The fish would triumph in its native flood;
The bird would carol in its native wood;
And tho' by Nature's long-establish'd power,
These might each other in their turn devour;
The sacrifice of life for life is brief,

And sudden death, from man escap'd, relief!

But if to things sublime thou mak'st pretence,
And thy supremacy be MORAL SENSE;
Oh! if with this, to favour'd Man is giv'n

The balms of piety, and bliss of Heav'n;
What nobler practice can its precepts teach,
Than the plain maxim, which all heads may reach,
The earliest moral of thy infant day,
When unseduc'd pure Nature held her sway—
Ere yet the nursery gave thee to the school-
To Bird, Beast, Man, let JUSTICE be thy rule,
"Do that to others," which, did States agree,
Thy conscious soul would wish" were done to thee!"

END OF BOOK II.

THE

LOWER WORLD.

BOOK III.

ARGUMENT.

Vindications of general Nature from the Charge of Cruelty to the LOWER WORLD.-Rejection of those Arguments of Philosophers and Poets that have painted a World of Monsters.-The indiscriminate Eulogist and Libeller equally remote from Truth.-A Sentiment of general Compassion and Sensibility in the public Mind.-Illustrations. Increased Happiness of Animals derived from this Source.-Example of the good Effect of kind Usage to be drawn from the Treatment of the Arabians to their Horses.-EXCESS of Attachment to favourite Animals, in some Individuals, sacred from the Motive.Some of the Causes of this Excess accounted for in particular Cases.-Cruelty of Children to Animals considered-Traced in a Variety of afflicting and disgraceful Incidents.-Appeal to Parents.

THE

LOWER WORLD.

BOOK III.

YET think not that the Muse with Satire's rage,
By Truth unsanction'd, shall pollute her page;
Think not that Man, all savage she would draw,
Bound only by the sordid bonds of law;
Led in the giant's chain a struggling foe,

Like the cag'd Bajazet, a public show;

Think not she deems when Man first springs to birth,

That Nature labours with a monstrous birth;

All other living things to hold in dread,

Alive to Cruelty, to Pity dead.

Avaunt the artist, and accurs'd the art,
That in distemper thus would draw the heart;
That in one sombrous and inveterate scrawl,
Whelms it in shade, and gives no light at all.

Dim-sighted Bards! Philosophers more blind,
Ah! spare your senseless libels on mankind;
Paint not the world a wreck in anger giv❜n,
The scourge of Nature, and the scorn of Heav'n.
Howe'er ye rhime, or descant, or dispute,

Each work of Nature must your rage confute!
If such the system, which kind Heav'n forfend !
If such our birth, our being, and our end,
If thus chain'd down by an imperious fate,
To mix with monsters in a world of hate:
If such Man's curse, since he from Angel fell,
Foretasting thus anticipated hell;

If thus, deep-tainted, ocean, earth, and air,
Say, what is left to mortals but despair?