Her wild belief on every wave is toft;
But fure no church can better morals boast.
True to her king her principles are found;
Oh that her practice were but half so found!
Stedfaft in various turns of state she stood,
And feal'd her vow'd affection with ber blood:
Nor will I meanly tax her conftancy,
That intereft or obligement made the tye.
Bound to the fate of murder'd monarchy,
Before the founding ax fo falls the vine,
Whofe tender branches round the poplar twine,
She chofe her ruin, and refign'd her life,
In death undaunted as an Indian wife :
A rare example! but fome fouls we fee
Grow hard, and stiffen with adversity:
Yet thefe by fortune's favours are undone;
Refolv'd into a bafer form they run,
And bore the wind, but cannot bear the fun.
Let this be nature's frailty, or her fate,
Or Ifgrim's counfel, her new-chosen mate;
Still fhe's the fairest of the fallen crew,
No mother more indulgent but the true.
Fierce to her foes, yet fears her force to try,
Because she wants innate authority;
For how can she conftrain them to obey,
Who has herself caft off the lawful fway?
Rebellion equals all; and thofe, who toil
In common theft, will fhare the common spoil.
Let her produce the title and the right
Against her old fuperiors first to fight;
If the reform by text, ev'n that's as plain
For her own rebels to reform again.
As long as words a different sense will bear,
And each may be his own interpreter,
Our airy faith will no foundation find:
The word's a weathercock for every wind :
The bear, the fox, the wolf, by turns prevail;
The most in power supplies the present gale.
The wretched Panther cries aloud for aid
To church and councils, whom she first betray'd;
No help from fathers or tradition's train :
Those ancient guides she taught us to disdain,
And by that fcripture, which the once abus'd
To reformation, ftands herself accus'd.
What bills for breach of laws can fhe prefer,
Expounding which she owns herself may err;
And, after all her winding ways are try'd,
If doubts arise, she flips herself afide,
And leaves the private conscience for the guide.
If then that confcience fet th' offender free,
It bars her claim to church authority.
How can the cenfure, or what crime pretend,
But fcripture may be conftrued to defend ?
Ev'n thofe, whom for rebellion she tranfmits
To civil power, her doctrine first acquits;
Becaufe no difobedience can enfue,
Where no fubmiffion to a judge is due ;
Each judging for himself by her consent,
Whom thus abfolv'd she fends to punishment.
Suppofe the magiftrate revenge her caufe,
'Tis only for tranfgreffing human laws.
How anfwering to its end a church is made,
Whose power is but to counsel and persuade !
O folid rock, on which fecure she stands !
Eternal house not built with mortal hands!
O fure defence against th' infernal gate,
A patent during pleasure of the ftate !
Thus is the Panther neither lov'd nor fear'd,
A meer mock queen of a divided herd ;
Whom foon by lawful power she might controul,
Herself a part fubmitted to the whole.
Then, as the moon who first receives the light
By which she makes our nether regions bright,
So might she shine, reflecting from afar
The rays the borrow'd from a better star;
Big with the beams which from her mother flow,
And reigning o'er the rifing tides below :
Now, mixing with a favage crowd, she goes,
And meanly flatters her inveterate foes,
Rul'd while the rules, and lofing every hour
Her wretched remnants of precarious power.
One evening, while the cooler fhade the fought,
Revolving many a melancholy thought,
Alone the walk'd, and look'd around in vain,
With rueful vifage, for her vanish'd train :
None of her fylvan fubjects made their court;
Levées and couchées pafs'd without refort.
So hardly can ufurpers manage well
Those whom they first inftructed to rebel.
More liberty begets defire of more ;
The hunger ftill increafes with the ftore.
Without respect they brush'd along the wood
Each in his clan, and, fill'd with loathfome food,
Afk'd no permiffion to the neighbouring flood.
The Panther, full of inward discontent,
Since they would go, before them wifely went ;
Supplying want of power by drinking first,
As if he gave them leave to quench their thirst.
Among the reft, the Hind, with fearful face,
Beheld from far the common watering-place,
Nor durft approach; till with an awful roar
'The fovereign lion bad her fear no more.
Encourag'd thus fhe brought her younglings nigh,
Watching the motions of her patron's eye,
And drank a fober draught; the reft amaz'd
Stood mutely fill, and on the ftranger gaz'd;
Survey'd her part by part, and fought to find
The ten-horn'd monster in the harmless Hind,
Such as the Wolf and Panther had defign'd.
They thought at firft they dream'd; for 'twas offence
With them, to queftion certitude of fenfe,
Their guide in faith but nearer when they drew,
And had the faultlefs object full in view,
Lord, how they all admir'd her heavenly hue!
Some, who before her fellowship disdain'd,
Scarce, and but fcarce, from in-born rage reftrain'd,
Now frisk'd about her, and old kindred feign'd.
Whether for love or intereft, every sect
Of all the favage nation fhew'd respect.
The viceroy Panther could not awe the herd;
The more the company, the lefs they fear'd.
The furly Wolf with fecret envy burst,
Yet could not howl; the Hind had seen him first :
But what he durft not speak, the Panther durft.
For when the herd, fuffic'd, did late repair
To ferney heaths, and to their forest lare,
She made a mannerly excuse to stay,
Proffering the Hind to wait her half the way:
That, fince the sky was clear, an hour of talk
Might help her to beguile the tedious walk.
With much good-will the motion was embrac'd,
To chat a while on their adventures pafs'd:
Nor had the grateful Hind so soon forgot
Her friend and fellow-fufferer in the plot.
Yet wondering how of late she grew estrang'd,
Her forehead cloudy, and her countenance chang'd,
She thought this hour th' occafion would present
To learn her fecret caufe of difcontent,
Which, well she hop'd, might be with ease redress'd,
Confidering her a well-bred civil beast,
And more a gentlewoman than the rest.
After fome common talk what rumors ran,
The lady of the spotted-muff began.
AME, faid the Panther, times are mended well, Since late among the Philiftines you fell. The toils were pitch'd, a spacious tract of ground With expert huntfinen was encompass'd round;
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