"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
‹ Thus (she pursued) I discipline a son,
Whose uncheck'd 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, And ask why God's anointed he revil'd; A king and princess dead! did Shimei worse? The curser's punishment should fright the curse: Your son was warn'd, and wisely gave it o'er, But he who counsell'd him has paid the score; 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 aim'd at Him who rules the skies;
Constrain❜d 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 allow'd, with ease it might be prov'd
What springs his blessed reformation mov❜d.
The dire effects appear'd 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 fam'd original through Spain is known,
Rodriguez' work, my celebrated son,
Which your's, by ill translating, made his own;
Conceal'd its author, and usurp'd 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 clos'd, And none of all her favourite sons expos'd: For laws of arms permit each injur❜d man To make himself a saver where he can. Perhaps the plunder'd 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 dame, and all her offspring white.
The Savage, though she saw her plea control'd,
Yet would not wholly seem to quit her hold,
But offer'd fairly to compound the strife,
And judg'd 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, Heav'n and earth, allure to bless;
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 re-
If your's were in effect the suffering side; [plied,)
Your clergy's sons their own in peace possess,
Nor are their prospects in reversion less :
My proselytes are struck with awful dread;
Your bloodycomet-laws hang blazing o'er their head;
The respite they enjoy but only lent,
The best they have to hope, protracted punishment. Be judge yourself, if interest may prevail,
Which motives, your's or mine, will turn the scale.
While pride and pomp allure, and plenteous ease,
That is, 'till man's predom'nant passions cease,
Admire no longer at my slow increase.
6 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 nam'd 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 warpt, receive an easy bent.
Add long prescription of establish'd 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 allow'd;
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 control,
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 Heav'n 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.'
'For charity, (replied the Matron) tell
What sad mischance those pretty birds befel.'
'Nay, no mischance, (the savage Dame replied)
But want of wit iu 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, privileg'd 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 chimies 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 possess'd
Her summer-seat, and feather'd ́well her nest,
Till frowning skies began to change their cheer,
And Time turn'd up the wrong side of the year;
The shedding trees began the ground to strow
With yellow leaves, and bitter blasts to blow:
Sad auguries of winter thence she drew,
Which by instinet, or prophecy, she knew ;
When prudence warn'd her to remove betimes,
And seek a better heav'n, and warmer climes.
Her sons were summon'd on a steeple's height,
And, call'd in common-council, vote a flight';
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