A flood of mercy that o'erflow'd our isle,
Calm in the rife, and fruitful as the Nile;
Forgetting whence your Egypt was fupply'd,
You thought your fov'reign bound to fend the tide :
Nor upward look'd on that immortal spring,
But vainly deem'd, he durft not be a king:
Then Confcience, unreftrain'd by fear, began
To ftretch her limits, and extend the span;
Did his indulgence as her gift dispose,
And make a wife alliance with her foes.
Can Conscience own th' affociating name,
And raise no blufhes to conceal her fhame?
For fure fhe has been thought a bafhful dame.
But if the cause by battle fhould be try'd,
You grant fhe muft efpoufe the regal fide:
O Proteus confcience, never to be ty'd!
What Phoebus from the Tripod fhall disclose,
Which are, in laft refort, your friends or foes?
Homer, who learn'd the language of the sky,
The feeming Gordian knot would soon unty;
Immortal powers the term of Confcience know,
But intereft is her name with men below.
Confcience or Intereft be't, or both in one,
(The Panther answer'd in a furly tone)
The first commands me to maintain the crown,
The last forbids to throw my barriers down.
Our penal laws no fons of yours admit,
Our teft excludes your tribe from benefit.
These are my banks your ocean to withstand,
Which proudly rifing overlooks the land;
And once let in, with unrefifted sway,
Would fweep the paftors and their flocks away.
Think not my judgment leads me to comply
With laws unjust, but hard neceffity:
Imperious need, which cannot be withstood,
Makes ill authentic, for a greater good.
Poffefs your foul with patience, and attend:
A more aufpicious planet may afcend;
Good fortune may prefent fome happier time,
With means to cancel my unwilling crime;
(Unwilling, witnefs all ye powers above)
To mend my errors, and redeem your love:
That little space you fafely may allow ;
Your all difpenfing power protects you now.
Hold, faid the Hind, 'tis needlefs to explain;
You would poftpone me to another reign;
'Till when you are content to be unjuft:
Your part is to poffefs, and mine to truft.
A fair exchange propos'd of future chance,
For prefent profit and inheritance.
Few words will ferve to finish our dispute;
Who will not now repeal, would perfecute.
To ripen green revenge your hopes attend,
Wishing that happier planet would ascend.
For fhame let Confcience be your plea no more:
To will hereafter, proves fhe might before;
But she's a bawd to gain, and holds the door.
Your care about your banks infers a fear
Of threathing floods and inundations near;
If fo, a juft reprise would only be
Of what the land ufurp'd upon the sea;
And all your jealoufies but ferve to fhow,
Your ground is, like your neighbour-nation, low.
Tintrench in what you grant unrighteous laws,
Is to diftruft the juftice of your caufe;
And argues that the true religion lies
In thofe weak adverfaries you defpife.
Tyrannic force is that which leaft you fear;
The found is frightful in a christian's ear:
Avert it, heaven! nor let that plague be fent
To us from the difpeopled continent.
But piety commands me to refrain;
Thofe prayers are needlefs in this monarch's reign.
Behold! how he protects your friends opprefs'd,
Receives the banish'd, fuccours the diftrefs'd:
Behold, for you may read an honeft open breast.
He stands in day-light, and difdains to hide
An act, to which by honour he is ty'd,
A generous, laudable, and kingly pride.
Your Teft he would repeal, his peers reftore;
This when he fays he means, he means no more.
Well, faid the Panther, I believe him just,
And yet, 'tis but because you muft;
You would be trufted, but you would not truft.
The Hind thus briefly; and difdain'd t'inlarge
On power of kings, and their fuperior charge,
As heaven's trustees before the people's choice:
Tho' fure the Panther did not much rejoice
To hear thofe echos given of her once loyal voice.
The matron woo'd her kindness to the last,
But could not win; her hour of grace was paft.
Whom, thus perfifting, when she could not bring
To leave the Wolf, and to believe her king,
She gave her up, and fairly wifh'd her joy
Of her late treaty with her new ally
Which well the hop'd would more fuccefsful prove,
Than was the Pigeon's and the Buzzard's love.
The Panther afk'd what concord there could be
Betwixt two kinds whofe natures difagree?
The dame reply'd: 'Tis fung in ev'ry street,
The common chat of goffips when they meet:
But, fince unheard by you, 'tis worth your while
To take a wholfome tale, tho' told in homely ftyle.
A 7 plain good man, whofe name is underflood,
(So few deferve the name of plain and good)
Of three fair lineal lordships flood poffefs'd,
And liv'd, as reafon was, upon the beft.
7 A character of King James II.
Inur'd to hardships from his early youth,
Much had he done, and fuffer'd for his truth:
At land and fea, in many a doubtful fight,
Was never known a more advent'rous knight,
Who oftner drew his fword, and always for the right.
As fortune would (his fortune came, tho'late)
He took poffeffion of his juft eftate:
Nor rack'd his tenants with increase of rent;
Nor liv'd too fparing, nor too largely spent;
But overlook'd his Hinds; their pay was just,
And ready, for he fcorn'd to go on truft:
Slow to refolve, but in performance quick;
So true, that he was aukward at a trick.
For little fouls on little fhifts rely,
And cowards arts of mean expedients try;
The noble mind will dare do any thing but lye.
Falfe friends, his deadliest foes, could find no way
But shows of honeft bluntness, to betray:
That unfufpected plainnefs he believ'd;
He look'd into himself, and was deceiv'd.
Some lucky planet fure attends his birth,
Or heaven would make a miracle on earth;
For profp'rous honefty is feldom seen
To bear fo dead a weight, and yet to win.
It looks as fate with nature's law would ftrive,
To fhew plain-dealing once an age may thrive:
And, when fo tough a frame she could not bend,
Exceeded her commiffion to befriend.
This grateful man, as heaven increas'd his ftore,
Gave God again, and daily fed his poor.
His houfe with all convenience was purvey'd;
The rest he found, but rais'd the fabric where he pray'd;
And in that facred place his beauteous wife
Employ'd her happiest hours of holy life.
Nor did their alms extend to thofe alone,
Whom common faith more ftrictly made their own;
A fort of Doves were hous'd too near their hall,
Who cross the proverb, and abound with gall.
Tho' fome, 'tis true, are paffively inclin'd,
The greater part degenerate from their kind;
Voracious birds that hotly bill and breed,
And largely drink, because on falt they feed.
Small gain from them their bounteous owner draws;
Yet, bound by promife, he fupports their cause,
As corporations privileg'd by laws.
That houfe which harbour to their kind affords,
Was built, long fince, God knows, for better birds;
But fluttering there they neftle near the throne,
And lodge in habitations not their own,
By their high crops and corny gizzards known.
Like Harpies they could fcent a plenteous board,
Then to be fure they never fail'd their lord:
The rest was form, and bare attendance paid;
They drunk, and eat, and grudgingly obey'd.
The more they fed, they raven'd still for more;
They drain'd from Dan, and left Beersheba poor.
All this they had by law, and none repin'd;
The pref'rence was but due to Levi's kind:
But when fome lay-preferment fell by chance,
The Gourmands made it their inheritance.
When once poffefs'd they never quit their claim;
For then 'tis fanctify'd to heaven's high name;
And hallow'd thus, they cannot give confent,
The gift fhould be prophan'd by worldly management.
Their flesh was never to the table ferv'd;
Tho' 'tis not thence inferr'd the birds were starv'd;
But that their master did not like the food,
As rank, and breeding melancholy blood.
Nor did it with his gracious nature fuit,
E'en tho' they were not doves, to perfecute:
I The clergy of the church of England, and other religions, diffenting from that of Rome.
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