No More Learning

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.
The rest I named before, nor need repeat;
But interest is the most prevailing cheat,
The sly seducer both of age and youth;
They study that, and think they study truth.
When interest fortifies an argument, }
Weak reason serves to gain the will's assent; }
For souls, already warped, receive an easy bent. }
Add long prescription of established laws,
And pique of honour to maintain a cause,
And shame of change, and fear of future ill,
And zeal, the blind conductor of the will;
And chief, among the still-mistaking crowd, }
The fame of teachers obstinate and proud, }
And, more than all, the private judge allowed;}
Disdain of fathers which the dance began, }
And last, uncertain whose the narrower span,}
The clown unread, and half-read gentleman. --}
To this the Panther, with a scornful smile;--
Yet still you travel with unwearied toil,
And range around the realm without controul,}
Among my sons for proselytes to prowl; }
And here and there you snap some silly soul. }
You hinted fears of future change in state;
Pray heaven you did not prophesy your fate!
Perhaps, you think your time of triumph near, }
But may mistake the season of the year; }
The Swallow's fortune gives you cause to fear. --[208]}
For charity, replied the matron, tell
What sad mischance those pretty birds befel. --
Nay, no mischance, the savage dame replied, }
But want of wit in their unerring guide, }
And eager haste, and gaudy hopes, and giddy pride. }
Yet, wishing timely warning may prevail,
Make you the moral, and I'll tell the tale.
The Swallow, privileged above the rest
Of all the birds, as man's familiar guest,
Pursues the sun, in summer brisk and bold,
But wisely shuns the persecuting cold;
Is well to chancels and to chimnies known,
Though 'tis not thought she feeds on smoke alone.
From hence she has been held of heavenly line,
Endued with particles of soul divine.
This merry chorister had long possessed
Her summer-seat, and feathered well her nest;
Till frowning skies began to change their cheer,
And time turned up the wrong side of the year;
The shading trees began the ground to strow
With yellow leaves, and bitter blasts to blow.
Sad auguries of winter thence she drew,
Which by instinct, or prophecy, she knew;
When prudence warned her to remove betimes,
And seek a better heaven, and warmer climes.
Her sons were summoned on a steeple's height,
And, called in common council, vote a flight.
The day was named, the next that should be fair; }
All to the general rendezvous repair, }
They try their fluttering wings, and trust themselves in air. }
But whether upward to the moon they go, }
Or dream the winter out in caves below, }
Or hawk at flies elsewhere, concerns us not to know. }
Southwards you may be sure they bent their flight,}
And harboured in a hollow rock at night; }
Next morn they rose, and set up every sail;
The wind was fair, but blew a mackrel gale;
The sickly young sat shivering on the shore,
Abhorred salt-water never seen before.
And prayed their tender mothers to delay
The passage, and expect a fairer day.
With these the Martin readily concurred,
A church bigot, and church-believing bird;
Of little body, but of lofty mind, }
Round bellied, for a dignity designed, }
And much a dunce, as Martins are by kind;}
Yet often quoted canon-laws, and code, }
And fathers which he never understood; }
But little learning needs in noble blood. }
For, sooth to say, the Swallow brought him in,
Her household chaplain, and her next of kin;
In superstition silly to excess,
And casting schemes by planetary guess;
In fine, short-winged, unfit himself to fly,
His fear foretold foul weather in the sky.
Besides, a Raven from a withered oak,[209]
Left of their lodging, was observed to croak.
That omen liked him not; so his advice }
Was present safety, bought at any price; }
A seeming pious care, that covered cowardice. }
To strengthen this, he told a boding dream,
Of rising waters, and a troubled stream,
Sure signs of anguish, dangers, and distress,
With something more, not lawful to express:
By which he slily seemed to intimate
Some secret revelation of their fate.
For he concluded, once upon a time,
He found a leaf inscribed with sacred rhyme,
Whose antique characters did well denote
The Sibyl's hand of the Cumæan grot;
The mad divineress had plainly writ,
A time should come, but many ages yet,
In which, sinister destinies ordain, }
A dame should drown with all her feathered train, }
And seas from thence be called the Chelidonian main. [210] }
At this, some shook for fear; the more devout
Arose, and blessed themselves from head to foot.
'Tis true, some stagers of the wiser sort
Made all these idle wonderments their sport;
They said, their only danger was delay, }
And he, who heard what every fool could say, }
Would never fix his thought, but trim his time away. }
The passage yet was good; the wind, 'tis true, }
Was somewhat high, but that was nothing new, }
No more than usual equinoxes blew. }
The sun, already from the Scales declined, }
Gave little hopes of better days behind, }
But change from bad to worse, of weather and of wind. }
Nor need they fear the dampness of the sky }
Should flag their wings, and hinder them to fly, }
'Twas only water thrown on sails too dry. }
But, least of all, philosophy presumes
Of truth in dreams, from melancholy fumes;
Perhaps the Martin, housed in holy ground,
Might think of ghosts, that walk their midnight round,
Till grosser atoms, tumbling in the stream
Of fancy, madly met, and clubbed into a dream:
As little weight his vain presages bear,
Of ill effect to such alone who fear;
Most prophecies are of a piece with these,
Each Nostradamus can foretel with ease:
Not naming persons, and confounding times,
One casual truth supports a thousand lying rhymes.
The advice was true; but fear had seized the most,
And all good counsel is on cowards lost.
The question crudely put to shun delay,
'Twas carried by the major part to stay.
His point thus gained, Sir Martin dated thence
His power, and from a priest became a prince.
He ordered all things with a busy care, }
And cells and refectories did prepare, }
And large provisions laid of winter fare;}
But, now and then, let fall a word or two, }
Of hope, that heaven some miracle might show, }
And for their sakes, the sun should backward go;}
Against the laws of nature upward climb,
And, mounted on the Ram, renew the prime;
For which two proofs in sacred story lay,
Of Ahaz' dial, and of Joshua's day.
In expectation of such times as these,
A chapel housed them, truly called of ease;
For Martin much devotion did not ask;
They prayed sometimes, and that was all their task.
It happened, as beyond the reach of wit
Blind prophecies may have a lucky hit,
That this accomplished, or at least in part,
Gave great repute to their new Merlin's art.
Some Swifts,[211] the giants of the Swallow kind,}
Large limbed, stout-hearted, but of stupid mind, }
(For Swisses, or for Gibeonites designed, }
These lubbers, peeping through a broken pane,
To suck fresh air, surveyed the neighbouring plain,
And saw, but scarcely could believe their eyes,
New blossoms flourish, and new flowers arise;
As God had been abroad, and, walking there,
Had left his footsteps, and reformed the year.
The sunny hills from far were seen to glow }
With glittering beams, and in the meads below }
The burnished brooks appeared with liquid gold to flow. }
At last they heard the foolish Cuckow sing,
Whose note proclaimed the holiday of spring.
No longer doubting, all prepare to fly,
And repossess their patrimonial sky.
The priest before them did his wings display;}
And that good omens might attend their way, }
As luck would have it, 'twas St Martin's day. }
Who but the Swallow now triumphs alone?
The canopy of heaven is all her own;
Her youthful offspring to their haunts repair,
And glide along in glades, and skim in air,
And dip for insects in the purling springs,
And stoop on rivers to refresh their wings.
Their mothers think a fair provision made,
That every son can live upon his trade,
And, now the careful charge is off their hands,
Look out for husbands, and new nuptial bands.
The youthful widow longs to be supplied; }
But first the lover is by lawyers tied, }
To settle jointure-chimnies on the bride. }
So thick they couple in so short a space,
That Martin's marriage-offerings rise apace.
Their ancient houses, running to decay,
Are furbished up, and cemented with clay:
They teem already; store of eggs are laid,
And brooding mothers call Lucina's aid.
Fame spreads the news, and foreign fowls appear,}
In flocks, to greet the new returning year, }
To bless the founder, and partake the cheer. }
And now 'twas time, so fast their numbers rise,
To plant abroad and people colonies.
The youth drawn forth, as Martin had desired,
(For so their cruel destiny required,)
Were sent far off on an ill-fated day;
The rest would needs conduct them on their way,
And Martin went, because he feared alone to stay.
So long they flew with inconsiderate haste,
That now their afternoon began to waste;
And, what was ominous, that very morn
The sun was entered into Capricorn;
Which, by their bad astronomer's account,
That week the Virgin balance should remount.
An infant moon eclipsed him in his way,
And hid the small remainders of his day.
The crowd, amazed, pursued no certain mark,
But birds met birds, and jostled in the dark. [212]
Few mind the public, in a panic fright,
And fear increased the horror of the night.
Night came, but unattended with repose;
Alone she came, no sleep their eyes to close;
Alone, and black she came; no friendly stars arose.
What should they do, beset with dangers round,
No neighbouring dorp,[213] no lodging to be found,
But bleaky plains, and bare, unhospitable ground?
The latter brood, who just began to fly,
Sick-feathered, and unpractised in the sky,
For succour to their helpless mother call:
She spread her wings; some few beneath them crawl;
She spread them wider yet, but could not cover all.
To augment their woes, the winds began to move,
Debate in air for empty fields above,
Till Boreas got the skies, and poured amain
His rattling hailstones, mixed with snow and rain.
The joyless morning late arose, and found }
A dreadful desolation reign around, }
Some buried in the snow, some frozen to the ground. }
The rest were struggling still with death, and lay
The Crows and Ravens rights an undefended prey:
Excepting Martin's race; for they and he
Had gained the shelter of a hollow tree;
But, soon discovered by a sturdy clown, }
He headed all the rabble of a town, }
And finished them with bats, or polled them down. }
Martin himself was caught alive, and tried }
For treasonous crimes, because the laws provide}
No Martin there in winter shall abide. }
High on an oak, which never leaf shall bear,
He breathed his last, exposed to open air;
And there his corpse unblessed is hanging still,
To show the change of winds with his prophetic bill. --[214]
The patience of the Hind did almost fail,
For well she marked the malice of the tale;
Which ribbald art their church to Luther owes; }
In malice it began, by malice grows; }
He sowed the serpent's teeth, an iron harvest rose. }
But most in Martin's character and fate,
She saw her slandered sons, the Panther's hate,
The people's rage, the persecuting state:[215]
Then said, I take the advice in friendly part;
You clear your conscience, or at least your heart.
Perhaps you failed in your foreseeing skill,
For Swallows are unlucky birds to kill:
As for my sons, the family is blessed,
Whose every child is equal to the rest;
No church reformed can boast a blameless line,
Such Martins build in yours, and more than mine;
Or else an old fanatic author lies,
Who summed their scandals up by centuries. [216]
But through your parable I plainly see
The bloody laws, the crowd's barbarity;
The sunshine, that offends the purblind sight,
Had some their wishes, it would soon be night. [217]
Mistake me not; the charge concerns not you;
Your sons are malecontents, but yet are true,
As far as non-resistance makes them so;
But that's a word of neutral sense, you know,
A passive term, which no relief will bring,
But trims betwixt a rebel and a king. --
Rest well assured, the Pardelis replied, }
My sons would all support the regal side, }
Though heaven forbid the cause by battle should be tried. --}
The matron answered with a loud Amen,
And thus pursued her arguments again:--
If, as you say, and as I hope no less, }
Your sons will practise what yourselves profess,}
What angry power prevents our present peace? }
The Lion, studious of our common good,
Desires (and kings' desires are ill withstood)
To join our nations in a lasting love; }
The bars betwixt are easy to remove, }
For sanguinary laws were never made above. [217a]}
If you condemn that prince of tyranny,
Whose mandate forced your Gallic friends to fly,[218]
Make not a worse example of your own, }
Or cease to rail at causeless rigour shown, }
And let the guiltless person throw the stone. }
His blunted sword your suffering brotherhood
Have seldom felt; he stops it short of blood:
But you have ground the persecuting knife,
And set it to a razor-edge on life.
Cursed be the wit, which cruelty refines, }
Or to his father's rod the scorpion joins! }
Your finger is more gross than the great monarch's loins. }
But you, perhaps, remove that bloody note,
And stick it on the first reformers' coat.
Oh let their crime in long oblivion sleep;
'Twas theirs indeed to make, 'tis yours to keep!
Unjust, or just, is all the question now;
'Tis plain, that, not repealing, you allow.
To name the Test would put you in a rage;
You charge not that on any former age,
But smile to think how innocent you stand,
Armed by a weapon put into your hand.
Yet still remember, that you wield a sword,
Forged by your foes against your sovereign lord;
Designed to hew the imperial cedar down,
Defraud succession, and dis-heir the crown. [219]
To abhor the makers, and their laws approve,
Is to hate traitors, and the treason love.
What means it else, which now your children say,
We made it not, nor will we take away?
Suppose some great oppressor had, by slight}
Of law, disseised your brother of his right, }
Your common sire surrendering in a fright; }
Would you to that unrighteous title stand,
Left by the villain's will to heir the land?
More just was Judas, who his Saviour sold; }
The sacrilegious bribe he could not hold, }
Nor hang in peace, before he rendered back the gold. }
What more could you have done, than now you do,
Had Oates and Bedlow and their plot been true?
Some specious reasons for those wrongs were found;}
The dire magicians threw their mists around, }
And wise men walked as on enchanted ground. }
But now when time has made the imposture plain, }
(Late though he followed truth, and limping held her train,}
What new delusion charms your cheated eyes again? }
The painted harlot might a while bewitch,
But why the hag uncased, and all obscene with itch? [220]
The first reformers were a modest race;
Our peers possessed in peace their native place,
And when rebellious arms o'erturned the state,
They suffered only in the common fate;
But now the sovereign mounts the regal chair,
And mitred seats are full, yet David's bench is bare. [221]
Your answer is, they were not dispossest;
They need but rub their mettle on the Test
To prove their ore;--'twere well if gold alone
Were touched and tried on your discerning stone;
But that unfaithful test unfound will pass
The dross of Atheists, and sectarian brass;
As if the experiment were made to hold
For base production, and reject the gold.
Thus men ungodded may to places rise,
And sects may be preferred without disguise;
No danger to the church or state from these,
The Papist only has his writ of ease.
No gainful office gives him the pretence
To grind the subject, or defraud the prince.
Wrong conscience, or no conscience, may deserve
To thrive, but ours alone is privileged to starve.
Still thank yourselves, you cry; your noble race
We banish not, but they forsake the place;
Our doors are open:--true, but ere they come,
You toss your 'censing test, and fume the room;
As if 'twere Toby's rival to expel,
And fright the fiend who could not bear the smell. [222]
To this the Panther sharply had replied,}
But having gained a verdict on her side, }
She wisely gave the loser leave to chide; }
Well satisfied to have the _but and peace_,[223]}
And for the plaintiff's cause she cared the less, }
Because she sued _in forma pauperis_; }
Yet thought it decent something should be said,
For secret guilt by silence is betrayed;
So neither granted all, nor much denied,
But answered with a yawning kind of pride:
Methinks such terms of proffered peace you bring,
As once Æneas to the Italian king:[224]
By long possession all the land is mine; }
You strangers come with your intruding line,}
To share my sceptre, which you call to join. }
You plead like him an ancient pedigree,
And claim a peaceful seat by fate's decree.
In ready pomp your sacrificer stands,
To unite the Trojan and the Latin bands;
And, that the league more firmly may be tied,
Demand the fair Lavinia for your bride.
Thus plausibly you veil the intended wrong,
But still you bring your exiled gods along;
And will endeavour, in succeeding space,
Those household puppets on our hearths to place.
Perhaps some barbarous laws have been preferred;
I spake against the Test, but was not heard.
These to rescind, and peerage to restore, }
My gracious sovereign would my vote implore; }
I owe him much, but owe my conscience more. --}
Conscience is then your plea, replied the dame,
Which, well-informed, will ever be the same.
But yours is much of the camelion hue,
To change the dye with every distant view.
When first the Lion sat with awful sway,
Your conscience taught your duty to obey:[225]
He might have had your statutes and your Test;
No conscience but of subjects was professed.
He found your temper, and no farther tried,
But on that broken reed, your church, relied.
In vain the sects essayed their utmost art, }
With offered treasure to espouse their part; }
Their treasures were a bribe too mean to move his heart. }
But when, by long experience, you had proved,
How far he could forgive, how well he loved;
(A goodness that excelled his godlike race,
And only short of heaven's unbounded grace;
A flood of mercy that o'erflowed our isle,
Calm in the rise, and fruitful as the Nile,)
Forgetting whence your Egypt was supplied,
You thought your sovereign bound to send the tide;
Nor upward looked on that immortal spring,
But vainly deemed, he durst not be a king.
Then Conscience, unrestrained by fear, began
To stretch her limits, and extend the span;
Did his indulgence as her gift dispose,
And made a wise alliance with her foes. [226]
Can Conscience own the associating name, }
And raise no blushes to conceal her shame? }
For sure she has been thought a bashful dame. }
But if the cause by battle should be tried,}
You grant she must espouse the regal side; }
O Proteus conscience, never to be tied! }
What Phœbus from the Tripod shall disclose,
Which are, in last resort, your friends or foes?
Homer, who learned the language of the sky,
The seeming Gordian knot would soon untie;
Immortal powers the term of Conscience know,[227]
But Interest is her name with men below. --
Conscience or Interest be't, or both in one,
(The Panther answered in a surly tone;)
The first commands me to maintain the crown,
The last forbids to throw my barriers down.
Our penal laws no sons of yours admit,
Our Test excludes your tribe from benefit.
These are my banks your ocean to withstand,
Which, proudly rising, overlooks the land,
And, once let in, with unresisted sway,
Would sweep the pastors and their flocks away.
Think not my judgment leads me to comply
With laws unjust, but hard necessity:
Imperious need, which cannot be withstood,
Makes ill authentic, for a greater good.
Possess your soul with patience, and attend;
A more auspicious planet may ascend;[228]
Good fortune may present some happier time,
With means to cancel my unwilling crime;
(Unwilling, witness all ye powers above! )
To mend my errors, and redeem your love:
That little space you safely may allow;
Your all-dispensing power protects you now. [229]
Hold, said the Hind, 'tis needless to explain;
You would postpone me to another reign;
Till when, you are content to be unjust:
Your part is to possess, and mine to trust;
A fair exchange proposed, of future chance
For present profit and inheritance.
Few words will serve to finish our dispute;
Who will not now repeal, would persecute.
To ripen green revenge your hopes attend,
Wishing that happier planet would ascend. [230]
For shame, let Conscience be your plea no more;}
To will hereafter, proves she might before; }
But she's a bawd to gain, and holds the door. }
Your care about your banks infers a fear[231]
Of threatening floods and inundations near;
If so, a just reprise would only be
Of what the land usurped upon the sea;
And all your jealousies but serve to show,
Your ground is, like your neighbour-nation, low.
To intrench in what you grant unrighteous laws,
Is to distrust the justice of your cause;
And argues, that the true religion lies
In those weak adversaries you despise.
Tyrannic force is that which least you fear;
The sound is frightful in a Christian's ear:
Avert it, heaven! nor let that plague be sent
To us from the dispeopled continent.
But piety commands me to refrain;
Those prayers are needless in this monarch's reign.
Behold how he protects your friends oppressed, }
Receives the banished, succours the distressed! [232]}
Behold, for you may read an honest open breast. }
He stands in day-light, and disdains to hide}
An act, to which by honour he is tied, }
A generous, laudable, and kingly pride. }
Your Test he would repeal, his peers restore;
This when he says he means, he means no more.
Well, said the Panther, I believe him just, }
And yet---- }
--And yet, 'tis but because you must; }
You would be trusted, but you would not trust.