Upon the guiltlefs paffenger o'erthrown.
He, too, is witness, nobleft of the train

That wait on man, the flight-performing horse:
With unfufpecting readiness he takes

His murd'rer on his back, and, push'd all day,
With bleeding fides and flanks that heave for life,
To the far-distant goal, arrives and dies.
So little mercy fhows who needs so much!
Does law, fo jealous in the cause of man,
Denounce no doom on the delinquent?—None.
He lives, and o'er his brimming beaker boasts
(As if barbarity were high defert)

Th' inglorious feat, and, clamorous in praise
Of the poor brute, feems wifely to suppose
The honours of his matchless horfe his own!
But many a crime, deem'd innocent on earth,
Is register'd in heav'n; and these, no doubt,
Have each their record, with a curse annex'd.
Man may difmifs compaffion from his heart,
But God will never. When he charg'd the Jew

T'affift his foe's down-fallen beast to rife;

And when the bush-exploring boy, that feiz'd

The young, to let the parent bird go

free;

Prov'd he not plainly that his meaner works
Are yet his care, and have an int'reft all,

All, in the universal Father's love?

On Noahr, and in him on all mankind,

The charter was conferr'd, by which we hold
The flesh of animals in fee, and claim

O'er all we feed on pow'r of life and death.
But read the inftrument, and mark it well:
Th' oppreffion of a tyrannous control

Can find no warrant there. Feed then, and yield
Thanks for thy food. Carnivorous, through fin,
Feed on the flain, but fpare the living brute!

The Governor of all, himself to all

So bountiful, in whofe attentive ear
The unfledg'd raven and the lion's whelp
Plead not in vain for pity on the pangs

Of hunger unaffuag'd, has interpos'd,
Not feldom, his avenging arm, to fmite

Th' injurious trampler upon nature's law,
That claims forbearance even for a brute.
He hates the hardness of a Balaam's heart;
And, prophet as he was, he might not strike
The blameless animal, without rebuke,
On which he rode. Her opportune offence
Sav'd him, or th' unrelenting feer had died.
He fees that human equity is flack

To interfere, though in so just a cause;
And makes the task his own. Inspiring dumb
And helpless victims with a sense so keen

Of inj'ry, with fuch knowledge of their strength,
And fuch fagacity to take revenge,

That oft the beaft has feem'd to judge the man. An ancient, not a legendary tale,

By one of found intelligence rehears'd,

(If fuch who plead for Providence may seem In modern eyes) fhall make the doctrine clear.

Where England, ftretch'd towards the fetting fun,

Narrow and long, o'erlooks the western wave,

Dwelt young Mifagathus; a fcorner he

Of God and goodness, atheist in oftent,
Vicious in act, in temper favage-fierce.
He journey'd; and his chance was as he went
To join a trav❜ller, of far diff'rent note—
Evander, fam'd for piety, for years

Deferving honour, but for wifdom more.
Fame had not left the venerable man

A ftranger to the manners of the youth,
Whofe face, too, was familiar to his view.
Their way was on the margin of the land,
O'er the green fummit of the rocks, whose base
Beats back the roaring furge, scarce heard so high.
The charity that warm'd his heart was mov'd

At fight of the man-monster. With a smile
Gentle, and affable, and full of grace,
As fearful of offending whom he wish'd
Much to perfuade, he plied his ear with truths

Not harshly thunder'd forth or rudely prefs'd, But, like his purpofe, gracious, kind, and fweet. "And doft thou dream," th' impenetrable man

Exclaim'd," that me the lullabies of age,

"And fantafies of dotards, fuch as thou,

"Can cheat, or move a moment's fear in me?

"Mark now the proof I give thee, that the brave "Need no fuch aids as fuperftition lends

"To fteel their hearts against the dread of death." He spoke, and to the precipice at hand

Pufh'd with a madman's fury. Fancy fhrinks, And the blood thrills and curdles, at the thought Of fuch a gulph as he defign'd his grave.

But, though the felon on his back could dare The dreadful leap, more rational, his steed Declin❜d the death, and wheeling fwiftly round, Or e'er his hoof had prefs'd the crumbling verge, Baffled his rider, fav'd against his will!

The frenzy of the brain may be redrefs'd

By med'cine well applied, but without grace

VOL. II.