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.
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; †
At least their hinder parts, the belly-piece,
The paunch, and all that Scorpio claims, ‡ are his.

}

The different parts of the body were assigned to different planets. The old almanacks have a naked figure in front, surrounded by the usual planetary emblems, which dart their rays on the parts which they govern. What Scorpio claims, if not apparent from the context, may be there found.

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 pro-

vide. *

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; †
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. ‡

Note IV.

† Alluding to the charges brought against Dryden himself by Stillingfleet. See Note V.

† Note VI.

Thus, cur 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,
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. †
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 sonst 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.

* Note VII.

This is our author's own averment in his "Defence of the Papers of the Duchess of York." See Note VIII.

The latitudinarian, or moderate clergy above-mentioned, and particularly Stillingfleet.

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,*
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. †
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.‡

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.

Stillingfleet's Vindication, which contains the imputations complained of by Dryden, bears this licence: "Imprimatur, Henricus Maurice Rmo. P. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant, a sacris. January 10, 1686."

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!*
'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 sa-
crifice.

Tis nothing thou hast given; then add thy tears
For a long race of unrepenting years:

* In these, and in the following beautiful lines, the poet, who had complained of Stillingfleet's having charged him with atheism, expresses his resolution to submit to this reproach with Christian meekness, and without retaliation.