the royalty and prerogative of every private man He is absolute in his own breast, and accountable to no earthly power for that which passes only betwixt God and him. Those who are driven into the fold are, generally speaking, rather made hypocrites than converts. This indulgence being granted to all the sects, it ought in reason to be expected that they should both receive it, and receive it thankfully. For, at this time of day, to refuse the benefit, and adhere to those whom they have esteemed their persecutors, what is it else but publicly to own that they suffered not before for conscience sake, but only out of pride and obstinacy, to separate from a Church for those impositions which they now judge may be lawfully obeyed? After they have so long contended for their classical ordination (not to speak of rites and ceremonies), will they at length submit to an episcopal? If they can go so far out of complaisance to their old enemies, methinks a little reason should persuade them to take another step, and see whither that would lead them. Of the receiving this toleration thankfully I shall say no more, than that they ought, and I doubt not, they will, consider from what hands they received it. It is not from a Cyrus, a heathen prince, and a foreigner, but from a Christian king, their native sovereign, who expects a return in specie from them, that the kindness which he has graciously shown them may be retaliated on those of his own persuasion. As for the poem in general, I will only thus far satisfy the reader, that it was neither imposed on me, nor so much as the subject given me by any man. It was written during the last winter and the beginning of this spring, though with long interruptions of ill-health and other hindrances. About a fortnight before I had finished it, his Majesty's declaration for liberty of conscience came abroad; which, if I had so soon expected, I might have spared myself the labour of writing many things which are contained in the third part of it. But I was always in some hope, that the Church of England might have been persuaded to have taken off the Penal Laws and the Test, which was one design of the poem when I proposed to myself the writing of it. It is evident that some part of it was only occasional, and not first intended: I mean that defence of myself, to which every honest man is bound, when he is injuriously attacked in print; and I refer myself to the judgment of those who have read the Answer to the Defence of the late King's papers and that of the Duchess (in which last I was concerned) how charitably I have been represented there. I am now informed both of the author and supervisers of his pamphlet, and will reply when I think he can affront me: for I am of Socrates's opinion, that all creatures cannot. In the mean time let him consider whether he deserved not a more severe reprehension than I gave him formerly, for using so little respect to the memory of those whom he pretended to answer; and at his leisure look out for some original treatise of Humility, written by any Protestant in English (I believe I may say in any other tongue): for the magnified piece of Duncomb on that subject, which either he must mean or none, and with which another of his fellows has upbraided me, was translated from the Spanish of Rodriguez; though with the omission of the seventeenth, the twenty-fourth, the twenty-fifth, and the last chapter, which will be found in comparing of the books. He would have insinuated to the world that her late Highness died not a Roman Catholic. He declares himself to be now satisfied to the contrary, in which he has given up the cause; for matter of fact was the principal debate betwixt us. In the mean time, he would dispute the motives of her change; how preposterously, let all men judge, when he seemed to deny the subject of the controversy, the change itself. And because I would not take up this ridiculous challenge, he tells the world I cannot argue: but he may as well infer that a Catholic cannot fast, because he will not take up the cudgels against Mrs. James, to confute the Protestant religion. I have but one word more to say concerning the poem as such, and abstracting from the matters, either religious or civil, which are handled in it. The first part, consisting most in general characters and narration, I have endeavoured to raise, and give it the majestic turn of heroic poesy. The second, being matter of dispute, and chiefly concerning Church Authority, I was obliged to make as plain and perspicuous as possibly I could; yet not wholly neglecting the numbers, though I had not frequent occasions for the magnificence of verse. The third, which has more of the nature of domestic conversation, is, or ought to be, more free and familiar than the two former. There are in it two Episodes, or Fables, which are interwoven with the main design; so that they are properly parts of it, though they are also distinct stories of themselves. In both of these I have made use of the common places of Satire, whether true or false, which are urged by the members of the one Church against the other: at which I hope no reader of either party will be scandalised, because they are not of my invention, but as old, to my knowledge, as the times of Boccace and Chaucer on the one side, and as those of the Reformation on the other. THE HIND AND THE PANTHER.* A MILK-WHITE Hind, immortal and unchanged, Fed on the lawns, and in the forest ranged; This piece is a defence of the Roman Catholic Church, by way of dialogue between a Hind, who represents the Church of Rome, and a Panther, who sustains the character of the Church of England. These two beasts very learnedly debate the principal points controverted between the two Churches, as transubstantiation, infallibility, churchauthority, &c. This poem was immediately attacked by the wits; particularly by Montague, afterwards Earl of Halifax, and Prior, who joined in writing The Hind and Panther, parodied in the Story of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse. DERRICK. There is a pointed allusion to this poem, in a satire entitled Ecebolius Britannicus, or A Memento to the Jacobites of the higher order; in which, indeed, many of Dryden's phrases and sentiments are introduced, and printed in the Italic character. This satire is worthy of perusal. It occurs in "The loyal and impartial Satyrist, containing eight Miscellany Poems, 4to. Lond. 1694." ECEBOLIUS BRITANNICUS, &c. You, whom Religion sits so loose about, You that can't swear (that might consist with love) No spirits wait in hollow trees beneath, Nor is there any bellowing after death, "Tis all but vain and senseless poetry: Death shuts the comick scene; when parted hence Rome's Church, tho' once a whore, now cannot be; Wing'd with ambition to be thought a god, O'er unfrequented hills, and peaks untrod, Pass'd into scorching Etna's liquid flame: So to be dubb'd a saint, and fill a story, From fairy land, and dark enchanted isle, From mountains of the moon, and head of Nile, Immortal Bays will pass to Purgatory. 2. But, ha! what strange new project here is shewn, Without unspotted, innocent within, Unguarded leave their posts, away they flie; The Prelates are protected by the Bar, My fate too soon, and my own change in thee. What have these bears, these boars, and dirty swine, I'll ne'er repent of such a gallant crime: When Wits are down, dull Fops will watch their time. Sleep to my Hind, and to her Poet's eyes. This spirited poem, I should add, is in the title-page only of the Miscellany inscribed, To the truly Orthodox Critic and Poet, J. D-n, Esq. TODD. Ver. 1. A milk-white Hind,] It is impossible to add any thing to the just criticism, the true wit, and well-pointed ridicule, with which Mr. Montague and Mr. Prior attacked and exposed the matchless absurdity of the plan of this poem in the following words :- "The favourers of the Hind and Panther will be apt to say in its defence, that the best things are capable of being turned to ridicule; that Homer has been burlesqued, and Virgil travestied, without suffering any thing in their reputation from that buffoonery; and that, in like manner, the Hind and the Panther may be an exact poem, though 'tis the subject of our raillery. But there is this difference, that those authors are wrested from their true sense, and this naturally falls into ridicule; there is nothing represented here as monstrous and unnatural, which is not so equally in the original. First, as to the general design, is it not as easy to imagine two mice bilking coachmen, and supping at the Devil, as to suppose a hind entertaining the panther at a hermit's cell, discussing the greatest mysteries of religion, and telling you her son Rodriguez writ very good Spanish? What can be more improbable and contradictory to the rules and examples of all fables, and to the very design and use of them? They were first begun and raised to the highest perfection in the eastern countries, where they wrote in signs, and spoke in parables, and delivered the most useful precepts in delightful stories; which for their aptness were entertaining to the most judicious, and led the vulgar into understanding by surprising them with their novelty, and fixing their attention. All their fables carry a double meaning; the story is one and entire; the characters the same throughout, not broken or changed, and always conformable to the nature of the creatures they introduce. They never tell you, that the dog which snapt at a shadow lost his troop of horse-that would be uniotelligible-a piece of flesh is proper for him to drop, and the reader will apply it to mankind. They would not say that the daw, who was so proud of her borrowed plumes, looked very ridiculous when Rodriguez came and took away all the book but the 17th, 24th, and 25th chapters, 10 And Scythian shafts; and many winged wounds 15 20 which she stole from him. But this is his new way of telling a story, and confounding the moral and the fable together. "Before the word was written, said the Hind, Our Saviour preach'd the faith to all mankind. "What relation has the hind to our Saviour? Or what notion have we of a panther's bible? If you say he means the Church, how does the Church feed on lawns, or range the forest? Let it be always a Church, or always the cloven-footed beast, for we cannot bear his shifting the scene every line. If it is absurd in comedies to make a peasant talk in the strain of a hero, or a country wench use the language of a court, how monstrous is it to make a priest of a hind, and a parson of a panther! To bring them in disputing with all the formalities and terms of the school! Thongh, as to the arguments themselves, those, we confess, are suited to the capacity of the beasts; and if we would suppose a hind expressing herself about these matters, she would talk at that rate." Dr. J. WARTON. Ver. 1. Hind,] It is singular, that in the most curious account of old Sanskreet Fables, given to us by Mr. Wilkins, entitled Heeto-pades, or Amicable Instruction, animals, like our hind and panther, are sometimes absurdly introduced as arguing on subjects of theology; a tiger is described as devout, and praising charity and religious duties; an old mouse is well versed in Neetee Sastras, or system of policy and ethics; and a cat reads religious books. Mr. Wilkins translated the Mahabarat, an epic poem, and Sir William Jones the Sacontala, a drama of a surprising early date, and an invaluable curiosity on account of the manners described in it. Dr. J. WARTON. Ver. 14. the Caledonian wood,] The ravages and disorders committed by the Scotch covenanters gave occasion to these lines. Derrick. Ver. 21. their mother. TODD. Ver. 29. Grinn'd as they pass'd, and with a glaring eye Gave gloomy signs, &c.] the mother view'd] Original edition: Ver. 35. The bloody Bear, an independent beast,] The Independents were a sect of Protestants, who held, that "each church, within itself, had sufficient power to do everything relative to church-government." They sprung up amidst the confusions of Charles the First's reign, about the year 1643. Walker calls them a composition of Jews, Christians, and Turks. See his History of Independency, p. 1, 27; for which he was committed by Cromwell to the Tower. See Echard's History of England, vol. ii. p. 435, for an account of their rise. Butler calls them, "The maggots of corrupted texts."-Hud. p. 3. v. 10. And our author, in his Religio Laici, says, "The fly-blown text creates a crawling brood, And turns to maggots what was meant for food." Because that, in order to infuse into people a notion that they had a right to choose their own pastors, they corrupted this text: Wherefore, brethren, look you out from among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, whom ye (instead of we) may appoint over this business. Acts vi. 3. Field is said to have been the first printer of this forgery, and to have received for it £1500. Be that as it may, it is certainly to be found in several of his editions of the Bible, particularly in his fine folio of 1659-60, and his octavo of 1661. DERRICK. Profess'd neutrality, but would not swear.] The Quakers so called from certain tremblings and convulsions with which they appear to be seized at their religious meetings. They decline all military employments; reject the use of arms, which they call profane and carnal weapons; and refuse the oaths. Their affirmation is now admitted, by act of Parliament, in our justiciary courts, as of equal force to an oath taken by a person of any other persuasion upon the gospel. DERRICK. Ver. 39. Next her the buffoon Ape,] No particular sect is meant by the buffoon ape, but libertines and latitudinarians, persons ready to conform to anything to serve their turn. DERRICK. Ver. 43. The bristled Baptist Boar,] The unexampled absurdities of the principles and practices of the Anabaptists were too inviting and copious a subject for Swift not to seize, and enabled him to give some of the finest touches of ridicule in his Tale of a Tub. "Having, from his manner of living, frequent occasions to wash himself, he would often leap over head and ears into the water, though it were in the midst of the winter, but was always observed to come out again much dirtier, if possible, than when he went in. "He was the first that ever found out the secret of contriving a soporiferous medicine to be conveyed in at the ears: it was a compound of sulphur and balm of Gilead, with a little Pilgrim's Progress salve. "He wore a large plaister of artificial caustics on his stomach with the fervour of which he could set himself a groaning, like the famous board, upon application of a red-hot iron. "He would stand in the turning of a street, and calling to those who passed by, would cry to one, Worthy Sir, do me the honour of a good slap in the chops: to another, Honest friend, pray favour me with a handsome kick on the arse. Madam, shall I entreat a small box on the ear from your ladyship's fair hand? Noble captain, lend a reasonable thwack, for the love of God, with that cane of yours, over these poor shoulders. And when he had, by such earnest solicitations, made a shift to procure a basting sufficient to swell up his fancy and sides, he would return home extremely comforted, and full of terrible accounts of what he had undergone for the public good. Observe this stroke (said he, shewing his bare shoulders) a plaguy janisary gave it me this very morning at seven o'clock, as with much ado I was driving off the great Turk. Neighbours of mine, this broken head deserves a plaister; had poor Jack been tender of his noddle, you would have seen the Pope and the French King long before this time of day among your wives and your warehouses. Dear Christians, the Great Mogul was come as |