No More Learning

All in their turns accusers, and accused;
Babel was never half so much confused;
What one can plead, the rest can plead as well;}
For amongst equals lies no last appeal, }
And all confess themselves are fallible. }
Now, since you grant some necessary guide,
All who can err are justly laid aside;
Because a trust so sacred to confer }
Shows want of such a sure interpreter;}
And how can he be needful who can err? }
Then, granting that unerring guide we want,
That such there is you stand obliged to grant;
Our Saviour else were wanting to supply
Our needs, and obviate that necessity.
It then remains, that church can only be
The guide, which owns unfailing certainty;
Or else you slip your hold, and change your side,
Relapsing from a necessary guide.
But this annexed condition of the crown, }
Immunity from errors, you disown; }
Here then you shrink, and lay your weak pretensions down. [166]}
For petty royalties you raise debate; }
But this unfailing universal state }
You shun; nor dare succeed to such a glorious weight;}
And for that cause those promises detest,
With which our Saviour did his church invest;
But strive to evade, and fear to find them true,
As conscious they were never meant to you;
All which the mother-church asserts her own,
And with unrivalled claim ascends the throne.
So, when of old the Almighty Father sate
In council, to redeem our ruined state,
Millions of millions, at a distance round, }
Silent the sacred consistory crowned, }
To hear what mercy, mixt with justice, could propound;}
All prompt, with eager pity, to fulfil
The full extent of their Creator's will:
But when the stern conditions were declared,
A mournful whisper through the host was heard,
And the whole hierarchy, with heads hung down,
Submissively declined the ponderous proffer'd crown.
Then, not till then, the Eternal Son from high
Rose in the strength of all the Deity;
Stood forth to accept the terms, and underwent }
A weight which all the frame of heaven had bent,}
Nor he himself could bear, but as Omnipotent. }
Now, to remove the least remaining doubt,
That even the blear-eyed sects may find her out,
Behold what heavenly rays adorn her brows, }
What from his wardrobe her beloved allows, }
To deck the wedding-day of his unspotted spouse! [167]}
Behold what marks of majesty she brings,
Richer than ancient heirs of eastern kings!
Her right hand holds the sceptre and the keys,
To show whom she commands, and who obeys;
With these to bind, or set the sinner free,
With that to assert spiritual royalty.
One in herself, not rent by schism, but sound,
Entire, one solid shining diamond;
Not sparkles shattered into sects like you:
One is the church, and must be to be true;
One central principle of unity; }
As undivided, so from errors free; }
As one in faith, so one in sanctity. }
Thus she, and none but she, the insulting rage
Of heretics opposed from age to age;
Still when the giant-brood invades her throne, }
She stoops from heaven, and meets them half way down,}
And with paternal thunder vindicates her crown. }
But like Egyptian sorcerers you stand, }
And vainly lift aloft your magic wand, }
To sweep away the swarms of vermin from the land;}
You could, like them, with like infernal force,
Produce the plague, but not arrest the course.
But when the boils and blotches, with disgrace
And public scandal, sat upon the face,
Themselves attacked, the Magi strove no more, }
They saw God's finger, and their fate deplore; }
Themselves they could not cure of the dishonest sore. [168]}
Thus one, thus pure, behold her largely spread,
Like the fair ocean from her mother-bed;
From east to west triumphantly she rides,
All shores are watered by her wealthy tides.
The gospel-sound, diffused from pole to pole,
Where winds can carry, and where waves can roll,
The self-same doctrine of the sacred page
Conveyed to every clime, in every age.
Here let my sorrow give my satire place,
To raise new blushes on my British race.
Our sailing ships like common-sewers we use, }
And through our distant colonies diffuse }
The draught of dungeons, and the stench of stews;}
Whom, when their home-bred honesty is lost,
We disembogue on some far Indian coast,
Thieves, pandars, palliards,[169] sins of every sort;
Those are the manufactures we export,
And these the missioners our zeal has made; }
For, with my country's pardon, be it said, }
Religion is the least of all our trade. }
Yet some improve their traffic more than we;}
For they on gain, their only god, rely, }
And set a public price on piety. }
ndustrious of the needle and the chart,
They run full sail to their Japonian mart;
Preventing fear, and, prodigal of fame, }
Sell all of Christian to the very name,[170] }
Nor leave enough of that to hide their naked shame. }
Thus, of three marks, which in the creed we view,
Not one of all can be applied to you;
Much less the fourth. In vain, alas! you seek
The ambitious title of apostolic:[171]
God-like descent! 'tis well your blood can be
Proved noble in the third or fourth degree;
For all of ancient that you had before, }
I mean what is not borrowed from our store,}
Was error fulminated o'er and o'er; }
Old heresies condemned in ages past,
By care and time recovered from the blast. [172]
'Tis said with ease, but never can be proved,
The church her old foundations has removed,
And built new doctrines on unstable sands:
Judge that, ye winds and rains! you proved her, yet she stands.
Those ancient doctrines charged on her for new,
Show, when, and how, and from what hands they grew.
We claim no power, when heresies grow bold,
To coin new faith, but still declare the old.
How else could that obscene disease be purged,
When controverted texts are vainly urged?
To prove tradition new, there's somewhat more
Required, than saying, 'twas not used before.
Those monumental arms are never stirred,
Till schism or heresy call down Goliah's sword.
Thus, what you call corruptions, are, in truth,
The first plantations of the gospel's youth;
Old standard faith; but cast your eyes again, }
And view those errors which new sects maintain, }
Or which of old disturbed the church's peaceful reign;}
And we can point each period of the time,
When they began, and who begot the crime;
Can calculate how long the eclipse endured,
Who interposed, what digits were obscured:
Of all which are already passed away,
We know the rise, the progress, and decay.
Despair at our foundations then to strike,
Till you can prove your faith apostolic;
A limpid stream drawn from the native source;
Succession lawful in a lineal course.
Prove any church, opposed to this our head,
So one, so pure, so unconfinedly spread,
Under one chief of the spiritual state,
The members all combined, and all subordinate;
Show such a seamless coat, from schism so free,
In no communion joined with heresy;--
If such a one you find, let truth prevail; }
Till when, your weights will in the balance fail;}
A church unprincipled kicks up the scale. }
But if you cannot think, (nor sure you can
Suppose in God what were unjust in man,)
That He, the fountain of eternal grace, }
Should suffer falsehood for so long a space}
To banish truth, and to usurp her place; }
That seven successive ages should be lost,
And preach damnation at their proper cost;[173]
That all your erring ancestors should die,
Drowned in the abyss of deep idolatry;
If piety forbid such thoughts to rise,
Awake, and open your unwilling eyes:
God hath left nothing for each age undone, }
From this to that wherein he sent his Son; }
Then think but well of him, and half your work is done. }
See how his church, adorned with every grace, }
With open arms, a kind forgiving face, }
Stands ready to prevent her long-lost son's embrace! }
Not more did Joseph o'er his brethren weep,
Nor less himself could from discovery keep,
When in the crowd of suppliants they were seen,
And in their crew his best-loved Benjamin.
That pious Joseph in the church behold, }
To feed your famine, and refuse your gold; }
The Joseph you exiled, the Joseph whom you sold. [174]}
Thus, while with heavenly charity she spoke,
A streaming blaze the silent shadows broke;
Shot from the skies a cheerful azure light; }
The birds obscene to forests winged their flight, }
And gaping graves received the wandering guilty sprite. }
Such were the pleasing triumphs of the sky,
For James his late nocturnal victory;
The pledge of his almighty Patron's love,
The fireworks which his angels made above. [175]
I saw myself the lambent easy light[176]
Gild the brown horror, and dispel the night;
The messenger with speed the tidings bore; }
News, which three labouring nations did restore;}
But heaven's own Nuntius was arrived before. }
By this, the Hind had reached her lonely cell,
And vapours rose, and dews unwholesome fell;
When she, by frequent observation wise, }
As one who long on heaven had fixed her eyes,}
Discerned a change of weather in the skies. }
The western borders were with crimson spread,
The moon descending looked all flaming red;
She thought good manners bound her to invite
The stranger dame to be her guest that night.
'Tis true, coarse diet, and a short repast, }
She said, were weak inducements to the taste }
Of one so nicely bred, and so unused to fast;}
But what plain fare her cottage could afford,
A hearty welcome at a homely board,
Was freely hers; and, to supply the rest,
An honest meaning, and an open breast;
Last, with content of mind, the poor man's wealth,
A grace-cup to their common patron's[177] health.
This she desired her to accept, and stay,
For fear she might be wildered in her way,
Because she wanted an unerring guide,
And then the dew-drops on her silken hide
Her tender constitution did declare, }
Too lady-like a long fatigue to bear, }
And rough inclemencies of raw nocturnal air. [178]}
But most she feared, that, travelling so late,}
Some evil-minded beasts might lie in wait, }
And without witness wreak their hidden hate. }
The Panther, though she lent a listening ear,
Had more of lion in her than to fear;
Yet wisely weighing, since she had to deal
With many foes their numbers might prevail,
Returned her all the thanks she could afford,
And took her friendly hostess at her word;
Who, entering first her lowly roof, a shed }
With hoary moss and winding ivy spread, }
Honest enough to hide an humble hermit's head,}
Thus graciously bespoke her welcome guest: }
So might these walls, with your fair presence blest,}
Become your dwelling-place of everlasting rest; }
Not for a night, or quick revolving year,
Welcome an owner, not a sojourner.
This peaceful seat my poverty secures;
War seldom enters but where wealth allures:
Nor yet despise it; for this poor abode,
Has oft received, and yet receives a God;
A God, victorious of a Stygian race,
Here laid his sacred limbs, and sanctified the place.
This mean retreat did mighty Pan[179] contain;}
Be emulous of him, and pomp disdain, }
And dare not to debase your soul to gain. [180]}
The silent stranger stood amazed to see
Contempt of wealth, and wilful poverty;
And, though ill habits are not soon controuled,
Awhile suspended her desire of gold.
But civilly drew in her sharpened paws, }
Not violating hospitable laws, }
And pacified her tail, and licked her frothy jaws. }
The Hind did first her country cates provide;
Then couched herself securely by her side.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 140: Alluding to the Popish Plot. See Note I. ]

[Footnote 141: James II. then Duke of York, whom Shaftesbury and his
party involved in the odium of the plot. ]

[Footnote 142: Plunket, the titular primate of Ireland, Whitebread,
provincial of the Jesuits, and several other Catholic priests, suffered
for the alleged plot. Derrick most absurdly supposes the passage to
refer to the period of the Civil War. ]

[Footnote 143: _Quarry_ signifies, properly, "dead game ready to be cut
up by the huntsman," which the French still call _faire la curée_. But
it is often taken, as in this passage, for the game in general. Vermin
comprehends such wild animals as are not game, foxes, polecats, and the
like. ]

[Footnote 144: Note II. ]

[Footnote 145: The test-oath, against popery, in which
transubstantiation is formally disavowed. See Note III. ]

[Footnote 146: There was a dispute among naturalists, whether sight was
accomplished _per emissionem vel per receptionem specierum_. ]

[Footnote 147: _Dolus versatur in generalibus_, was an axiom of the
schools. ]

[Footnote 148: Note IV. ]

[Footnote 149: The Catholics interpret our Saviour's promise, "that he
would be with the disciples to the end of the world," as applicable to
their own church exclusively. ]

[Footnote 150: Note V. ]

[Footnote 151: By the doctrine of consubstantiation. ]

[Footnote 152: Alluding to Lucan's description of the Roman civil war. ]

[Footnote 153: Note VI. ]

[Footnote 154: See Note XIV. Part I. page 156. ]

[Footnote 155: The gallows. ]

[Footnote 156: By the Blatant Beast, we are generally to understand
slander; see Spenser's Legend of Courtesy. But it is here taken for the
Wolf, or Presbyterian clergy, whose violent declamations against the
church of Rome filled up many sermons. ]

[Footnote 157: The Presbyterian church utterly rejects traditions, and
appeals to the scripture as the sole rule of faith. ]

[Footnote 158: Note VII. ]

[Footnote 159: It is probable, that from this passage Swift took the
idea of comparing the scripture to a testament in his "Tale of a Tub. "]

[Footnote 160: By this asseveration the author seems to infer, that,
because the church of Rome avers her own infallibility, she is
therefore infallible. ]

[Footnote 161: In a Polish Diet, where unanimity was necessary, the
mode adopted of ensuring it was for the majority to hew to pieces the
first individual who expressed his dissent by the fatal _veto_. ]

[Footnote 162: "The church, according to the articles of faith, hath
power to decree rites and ceremonies, and authority in controversies of
faith; and yet it is not lawful for the church to ordain any thing that
is contrary to God's word written, neither may it so expound one place
of scripture, that it be repugnant to another. " Article xx. ]

[Footnote 163: This romantic name is given to the sword of mercy; which
wants a point, and is said to have been that of Edward the Confessor.
It is borne at the coronation. The sword of Ogier the Dane, famous in
romance, the work of Galand, who made Joyeuse and Durandal, was also
called Curtana. ]

[Footnote 164: The Lutherans. ]

[Footnote 165: The Huguenot preachers, being Calvinists, had received
classical, and not episcopal ordination: hence, unless re-ordained,
they were not admitted to preach in the established church of England. ]

[Footnote 166: Note VIII. ]

[Footnote 167: Note IX. ]

[Footnote 168: The magicians imitated Moses in producing the frogs
which infested Egypt; but they could not relieve from that, or any of
the other plagues. By that of boils and blains they were afflicted
themselves, like the other Egyptians. "And the magicians could not
stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were upon the
magicians, and upon all the Egyptians. " _Exod. _ ix. 11. ]

[Footnote 169: Debauchees. ]

[Footnote 170: Note X. ]

[Footnote 171: Note XI. ]

[Footnote 172: Alluding to the doctrines of Wiccliff and the Lollards,
condemned as heresies in their own times, but revived by the reformers. ]

[Footnote 173: About seven hundred years elapsed between the departure
of the church of Rome from the simplicity of the primitive Christians,
and the dawn of the Reformation. ]

[Footnote 174: Note XII. ]

[Footnote 175: Note XIII. ]

[Footnote 176: _Poeta loquitur. _]

[Footnote 177: King James. ]

[Footnote 178: Note XIV. ]

[Footnote 179: Our Saviour. ]

[Footnote 180:

_Ut ventum ad sedes: Hœc, inquit, limina victor
Alcides subiit; hœc illum regia cepit.
Aude, hospes, contemnere opes, et te quoque dignum
Finge deo; rebusque veni non asper egenis. _

Æneid. Lib. VIII.
]




NOTES

ON

THE HIND AND THE PANTHER.

PART II.


Note I.

_Dame, said the Panther, times are mended well,
Since late among the Philistines you fell.
The toils were pitched, a spacious tract of ground,
With expert huntsmen, was encompassed round;
The enclosure narrowed; the sagacious power
Of hounds and death drew nearer every hour. _--P. 161.

In these spirited lines, Dryden describes the dangers in which the
English Catholics were involved by the Popish Plot, which rendered them
so obnoxious for two years, that even Charles himself, much as he was
inclined to favour them, durst not attempt to prevent the most severe
measures from being adopted towards them. It is somewhat curious, that
the very same metaphor of hounds and huntsmen is employed by one of
the most warm advocates for the plot. "Had this plot been a forged
contrivance of their own, (_i. e. _ the Papists,) they would at the very
first discovery of it have had half a dozen, or half a score, crafty
fellows, ready to have attested all the same things; whereas, on the
contrary, notwithstanding we are now on a burning scent, we were fain
till here of late to pick out, by little and little, all upon a cold
scent, and that stained too by the tricks and malice of our enemies.
So that had we not had some such good huntsmen as the Right Noble Earl
of Shaftesbury, to manage the chase for us, our hounds must needs have
been baffled, and the game lost. "--_Appeal from the Country to the
City. _ State Tracts, p. 407.


Note II.

_As I remember, said the sober Hind,
Those toils were for your own dear self designed,
As well as me; and with the self-same throw, }
To catch the quarry and the vermin too, }
(Forgive the slanderous tongues that called you so. )}
Howe'er you take it now, the common cry
Then ran you down for your rank loyalty. _--P. 162.

The country party, during the 1679, and the succeeding years, were as
much incensed against the divines of the high church of England as
against the Papists. The furious pamphlet, quoted in the last note,
divides the enemies of this country into four classes; officers,
courtiers, over-hot churchmen, and papists. "Over-hot churchmen," it
continues, "are bribed to wish well to popery, by the hopes, if not of
a cardinal's cap, yet at least by a command over some abbey, priory,
or other ecclesiastical preferment whereof the Romish church hath so
great plenty. These are the men, who exclaim against our parliament's
proceedings, in relation to the plot, as too violent, calling these
times by no other name than that of _forty_ or _forty-one_;[181]
when, to amuse as well his sacred majesty as his good people, they
again threaten us with another _forty-eight_; and all this is done to
vindicate underhand the Catholic party, by throwing a suspicion on
the fanatics. These are the gentlemen who so magnify the principles
of Bishop Laud, and so much extol the writings of that same late
spirited prelate Dr Heylin, who hath made more Papists, by his books
than Christians by his sermons. These are those episcopal Tantivies,
who can make even the very scriptures pimp for the court, who out of
_Urim and Thummim_ can extort a sermon, to prove the not paying of
tithes and taxes to be the sin against the Holy Ghost; and had rather
see the kingdom run down with blood, than part with the least hem of a
sanctified frock, which they themselves made holy. "--Appeal, &c. _State
Tracts_, p. 403. In a very violent tract, written expressly against
the influence of the clergy,[182] they are charged with being the
principal instruments of the court in corrupting elections. "I find,"
says the author, when talking of the approaching general election,
"all persons very forward to countenance this public work, except the
high-flown ritualists and ceremony-mongers of the clergy, who, being in
the conspiracy against the people, lay themselves out to accommodate
their masters with the veriest villains that can be picked up in all
the country, that so we may fall into the hands again of as treacherous
and lewd a parliament, as the wisdom of God and folly of man has most
miraculously dissolved. To which end they traduce all worthy men for
fanatics, schismatics, or favourers of them. Nay, do but pitch upon
a gentleman, who believes it his duty to serve his God, his king,
and country, faithfully, they cry him down as a person dangerous and
disaffected to the government; thinking thereby to scare the people
from the freedom of their choice, and then impose their hair-brained
journeymen and half-witted fops upon them. " In Shadwell's Whig play,
called "The Lancashire Witches," he has introduced an high-flying
chaplain, as the expression then run, and an Irish priest, who are
described as very ready to accommodate each other in all religious
tenets, since they agree in disbelieving the popish plot, and in
believing that ascribed to the fanatics. These, out of a thousand
instances, may serve to show, how closely the country party in the time
of Charles II. were disposed to identify the interests of Rome, and of
the high church of England. Dryden is therefore well authorised to say,
that both communions were aimed at by that cabal, which pushed on the
investigation of the supposed plot.


Note III.

_The test, it seems, at last has loosed your tongue. _--P. 162.

If there was any ambiguity in the church of England's doctrine
concerning the eucharist, it was fully explained by the memorable
Test Act, passed in 1678, during the heat of the Popish Plot, by
which all persons holding public offices were required, under pain
of disqualification, to disown the doctrine of transubstantiation,
in the most explicit terms, as also that of image worship. This bill
was pressed forwards with great violence by the country party. "I
would not," said one of their orators, "have a popishman, or a popish
woman, remain here; not a popish dog, or a popish bitch; not so much
as a popish cat, to pur and mew about the king. " Many of the church of
England party opposed this test, from an idea that it was prejudicial
to the interests of the crown.


Note IV.

_I then affirm, that this unfailing guide
In pope and general councils must reside;
Both lawful, both combined; what one decrees
By numerous votes, the other ratifies;
On this undoubted sense the church relies. _--P. 164.

Dryden does not plead the cause of infallibility so high as to
declare it lodged in the pope alone; but inclines to the milder and
more moderate opinion, which vests it in the church and pope jointly.
This was the shape in which the doctrine was stated in the pamphlets
generally dispersed from the king's printing-press about this time;
whether because James really held the opinion of the Ultramontane, or
Gallican church, in this point, or that he thought the more moderate
statement was most likely to be acceptable to new converts. In a
dialogue betwixt a Missioner and a Plain Man, printed along with
the Rosary, in a very small form, and apparently designed for very
extensive circulation, the question is thus stated:

"_Plain Man. _ How shall I know what the church teaches, and by what
means may I come to know her infallible doctrine?

"_Missioner. _ In those cases, she speaks to us by her supreme
courts of judicature, her general councils, which, being the legal
representatives of her whole body, she is secured from erring in them
as to all things which appertain to faith. "


Note V.

_But mark how sandy is your own pretence,
Who, setting councils, pope, and church aside,
Are every man his own presuming guide
The sacred books, you say, are full and plain,
And every needful point of truth contain;
All who can read interpreters may be. _--P. 165.

This ultimate appeal to the scriptures against the authority of the
church, as it is what the church of Rome has most to dread, is most
combated by her followers. Dryden, like a good courtier, adopts here,
as well as elsewhere, the arguments which converted his master, Charles
II. "We declare," says the king in his first paper, "to believe one
Catholic and apostolic church; and it is not left to every phantastical
man's head to believe as he pleases, but to the church, to whom Christ
left the power upon earth, to govern us in matters of faith, who made
these creeds for our directions. It were a very irrational thing
to make laws for a country, and leave it to the inhabitants to be
interpreters and judges of those laws: For then every man will be his
own judge; and, by consequence, no such thing as either right or wrong.
Can we therefore suppose, that God Almighty would leave us at those
uncertainties, as to give us a rule to go by, and leave every man to be
his own judge? I do ask any ingenuous man, Whether it be not the same
thing to follow our own phancy, or to interpret the scripture by it?
I would have any man shew me, where the power of deciding matters of
faith is given to every particular man. Christ left his power to his
church, even to forgive sins in heaven; and left his Spirit with them,
which they exercised after his resurrection; first by his apostles in
their creed, and many years after by the council at Nice, where that
creed was made that is called by that name; and by the power which they
had received from Christ, they were the judges even of the scripture
itself many years after the apostles, which books were canonical, and
which were not. " _Papers found in King Charles's strong box. _


Note VI.

_The good old bishops took a simpler way;
Each asked but what he heard his father say,
Or how he was instructed in his youth,
And by tradition's force upheld the truth. _--P. 167.

Dryden had previously attacked the rule of faith, by private judgment
of the Holy Scriptures. His assumption is, that the scriptures
having been often misunderstood and abused by heretics of various
descriptions, there must be some more infallible guide left us by God
as the rule of faith. Instead of trusting, therefore, to individual
judgment founded on the scripture, he urges, that the infallibility
of faith depends upon oral tradition, handed down, as his communion
pretends, by father to son, from the times of the primitive church till
this very day. It is upon this foundation that the church of Rome rests
her claim to infallibility, as the immediate representative of the
apostles and primitive church.


Note VII.

_For purging fires traditions must not fight;
But they must prove episcopacy's right. _--P. 170.

The doctrine of purgatory, and prayers for the dead, is founded on
a passage in the book of Tobit. The Apocrypha not being absolutely
rejected by the church of England, but admitted for "example of life
and instruction of manners," though not of canonical authority, part
of this curious and romantic history is read in the course of the
calendar. The domestic circumstance of the dog gave unreasonable
scandal to the Puritans, from which the following is a good-humoured
vindication. "Give me leave for once to intercede for that poor dog,
because he is a dog of good example, for he was faithful, and loved his
master; besides, that he never troubles the church on Sundays, when
people have their best clothes on; only on a week-day, when scrupulous
brethren are always absent, the poor cur makes bold to follow his
master.
" But although the church of England did not receive the
traditive belief, founded upon the aforesaid passage concerning prayer
for the dead, the dissenters accused her of liberal reference to
tradition in the disputes concerning the office of bishop, the nature
of which is in the New Testament left somewhat dubious.


Note VIII.

_But this annexed condition of the crown,
Immunity from errors, you disown;
Here then you shrink, and lay your weak pretensions down. _ P. 176.

Much of the preceding argument, and this conclusion, is founded upon
the following passage in the second paper found in King Charles's
strong box. "It is a sad thing to consider what a world of heresies are
crept into this nation. Every man thinks himself as competent a judge
of the scriptures as the very apostles themselves; and 'tis no wonder
that it should be so, since that part of the nation which looks most
like a church, dares not bring the true arguments against the other
sects, for fear they should be turned against themselves, and confuted
by their own arguments. The church of England, as 'tis called, would
fain have it thought, that they are the judges in matters spiritual,
and yet dare not positively say, that there is no appeal from them;
for either they must say, that they are infallible, which they cannot
pretend to, or confess, that what they decide in matters of conscience
is no further to be followed, than as it agrees with every man's
private judgment. "

To this the divines of England answered, that they indeed asserted
church authority, but without pretending to infallibility; and that
while the church decided upon points of faith, she was to be directed
and guided by the scriptures, just as the judges of a temporal tribunal
are to frame their decisions, not from any innate or infallible
authority of their own, but in conformity with the laws of the realm.


Note IX.

_Behold, what heavenly rays adorn her brows,
What from his wardrobe her beloved allows,
To deck the wedding-day of his unspotted spouse! _--P. 177.

In this and the following lines Dryden sets forth his adopted
mother-church in all the glowing attributes of majesty and authority.
The lines are extremely beautiful, and their policy is obvious, from
the following passage in a pretended letter from Father Petre to Father
La Chaise. The letter bears every mark indeed of forgery; but it is
equally an illustration of Dryden, whether the policy contained in it
was attributed by the Protestants to the Catholics as part of their
scheme, or was really avowed as such by themselves. "Many English
heretics resort often to our sermons; and I have often recommended to
our fathers to preach now in the beginning as little as they can of the
controversy, because that provokes; but to represent to them the beauty
and antiquity of the Catholic religion, that they may be convinced that
all that has been said and preached to them, and their own reflections
concerning it, have been all scandal. "--_Somers' Tracts_, p. 253. The
unity of the Catholic church was also chiefly insisted on during the
controversy:

One in herself, not rent by schism, but sound,
Entire; one solid, shining diamond,
Not sparkles shattered into sects like you;
One is the church, and must be to be true.

It seems to have escaped Dryden, that all the various sects which
have existed, and do now exist, in the Christian world, may, in some
measure, be said to be sparkles shattered from his "solid diamond;"
since at one time all Christendom belonged to the Roman church. Thus
the disunion of the various sects of Protestants is no more an argument
against the church of England than it is against the church of Rome,
or the Christian faith in general. All communions insist on the same
privilege; and when the church of Rome denounced the Protestants as
heretics, like Coriolanus going into exile, they returned the sentence
against her who gave it. If it is urged, that, notwithstanding these
various defections, the Roman church retained the most extended
communion, this plea would place the truth of religious opinions upon
the hazardous basis of numbers, which Mahometans might plead more
successfully than any Christian church, in proportion as their faith is
more widely extended. These arguments of the unity and extent of the
church are thus expressed in a missionary tract already quoted, where
the _Plain Man_ thus addresses his English parson: "Either shew me, by
more plain and positive texts of scripture than what the Missioner has
here brought, that God Almighty has promised to preserve his church
from essential errors, such as are idolatry, superstition, &c. ; or
else shew me a church visible in all ages spread over the face of
the whole world, secured from such errors, and at unity in itself. A
church, that has had all along kings for nursing fathers, and queens
for nursing mothers; a church, to which all nations have flowed, and
which is authorised to teach them infallibly all those truths which
were delivered to the saints without mixtures of error, which destroy
sanctity; I say, either shew me, from plain texts of scripture, that
Christ's church was not to be my infallible guide; or shew me such a
church of Christ as these promises require, distinct from that of the
Roman, and from which she has either separated, or been cut off. "


Note X.

_Industrious of the needle and the chart,
They run full sail to their Japonian mart;
Preventing fear, and prodigal of fame,
Sell all of Christian to the very name. _--P. 179.

The author has, a little above, used an argument, much to the honour
of the Catholic church--her unceasing diligence in labouring for the
conversion of the heathen; a task, in which her missionaries have
laboured with unwearied assiduity, encountering fatigue, danger, and
martyrdom itself, in winning souls to the faith. It has been justly
objected, that the spiritual instruction of their converts is but
slight and superficial; yet still their missionary zeal forms a strong
contrast to the indifference of the reformed churches in this duty.
Nothing of the kind has ever been attempted on a great or national
scale by the church of England, which gives Catholics room to upbraid
her clergy with their unambitious sloth in declining the dignity of
becoming bishops _in partibus infidelium_. The poet goes on to state
the scandalous materials with which it has been the universal custom
of Britain to supply the population of her colonies; the very dregs
and outcasts of humanity being the only recruits whom she destines to
establish the future marts for her commodities. The success of such
missionaries among the savage tribes, who have the misfortune to be
placed in their vicinity, may be easily guessed:

Deliberate and undeceived,
The wild men's vices they received,
And gave them back their own. _Wordsworth. _

On the other hand, the care of the Catholic missionaries was by no
means limited to the spiritual concerns of those heathen among whom
they laboured: they extended them to their temporal concerns, and
sometimes unfortunately occasioned grievous civil dissensions, and
much bloodshed. Something of this kind took place in Japan; where the
Christians, having raised a rebellion against the heathens, (for the
beaten party, as Dryden says, are always rebels to the victors,) were
exterminated, root and branch. This excited such an utter hatred of
Catholic priests, and their religion, that they were prohibited, under
the deepest denunciations of death and confiscation, from landing
in Japan. Nevertheless, the severity of this law did not prevent
the Hollanders from sharing in the gainful traffic of the island,
which they gained permission to do, by declaring, that they were not
Christians, (only meaning, we hope, that they were not Catholics,) but
Dutchmen; and it was currently believed, that, in corroboration of
their assertion, they were required to trample upon the crucifix, the
object of adoration to those whom the Japanese had formerly known under
the name of Christians.


Note XI.

_Thus of three marks which in the creed we view,
Not one of all can be applied to you,
Much less the fourth; in vain, alas! you seek
The ambitious title of apostolic. _--P. 179.

The poet is enumerating the marks of the Catholic church, according
to the Nicene creed, which he makes out to be Unity, Truth, Sanctity,
and Apostolic Derivation, all of which he denies to the church of
England. The qualities of truth and sanctity are implied under the word
_Catholic_.


Note XII.

_That pious Joseph in the church behold,
To feed your famine, and refuse your gold;
The Joseph you exiled, the Joseph whom you sold. _--P. 182.

The English Benedictine monks executed a renunciation of the abbey
lands, belonging to the order before the Reformation, in order to
satisfy the minds of the possessors, and reconcile them to the
re-establishment of the ancient religion, by guaranteeing the stability
of their property. There appeared, however, to the proprietors of
these lands, little generosity in this renunciation, in case the monks
were to remain in a condition of inability to support their pretended
claim; and, on the other hand, some reason to suspect its validity,
should they ever be strong enough to plead their title. The king's
declaration of indulgence contained a promise upon this head, which
appeared equally ominous: He declared, that he would maintain his
loving subjects in their properties and possessions, "as well of church
and abbey lands as of any other. " The only effect of this clause was to
make men enquire, whether popery was so near being established as to
make such a promise necessary; and if so, how far the promise itself
was to be relied upon, in opposition to the doctrine of resumption,
which had always been enforced by the Roman see, even when these church
lands fell into the hands of persons of their own persuasion, unless
they were dedicated to pious uses. Nor were there wanting persons
to remind the proprietors of such lands, that the canons declared
that even the pope had no authority to confirm the alienation of the
property of the church; that the general council of Trent had solemnly
anathematized all who detained church lands; that the _Monasticon
Anglicanum_ was carefully preserved in the Vatican as a rule for
the intended resumption; and that the reigning pope had obstinately
refused to confirm any such alienations by his bulls, though the doing
so at this crisis might have removed a great obstacle to the growth
of Popery in England. --See, in the _State Tracts_, a piece called
"Abbey Lands not assured to Roman Catholics," Vol. 1. p. 326; and more
especially a tract, by some ascribed to Burnet, and by others to Sir
William Coventry, entitled, "A Letter written to Dr Burnet, giving some
account of Cardinal Pole's secret powers; from which it appears, that
it never was intended to confirm the Alienation that was made of the
Abbey Lands. To which are added, Two Breves that Cardinal Pole brought
over, and some other of his Letters that were never before printed,
1685. "


Note XIII.

_Such were the pleasing triumphs of the sky,
For James his late nocturnal victory;
The pledge of his almighty Patron's love,
The fireworks which his angels made above. _--P. 182.

The aurora borealis was an uncommon spectacle in England during the
17th century. Its occasional appearance, however, gave foundation
to those tales of armies fighting in the air, and similar phenomena
with which the credulity of the vulgar was amused. The author seems
to allude to some extraordinary display of the aurora borealis on the
evening of the battle of Sedgemuir, which was chiefly fought by night.
I do not find the circumstance noticed elsewhere. Dryden attests it by
his personal evidence.


Note XIV.

_And then the dew-drops on her silken hide
Her tender constitution did declare,
Too lady-like a long fatigue to bear,
And rough inclemencies of raw nocturnal air. _--P. 183.

This seems to be a sarcasm of the same kind with the following: "But,"
says the zealous Protestant of the mother church, "if you repeal
the test, you take away the bulwark that defends the church; for if
that were once demolished, the enemy would rush in and possess all;
and it is a delicate innocent church that cannot be safe but in a
fortified place. "--"I must confess, it is a great argument of her
modesty to own herself weak and unable to subsist without the support
of parliamentary laws, to hang, draw, or quarter her opposers, and
without a coercive power in herself to fine and excommunicate all
recusants and nonconformists. "[183] One would wish to ask this Catholic
advocate for universal toleration, if he had ever heard of a court in
Popish countries for the prevention of heresy, generally called the
Inquisition?

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 181: The great civil war broke out in 1641-2, and the king
was dethroned in 1648. ]

[Footnote 182: "The Freeholder's Choice, or a Letter of Advice
concerning Elections. "]

[Footnote 183: New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty. ]




THE

HIND AND THE PANTHER.

A POEM.

PART THIRD.




THE

HIND AND THE PANTHER.

PART THIRD.


Much malice, mingled with a little wit,
Perhaps may censure this mysterious writ;
Because the muse has peopled Caledon }
With panthers, bears, and wolves, and beasts unknown,}
As if we were not stocked with monsters of our own. }
Let Æsop answer, who has set to view
Such kinds as Greece and Phrygia never knew;
And mother Hubbard, in her homely dress,
Has sharply blamed a British lioness;
That queen, whose feast the factious rabble keep,
Exposed obscenely naked, and asleep. [184]
Led by those great examples, may not I
The wonted organs of their words supply?
If men transact like brutes, 'tis equal then
For brutes to claim the privilege of men.
Others our Hind of folly will indite,
To entertain a dangerous guest by night.
Let those remember, that she cannot die,
Till rolling time is lost in round eternity;
Nor need she fear the Panther, though untamed,
Because the Lion's peace was now proclaimed;[185]
The wary savage would not give offence,
To forfeit the protection of her prince;
But watched the time her vengeance to complete,
When all her furry sons in frequent senate met;[186]
Meanwhile she quenched her fury at the flood,
And with a lenten sallad cooled her blood.
Their commons, though but coarse, were nothing scant,
Nor did their minds an equal banquet want.
For now the Hind, whose noble nature strove
To express her plain simplicity of love,
Did all the honours of her house so well,
No sharp debates disturbed the friendly meal.
She turned the talk, avoiding that extreme,
To common dangers past, a sadly-pleasing theme;
Remembering every storm which tossed the state, }
When both were objects of the public hate, }
And dropt a tear betwixt for her own childrens' fate. }
Nor failed she then a full review to make
Of what the Panther suffered for her sake;
Her lost esteem, her truth, her loyal care,
Her faith unshaken to an exiled heir,
Her strength to endure, her courage to defy,
Her choice of honourable infamy. [187]
On these, prolixly thankful, she enlarged;
Then with acknowledgment herself she charged;
For friendship, of itself an holy tie,
Is made more sacred by adversity.
Now should they part, malicious tongues would say,
They met like chance companions on the way,
Whom mutual fear of robbers had possessed;
While danger lasted, kindness was professed;
But, that once o'er, the short-lived union ends,
The road divides, and there divide the friends.
The Panther nodded, when her speech was done,
And thanked her coldly in a hollow tone;
But said, her gratitude had gone too far
For common offices of Christian care.
If to the lawful heir she had been true,
She paid but Cæsar what was Cæsar's due.
I might, she added, with like praise describe
Your suffering sons, and so return your bribe:
But incense from my hands is poorly prized;
For gifts are scorned where givers are despised.
I served a turn, and then was cast away; }
You, like the gaudy fly, your wings display, }
And sip the sweets, and bask in your great patron's day. --[188]}
This heard, the matron was not slow to find
What sort of malady had seized her mind;
Disdain, with gnawing envy, fell despite,
And cankered malice, stood in open sight;
Ambition, interest, pride without controul,
And jealousy, the jaundice of the soul;
Revenge, the bloody minister of ill,
With all the lean tormentors of the will.
'Twas easy now to guess from whence arose
Her new-made union with her ancient foes;
Her forced civilities, her faint embrace,
Affected kindness, with an altered face;
Yet durst she not too deeply probe the wound,
As hoping still the nobler parts were sound;
But strove with anodynes to assuage the smart,
And mildly thus her medicine did impart.
Complaints of lovers help to ease their pain;
It shows a rest of kindness to complain;
A friendship loth to quit its former hold,
And conscious merit, may be justly bold;
But much more just your jealousy would shew,
If others' good were injury to you:
Witness, ye heavens, how I rejoice to see
Rewarded worth and rising loyalty!
Your warrior offspring, that upheld the crown,
The scarlet honour of your peaceful gown,
Are the most pleasing objects I can find,
Charms to my sight, and cordials to my mind:
When virtue spooms[189] before a prosperous gale,
My heaving wishes help to fill the sail;
And if my prayers for all the brave were heard,
Cæsar should still have such, and such should still reward.
The laboured earth your pains have sowed and tilled,
'Tis just you reap the product of the field:
Yours be the harvest; 'tis the beggar's gain,
To glean the fallings of the loaded wain.
Such scattered ears as are not worth your care,}
Your charity, for alms, may safely spare, }
For alms are but the vehicles of prayer. }
My daily bread is literally implored;
I have no barns nor granaries to hoard.
If Cæsar to his own his hand extends, }
Say which of yours his charity offends; }
You know, he largely gives to more than are his friends. }
Are you defrauded, when he feeds the poor?
Our mite decreases nothing of your store.
I am but few, and by your fare you see
My crying sins are not of luxury.
Some juster motive sure your mind withdraws, }
And makes you break our friendship's holy laws;}
For barefaced envy is too base a cause. }
Show more occasion for your discontent;
Your love, the Wolf, would help you to invent:
Some German quarrel, or, as times go now,
Some French,[190] where force is uppermost, will do.
When at the fountain's head, as merit ought
To claim the place, you take a swilling draught,
How easy 'tis an envious eye to throw,
And tax the sheep for troubling streams below;
Or call her, when no farther cause you find,
An enemy professed of all your kind!
But, then, perhaps, the wicked world would think,
The Wolf designed to eat as well as drink. --
This last allusion galled the Panther more,
Because, indeed, it rubbed upon the sore;
Yet seemed she not to wince, though shrewdly pained,
But thus her passive character maintained.
I never grudged, whate'er my foes report,
Your flaunting fortune in the Lion's court.
You have your day, or you are much belied,
But I am always on the suffering side;
You know my doctrine, and I need not say,
I will not, but I cannot disobey.
Their malice too a sore suspicion brings,
For, though they dare not bark, they snarl at kings.
On this firm principle I ever stood; }
He of my sons who fails to make it good, }
By one rebellious act renounces to my blood. [191]}
Ah, said the Hind, how many sons have you,
Who call you mother, whom you never knew!
But most of them, who that relation plead,
Are such ungracious youths as wish you dead.
They gape at rich revenues which you hold,
And fain would nibble at your grandame gold;
Enquire into your years, and laugh to find
Your crazy temper shows you much declined.
Were you not dim and doated, you might see}
A pack of cheats that claim a pedigree, }
No more of kin to you, than you to me. }
Do you not know, that, for a little coin,
Heralds can foist a name into the line?
They ask you blessing but for what you have, }
But, once possessed of what with care you save,}
The wanton boys would piss upon your grave. }
Your sons of latitude, that court your grace,}
Though most resembling you in form and face, }
Are far the worst of your pretended race; }
And, but I blush your honesty to blot,
Pray God you prove them lawfully begot!
For, in some Popish libels I have read,
The Wolf has been too busy in your bed;[192]
At least their hinder parts, the belly-piece,
The paunch, and all that Scorpio claims,[193] are his.
Nor blame them for intruding in your line;
Fat bishoprics are still of right divine.
Think you, your new French proselytes are come,
To starve abroad, because they starved at home?
Your benefices twinkled from afar,
They found the new Messiah by the star;
Those Swisses fight on any side for pay,
And 'tis the living that conforms, not they.
Mark with what management their tribes divide; }
Some stick to you, and some to t'other side, }
That many churches may for many mouths provide. [194]}
More vacant pulpits would more converts make;
All would have latitude enough to take:
The rest unbeneficed your sects maintain;}
For ordinations, without cures, are vain,}
And chamber practice is a silent gain. }
Your sons of breadth at home are much like these;
Their soft and yielding metals run with ease;
They melt, and take the figure of the mould,
But harden and preserve it best in gold. --
Your Delphic sword, the Panther then replied,
Is double-edged, and cuts on either side.
Some sons of mine, who bear upon their shield
Three steeples argent in a sable field,
Have sharply taxed your converts, who, unfed,
Have followed you for miracles of bread;[195]
Such, who themselves of no religion are,
Allured with gain, for any will declare.
Bare lies, with bold assertions, they can face;
But dint of argument is out of place.
The grim logician puts them in a fright;
'Tis easier far to flourish than to fight. [196]
Thus, our eighth Henry's marriage they defame;}
They say, the schism of beds began the game, }
Divorcing from the church to wed the dame; }
Though largely proved, and by himself professed,
That conscience, conscience would not let him rest,--[197]
I mean, not till possessed of her he loved,
And old, uncharming Catherine was removed.
For sundry years before he did complain,
And told his ghostly confessor his pain.
With the same impudence, without a ground, }
They say, that, look the reformation round,}
No treatise of humility is found. [198] }
But if none were, the gospel does not want; }
Our Saviour preached it, and I hope you grant,}
The sermon on the mount was protestant. -- }
No doubt, replied the Hind, as sure as all}
The writings of Saint Peter and Saint Paul; }
On that decision let it stand, or fall. }
Now for my converts, who, you say, unfed,
Have followed me for miracles of bread.
Judge not by hearsay, but observe at least,
If since their change their loaves have been increased.
The Lion buys no converts; if he did,
Beasts would be sold as fast as he could bid.
Tax those of interest, who conform for gain,
Or stay the market of another reign:
Your broad-way sons[199] would never be too nice
To close with Calvin, if he paid their price;
But, raised three steeples higher, would change their note,
And quit the cassock for the canting-coat.
Now, if you damn this censure, as too bold,
Judge by yourselves, and think not others sold.
Meantime, my sons accused, by fame's report,
Pay small attendance at the Lion's court,
Nor rise with early crowds, nor flatter late;
For silently they beg, who daily wait.
Preferment is bestowed, that comes unsought;
Attendance is a bribe, and then 'tis bought.
How they should speed, their fortune is untried;
For not to ask, is not to be denied.
For what they have, their God and king they bless,
And hope they should not murmur, had they less.
But if reduced subsistence to implore,
In common prudence they would pass your door;
Unpitied Hudibras, your champion friend,[200]
Has shown how far your charities extend.
This lasting verse shall on his tomb be read,
"He shamed you living, and upbraids you dead. "
With odious atheist names you load your foes;}
Your liberal clergy why did I expose? }
It never fails in charities like those. [201] }
In climes where true religion is professed,
That imputation were no laughing jest;
But _imprimatur_, with a chaplain's name,
Is here sufficient licence to defame. [202]
What wonder is't that black detraction thrives? }
The homicide of names is less than lives; }
And yet the perjured murderer survives. -- }
This said, she paused a little, and suppressed
The boiling indignation of her breast.
She knew the virtue of her blade, nor would
Pollute her satire with ignoble blood;
Her panting foe she saw before her eye,
And back she drew the shining weapon dry.
So when the generous Lion has in sight
His equal match, he rouses for the fight;
But when his foe lies prostrate on the plain,
He sheaths his paws, uncurls his angry mane,
And, pleased with bloodless honours of the day,
Walks over, and disdains the inglorious prey.
So James, if great with less we may compare,
Arrests his rolling thunder-bolts in air;
And grants ungrateful friends a lengthened space,
To implore the remnants of long-suffering grace.
This breathing-time the matron took; and then
Resumed the thread of her discourse again. --
Be vengeance wholly left to powers divine,
And let heaven judge betwixt your sons and mine:
If joys hereafter must be purchased here
With loss of all that mortals hold so dear,
Then welcome infamy and public shame,
And last, a long farewell to worldly fame! [203]
'Tis said with ease, but, oh, how hardly tried}
By haughty souls to human honour tied! }
O sharp convulsive pangs of agonizing pride! }
Down then, thou rebel, never more to rise! }
And what thou didst, and dost, so dearly prize, }
That fame, that darling fame, make that thy sacrifice. }
'Tis nothing thou hast given; then add thy tears
For a long race of unrepenting years:
'Tis nothing yet, yet all thou hast to give:
Then add those may-be years thou hast to live:
Yet nothing still: then poor and naked come, }
Thy father will receive his unthrift home, }
And thy blest Saviour's blood discharge the mighty sum. }
Thus, she pursued, I discipline a son,
Whose unchecked fury to revenge would run;
He champs the bit, impatient of his loss,
And starts aside, and flounders at the cross.
Instruct him better, gracious God, to know,
As thine is vengeance, so forgiveness too;
That, suffering from ill tongues, he bears no more
Than what his sovereign bears, and what his Saviour bore.
It now remains for you to school your child,[204]
And ask why God's anointed he reviled;
A king and princess dead! did Shimei worse?
The curser's punishment should fright the curse;
Your son was warned, and wisely gave it o'er,
But he, who counselled him, has paid the score;[205]
The heavy malice could no higher tend,
But woe to him on whom the weights descend.
So to permitted ills the demon flies;
His rage is aimed at him who rules the skies:
Constrained to quit his cause, no succour found,
The foe discharges every tire around,
In clouds of smoke abandoning the fight,
But his own thundering peals proclaim his flight.
In Henry's change his charge as ill succeeds;}
To that long story little answer needs; }
Confront but Henry's words with Henry's deeds. }
Were space allowed, with ease it might be proved,
What springs his blessed reformation moved.
The dire effects appeared in open sight, }
Which from the cause he calls a distant flight, }
And yet no larger leap than from the sun to light. }
Now last your sons a double pæan sound,
A treatise of humility is found.
'Tis found, but better it had ne'er been sought,
Than thus in Protestant procession brought.
The famed original through Spain is known, }
Rodriguez' work, my celebrated son, }
Which yours, by ill-translating, made his own;[206]}
Concealed its author, and usurped the name,
The basest and ignoblest theft of fame.
My altars kindled first that living coal;
Restore, or practise better what you stole;
That virtue could this humble verse inspire,
'Tis all the restitution I require. --
Glad was the Panther that the charge was closed,
And none of all her favourite sons exposed;
for laws of arms permit each injured man,
To make himself a saver where he can.
Perhaps the plundered merchant cannot tell
The names of pirates in whose hands he fell;
But at the den of thieves he justly flies,
And every Algerine is lawful prize;
No private person in the foe's estate
Can plead exemption from the public fate.
Yet Christian laws allow not such redress;
Then let the greater supersede the less.
But let the abettors of the Panther's crime
Learn to make fairer wars another time.
Some characters may sure be found to write }
Among her sons; for 'tis no common sight, }
A spotted dam, and all her offspring white. }
The savage, though she saw her plea controuled,
Yet would not wholly seem to quit her hold,
But offered fairly to compound the strife,
And judge conversion by the convert's life.
'Tis true, she said, I think it somewhat strange,
So few should follow profitable change;
For present joys are more to flesh and blood,
Than a dull prospect of a distant good.
'Twas well alluded by a son of mine,
(I hope to quote him is not to purloin,)
Two magnets, heaven and earth, allure to bliss;
The larger loadstone that, the nearer this:
The weak attraction of the greater fails;
We nod a while, but neighbourhood prevails;
But when the greater proves the nearer too,
I wonder more your converts come so slow.
Methinks in those who firm with me remain,
It shows a nobler principle than gain. --
Your inference would be strong, the Hind replied,
If yours were in effect the suffering side;
Your clergy's sons their own in peace possess,
Nor are their prospects in reversion less.
My proselytes are struck with awful dread,
Your bloody comet-laws hang blazing o'er their head;
The respite they enjoy but only lent,
The best they have to hope, protracted punishment. [207]
Be judge yourself, if interest may prevail,
Which motives, yours or mine, will turn the scale.
While pride and pomp allure, and plenteous ease,}
That is, till man's predominant passions cease, }
Admire no longer at my slow increase. }
By education most have been misled;
So they believe, because they so were bred.
The priest continues what the nurse began,
And thus the child imposes on the man.