Thefe laft 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 confpire
From Mofes' hand the fovereign fway to wreft,
And Aaron of his ephod to diveft:

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 stow'd in Noah's ark:
Perhaps not made; for all their barking train
The dog (a common fpecies) will contain.
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 you increas'd!
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 :
Thofe having torn with ease, and trampled
down,

Your fangs you faften'd on the mitred crown,
And freed from God and monarchy your town.
What though your native kennel ftill 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 last 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 thofe midnight elves advance,
Rebellion prints the footsteps of the dance.
Such are their doctrines, fuch contempt they
show

To heaven above, and to their prince below,
A 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.
And where the lightning runs along the ground,
No hufbandry can heal the blafting wound;
Nor bladed grafs, nor bearded corn fucceeds,
But fcales of fcurf and putrefaction breeds:
Such wars, fuch wafte, fuch fiery tracts of dearth
Their zeal has left, and fuch a teemless earth.
But, as the poisons of the deadliest kind
Are to their own unhappy coaft confin'd;
As only Indian fhades of fight deprive,
And magic plants will but in Cholchos thrive;
So prefbytery and pestilential zeal
Can only flourish in a commonweal.

From Celtic woods is chac'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 ftriko,
'Tis but because we cannot think alike,

In punishing of this, we overthrow
The laws of nations and of nature too.
Beasts are the fubjects of tyrannic fway,
Where still the ftronger on the weaker prey,
Man only of a fofter mold is nade,
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 confidering space;
And to diftinguish man from all the reft,
Unlock'd the facred treasures of his breast;
And mercy mixt with reafon did impart,
One to his head, the other to his heart:
Reason to rule, but mercy to forgive :
The first is law, the laft 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 seize their furry fpoils in fight,
Or with increase of feet t'o'ertake them in
their flight:

Of easy shape, and pliant every way;
Confeffing 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 misapply'd, misunderstood,
And pride of empire four'd his balmy blood.
Then, firft rebelling, his own ftamp he coins;
The murderer Cain was latent in his loins:
And blood began its first and loudest cry,
For differing worship of the Deity.
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 famish'd beaft:
Mild were his laws; the sheep and harmless hind
Were never of the perfecuting kind.
Such pity now the pious paftor fhows,
Such mercy from the British fron 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 just 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 fhare
The common benefit of vital air.

Themselves unharmful, let them live unharm'd;
Their jaws difabled, and their claws difarm'd :

Here, only in nocturnal howlings bold,
They dare not feize 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 fa-" mine 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 rest,
And ftand, like Adam, naming every beast,
Were weary work; nor will the Mufe defcribe
A flimy-born and fun-begotten tribe;
Who, far from steeples and their facred found,
In fields their fullen conventicles found.
Thefe grofs, half-animated, lumps I leave;
Nor can I think what thoughts they can conceive.
But, if they think at all, 'tis fure no higher
Than matter, put in motion, may aspire:
Souls that can scarce ferment their mass of clay :
So droffy, fo divisible are they,

As would but ferve pure bodies for allay:
Sh fouls as fhards produce, fuch beetle things
As only buz to heaven with evening wings;
Strike in the dark, offending but by chance,
Such are the blindfold blows of ignorance.
They know not beings, and but hate a name;
To them the Hind and Panther are the fame.

The Panther, fure the nobleft, next the Hind,
And faireft creature of the spotted kind;
Oh, could her in-born ftains be wash'd away,
She were too good to be a beast of prey!
How can I praise, or blame, and not offend,
Or how divide the frailty from the friend;
Her faults and virtues lie fo mix'd, that she
Nor wholly ftands condemn'd, nor wholly free
Then, like her injur'd lion, let me speak?
He cannot bend her, and he would not break.
Unkind already, and estrang'd in part,
The wolf begins to fhare her wandering heart.
Though unpolluted yet with actual ill,
She half commits who fins but in her will.
If, as our dreaming Platonists report,
There could be spirits of a middle fort,
Too black for heaven, and yet too white for hell,
Who just dropt half way down, nor lower fell; -
So pois'd, fo gently the defcends from high,
It seems a foft difmiflion from the sky.
Her house not ancient, whatfoe'er pretence
Her clergy heralds make in her defence.
A fecond century not half-way run,
Since the new honours of her blood begun.
A lion old, obfcene, and furious made
By luft, comprefs'd her mother in a shade;
Then, by a left-hand marriage, weds the dame,
Covering adultery with a fpecious name :
So fchifm begot; and facrilege and she,
A well-match'd pair, got graceless heresy.
God's and king's rebels have the fame good caufe,
To trample down divine and human laws :
Both would be call'd reformers, and their hate
Alike destructive both to church and state:
The fruit proclaims the plant; a lawless prince
By luxury reform'd incontinence;
By ruins, charity; by riots, abftinence.

}

Confeffions, fafts, and penance set aside;
Oh with what eafe we follow fuch a guide,
Where fouls are starv'd, and senses gratify'd!
Where marriage pleasures midnight prayer fupply,
And mattin bells, a melancholy cry,

Are tun'd to merrier notes, increase and multiply.
Religion fhews a rofy-colour'd face;
Not batter'd out with drudging works of grace:
A down-hill reformation rolls apace.
What flesh and blood would crowd the narrow"
gate,
[wait?
Or, till they waste their pamper'd paunches (
All would be happy at the cheapest rate.

Though our lean faith thefe rigid laws has

given,

The full-fed Muffulman goes fat to heaven;
For his Arabian prophet with delights
Of fenfe allur'd his eastern profelytes.
The jolly Luther, reading him, began
T'interpret Scriptures by his Alcoran;
To grub the thorns beneath our tender fect,
And make the paths of Paradise more sweet:
Bethought him of a wife ere half way gone,
For 'twas uneafy traveling alone;

And, in this masquerade of mirth and love,
Miftook the blifs of heaven for bacchanals above.
Sure he prefum'd of praife, who came to flock
Th' etherial paftures with so fair a flock
Burnish'd, and battening on their food, to show
Their diligence of careful herds below.

Our Panther, though like these she chang'd her head,

Yet as the mistress of a monarch's bed,
Her front erect with majefty fhe bore,
The crofier wielded, and the mitre wore.
Her upper part of decent difcipline
Shew'd affectation of an ancient line;
And fathers, councils, church and church's head,
Were on her reverend phylacteries read.
But what difgrac'd and difavow'd the reft,
Was Calvin's brand, that stigmatiz'd the beast.
Thus, like a creature of a double kind,
In her own labrynth fhe lives confin'd.
To foreign lands no found of her is come,
Humbly content to be defpis'd at home.
Such is her faith, where good cannot be had,
At least she leaves the refuse of the bad:
Nice in her choice of ill, though not of beft,
And leaft deform'd, because deform'd the leaft.
In doubtful points betwixt her differing friends,
Where one for fubftance, one for fign contends,
Their contradicting terms the ftrives to join;
Sign fhall be fubftance, fubftance shall be fign.
A real prefence all her fon's allow,
And yet 'tis flat idolatry to how,
Because the Godhead's there they know not
how.

Her novices are taught, that bread and wine
Are but the visible and outward fign,
Receiv'd by those who in communion join.
But th' inward grace, or the thing fignify'd,
His blood and body, who to fave us dy'd;
The faithful this thing fignify'd receive :
What is't those faithful then partake or leave?

For what is fignify'd and understood,
Is, by her own confeffion, flesh and blood.

Then, by the same acknowledgement, we know
They take the fign, and take the substance too,
The literal fenfe is hard to flesh and blood.
But nonsense never can be understood.

Her wild belief on every wave is tost;
But fure no church can better morals boast.
True to her king her principles are found;
Oh that her practice were but half fo found!
Stedfaft in various turns of state she stood,
And feal'd her vow'd affection with her blood:
Nor will I meanly tax her conftancy,
That intereft or obligement made the tye.
Bound to the fate of murder'd monarchy,
Before the founding ax fo falls the vine,

}

Whofe tender branches round the poplar twine, She chofe her ruin, and refign'd her life, In death undaunted as an Indian wife : A rare example! but fome fouls we see Grow hard, and stiffen with adversity: Yet thefe by fortune's favours are undone; Refolv'd into a baser form they run, And bore the wind, but cannot bear the fun. Let this be nature's frailty, or her fate, Or Ifgrimis counfel, her new-chosen mate; Still he's the fairest of the fallen crew, No mother more indulgent but the true. Fierce to her foes, yet fears her force to try, Because fhe wants innate authority; For how can the conftrain them to obey, Who has herself caft off the lawful sway? Rebellion equals all; and those who toil In common theft, will share the common spoil, Let her produce the title and the right Against her old fuperiors first to fight; If the reform by text, ev'n that 's as plain For her own rebels to reform again. As long as words a different fenfe will bear, And each may be his own interpreter, Our airy faith will no foundation find: The word's a weathercock for every wind: The bear, the fox, the wolf, by turns prevail; The most in power supplies the prefent gale. The wretched Panther cries aloud for aid To church and councils, whom the first betray'd; No help from fathers or tradition's train : Thofe ancient guides she taught us to disdain, And by that fcripture, which the once abus'd To reformation, ftands herfelf accus'd. What bills for breach of laws can fhe prefer, Expounding which the owns herself may err; And, after all her winding ways are try'd, If doubts arife, fhe flips herself afide, And leaves the private confcience for the guide. If then that confcience fet th' offender free, It bars her claim to church authority. How can fhe cenfure, or what crime pretend, But fcripture may be conftrued to defend? Ev'n thofe, whom for rebellion fhe tranfmits To civil power, her doctrine first acquits; Because no disobedience can enfue, Where no fubmiffion to a judge is due; Each judging for himself by her consent, Whom thus abfolv'd she sends to punishment.

Suppose the magiftrate revenge her cause,
'Tis only for tranfgreffing human laws.
How answering to its end a church is made,
Whose power is but to counsel and perfuade!
O folid rock, on which fecure fhe ftands!
Eternal houfe not built with mortal hands!
O fure defence against th' infernal gate,
A patent during pleasure of the state!

Thus is the Panther neither lov'd nor fear'd,
A mere mock queen of a divided herd;
Whom foon by lawful power fhe might controul,
Herfelf a part fubmitted to the whole.

Then, as the moon who first receives the light
By which she makes our nether regions bright,
So might she shine, reflecting from afar

The rays fhe borrow'd from a better star;

Big with the beams which from her mother flow,
And reigning o'er the rifing tides below :
Now, mixing with a favage crowd, fhe goes,
And meanly flatters her inveterate foes,
Rul'd while fhe rules, and lofing every hour
Her wretched remnants of precarious power.

One evening, while the cooler fhade fhe fought,
Revolving many a melancholy thought,
Alone fhe walk'd, and look'd around in vain,
With rueful vifage, for her vanish'd train :
None of her fylvan fubjects made their court;
Levées and couchées pafs'd without refort.
So hardly can ufurpers manage well
Those whom they first instructed to rebel.
More liberty begets defire of more;
The hunger ftill increases with the store.
Without refpect they brush'd along the wood
Each in his clan, and, fill'd with loothfome

food,

Afk'd no permiffion to the neighbouring flood.
The Panther, full of inward discontent,
Since they would go, before them wifely went;
Supplying want of power by drinking first,
As if she gave them leave to quench their thirst.
Among the reft, the Hind, with fearful face,
Beheld from far the common watering-place,
Nor durft approach; till with an awful roar
The fovereign lion bad her fear no more.
Encourag'd thus fhe brought her younglings
nigh,

Watching the motions of her patron's eye,
And drank a fober draught; the rest amaz'd
Stood mutely ftill, and on the stranger gaz'd;
Survey'd her part by part, and sought to find
The ten-horn'd monster in the harmlefs Hind,
Such as the Wolf and Panther had defign'd.
They thought at first they dream'd; for 'twas
offence

With them, to question certitude of sense,
Their guide in faith: but nearer when they'

drew,

And had the faultlefs object full in view,
Lord, how they all admir'd her heavenly hue!
Some, who before her fellowship difdain'd,
Scarce, and but fcarce, from in-born rage re-
ftrain'd,

Now frisk'd about her, and old kindred feign'd.
Whether for love or intereft, every sect

Of all the favage nation fhew'd respect.

The viceroy Panther could not awe the herd; The more the company, the less they fear'd. The furly Wolf with fecret envy burst,

Yet could not howl; the Hind had feen him firft:

But what he durft not speak, the Panther durst.
For when the herd, fuffic'd, did late repair
To ferney heaths, and to their forest lare,
She made a mannerly excuse to stay,
Proffering the Hind to wait her half the way:
That, fince the sky was clear, an hour of talk
Might help her to beguile the tedious walk.
With much good-will the motion was embrac'd
To chat a while on their adventures pass'd:

Nor had the grateful Hind fo foon forgot
Her friend and fellow-sufferer in the plot.
Yet wondering how of late fhe grew eftrang'd,
Her forehead cloudy, and her countenance chang'd,
She thought this hour th' occafion would prefent
To learn her fecret cause of discontent,

Which, well the hop'd, might be with cafe redrefs'd,

Confidering her a well-bred civil beast,
And more a gentlewoman than the rest.
After fome common talk what rumours ran,
The lady of the spotted muff began.

DAME, faid the Panther, times are mended well,
Since late among the Philiftines you fell.
The toils were pitch'd, a spacious tract of ground
With expert huntsmen was encompass'd round;
Th' inclofure narrow'd; the fagacious power
Of hounds and death drew nearer every hour.
Tis true, the younger lion scap'd the fnare,
But all your prieftly calves lay ftruggling there;
As facrifices on their altars laid;

While you their careful mother wifely fled,
Nor trusting destiny to fave your head.
For whate'er promises you have apply'd
To your unfailing church, the furer fide
Is four fair legs in danger to provide.
And whate'er tales of Peter's chair you tell,
Yet, faving reverence of the miracle,
The better luck was yours to fcape fo well.
As I remember, faid the fober Hind,
Thofe toils were for your own dear self defign'd,
As well as me; and with the self-fame throw,
To catch the quarry and the vermin too,
Forgive the flanderous tongues that call'd you so..
Howe'er you take it now, the common cry
Then ran you down for your rank loyalty.
Befides, in Popery they thought you nurst,
As evil tongues will ever speak the worst,
Because fome forms, and ceremonies fome
You kept, and ftood in the main question dumb.
Dumb you were born indeed; but thinking long
The teft it seems at last has loos'd your tongue.
And to explain what your forefathers meant,
By real prefence in the facrament,

After long fencing pufh'd against a wall.
Your falvo comes, that he's not there at at all:
There chang'd your faith, and what may change
may fall.

Who can believe what varies every day,
Nor ever was, nor will be, at a stay?

Tortures may force the tongue untruths to tell,
And I ne'er own'd myself infallible,
Reply'd the Panther: grant such presence were,
Yet in your fense I never own'd it there.
A real virtue we by faith receive,
And that we in the facrament believe.
Then faid the Hind, as you the matter state,
Not only Jefuits can equivocate;
For real, as you now the word expound,
From folid fubftance dwindles to a found.
Methinks an Æfop's fable you repeat;
You know who took the fhadow for the meat:
Your church's fubstance thus you change at will,
And yet retain your former figure ftill.

I freely grant you spoke to fave your life;
For then you lay beneath the butcher's knife.
Long time you fought, redoubled battery bore,
But, after all, against yourself you swore;
Your former felf: for every hour your form
Is chopp'd and chang'd, like winds before a storm.
Thus fear and intereft will prevail with fome;
For all have not the gift of martyrdom.

The Panther grinn'd at this, and thus reply'd:
That men may err was never yet deny'd.
But, if that common principle be true,
The cannon, dame, is levell'd full at you.