Yet, since the reptile, made to last an hour,
Still feels to agony the corporal power;

Who, beyond need, would harm a helpless throng,
And rob the fields and forests of a song?

Who that has heard the chant, or seen the play,
Of the glad tribe that carol in the day;

Or, who that views the herds and flocks at feed,
Happy and peaceful in the smiling mead,

And thinks, how soon to these succeed the moan,
The shriek, the dying shudder, and the groan;
But, ere arrives th' inevitable hour,

Will guard the beings trusted to his power.

Nor is it less thy INTEREST to impart, A stronger motive to a tyrant's heart— Not less thy love of self, with gentle sway, To rule these creatures which thy will obey; And let them pass serene their measur❜d hours— Haply thou know'st not yet their wond'rous

powers;

How vast the trust which the eternal mind
Has to the variegated tribes assign'd.

9 NATURE's unnumber'd family combine
In one beneficent, one vast design;
E'en from inanimates to breathing man,
An Heaven-conceiv'd, Heav'n-executed plan;
Onward from those who soar or lowly creep,
The wholesome equipoise through all to keep;
As faithful agents in earth, sea, and air,

The LOWER WORLD to watch with constant care,
Her due proportion wisely to conserve,

A wond'rous trust, from which they never swerve.

10 But for these instruments of bounteous Heav'n,

To whom its awful ministry is given,

Each over each, like jealous sentries plac'd,

That none may trespass, and that none may waste ; None by luxuriance on the other press,

The whole to order, yet the whole to bless;

A full yet frugal competence supply,
Within the bound of sage economy;

Yes, but for these, disorder would prevail,
Amidst abundance famine would assail;

The wood, the lake, the forest, and the field,
Too little now, and now too much would yield;
The lawless plants each other would devour,

The lawless insects would enforce their power;
Polluted pestilence at noon of day,

With haggard want and war contend for sway.
But, from the violet to the sovereign rose,

The golden mien each thing created knows ;
Lives in abundance, keeps its destin'd place,
Its state enjoys, and propagates its race;
Dies at the allotted hour, yet still shall live,
And in its progeny its self survive.

To all that animate the teeming earth,

Such is the mighty law that gave them birth;

And when man thinks them scourges from above, Heav'n-sent, they came, 66 on errands full of love;"

"Creatures most fear'd, most loathsome to the sense, Vast, or minute, are boons of Providence.

12 "Tis true that noxious beings oft annoy, That some embitter life, and some destroy; Minims of Nature, or her monstrous band, Yet, rarely these infest our blissful land ; Trench on our safety, or pollute our food,

And murmuring man may see that "all is good!" May still, tho' fall'n, his Paradise enjoy,

Spite of the partial evils that annoy.

But, wherefore, force thy slaves whilst life remains,
To wreak upon themselves superfluous pains?
Why, ere they fall, for thy diurnal food,

Are they compell'd to shed each other's blood?
Yet, here, thou call'dst wrong'd nature in defence,
The battle her's, you say: O vile pretence !
Does she, like man, enjoy this conflict dire?

Is it for Nature's pastime they expire?

Does she, who kindly to their rage deny'd
Death's fell artillery, which men provide,
Partake the ecstasy their pangs impart,

[heart?

When thus ensnar'd to war, they pierce each other's

False Reasoner, no! thou say'st she prompts their

fight,

Till their blood maddens at each other's sight;

If hence the combat whensoe'er they meet,
Did nature too, yon engine to the street
And those dire instruments of torture bring,
These Inquisition-horrors in that RING *,
Within whose round 'tis thy demoniac joy,
To try all frauds and force that can annoy ;
All that the blood can fire, foment the strife,

13 The goad, the stave, the bludgeon, and the knife.

Thou say'st with these, the Steed's delights keep place, Of conquest proud, exulting in the race;

* The baited Bull is generally fastened to an iron ring in the middle of the street.