Or, fince he will be Jew, derive him higher,
When Corah with his brethren did confpire
From Mofes' hand the fovereign sway 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 claís.
The fox and he came fhuffled in the dark,
If ever they were flow'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 maftes 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 ftate have you redrefs'd!
With teeth untry'd, and rudiments of claws,
Your firft effay was on your native laws :

Thofe having torn with eafe, and trampled down,
Your fangs you fasten'd on the mitred crown,
And freed from God and monarchy your town.
What tho' your native kennel ftill be finall,
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 feen,
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 fhow
To heaven above, and to their prince below,
As none but traitors and blafphemers know.

}

God,

God, like the tyrant of the skies, is plac'd,
And kings, like flaves, beneath the crowd debas'd.
So fulfom is their food, that flocks refufe
To bite, and only dogs for phyfic use.

As, where the lightning runs along the ground,
No husbandry can heal the blasting wound;
Nor bladed grafs, nor bearded corn fucceeds,
But fcales of fcurf and putrefaction breeds :
Such wars, fuch wafte, fuch fiery tracks of dearth
Their zeal has left, and fuch a teemless earth.
But, as the poisons of the deadliest 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 e'en 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 subjects of tyrannic fway,
Where ftill the stronger on the weaker prey.
Man only of a fofter mould 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 confidering space;
And to distinguish man from all the reft,
Unlock'd the facred treasures of his breaft;
And mercy mixt with reason did impart,
One to his head, the other to his heart:
Reason to rule, and mercy to forgive:
The first is law, the laft prerogative.
And like his mind his outward form appear'd,
When, issuing naked, to the wondering herd,
He charm'd their eyes; and, for they lov'd, they feard:
Not arm'd with horns of arbitrary might,

Or claws to feize their furry fpoils in fight,
Or with increase of feet t'o'ertake them in their flight:
Of eafy fhape, and pliant every way;
Confeffing still 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, first rebelling, his own ftamp he coins;
The murderer Cain was latent in his loins:
And blood began its first and loudeft cry,
For differing worthip of the Deity.
Thus perfecution role, and farther space
Produc'd 4 the mighty hunter of his race.
Not fo the bleffed Pan his flock increas'd,
Content to fold them from the famifh'd beaft:
Mild were his laws; the sheep and harmless hind
Were never of the perfecuting kind.

4 Produc'd the mighty bunter of bis race. Nimrod, who built Babylon, and was the first man we meet with in fcripture who made vafions on the territories of others.

Such

}

Such pity now the pious paftor fhows,
Such mercy from the British lion flows,
That both provide protection from their foes.
Oh happy regions, Italy and Spain,
Which never did thofe monfsters entertain!
The wolf, the bear, the boar, can there advance
No native claim of just inheritance.
And self-preferving laws, fevere in show,
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, tho' 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 rest,
And ftand, likę 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.
These 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 afpire:
Souls that can scarce ferment their mafs of clay :
So droffy, fo divisible are they,

As would but ferve pure bodies for allay:
Such fouls as fhards produce, fuch beetle things
As only buz to heaven with evening wings;

C 3

}

Strike

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 stains 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 fpeak;
He cannot bend her, and he would not break.
Unkind already, and estrang'd in part,
The wolf begins to fhare her wandring heart,
Tho' 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 juft dropt half way down, nor lower fell;
So pois'd, fo gently the defcends from high,
It seems a foft difmiffion 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 5 lion old, obfcene, and furious made
By luft, comprefs'd her mother in a fhade;
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.

5 Henry VIII.

God's