Upon the guiltless 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-diftant 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 fuppofe
The honors of his matchlefs horse 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 curfe annext.
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 rise;
And when the bush-exploring boy that seiz'd
The young, to let the parent bird go
Prov'd he not plainly that his meaner works
Are yet his care, and have an int'reft all,
All, in the univerfal Father's love?
On Noah, 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 controul
Can find no warrant there. Feed then, and yield
Thanks for thy food. Carnivorous, through sin,
Feed on the flain, but spare 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 seldom, his avenging arm, to finite
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 ftrike
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. Infpiring dumb
And helpless victims with a fenfe so keen
Of injury, 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 honor, but for wifdom more.
Fame had not left the venerable man
A stranger 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, fcarce heard fo 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
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 steel 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 swiftly round,
Or e'er his hoof had press'd the crumbling verge,
Baffled his rider, fav'd against his will.
The frenzy of the brain may be redress'd
By medicine well applied, but without grace
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