I must not omit another incomparable Piece of Wit and Raillery against _Popery_, publish'd at that time. It seems the famous Poet, _Dryden_, thought fit to declare himself a _Roman Catholick_; and had, as 'tis said, a _Penance_ injoyn'd him by his Confessor, for having formerly written _The Spanish Fryar_, of composing some _Treatise_ in a _poetical way_ for _Popery_, and against the _Reformation_. This he executed in a _Poem_, intituled, _The Hind and Panther_; which, setting aside the Absurdity of the Matters therein asserted, and of the several Arguments to maintain them, is, in other Respects, one of the most mean Compositions that ever the Press produc'd. Was it proper to pass over in silence such a Work, from whence probably the Popish Party expected great Matters, as knowing the Efficacy of Poetry, and being Witnesses of the Success the Author had had in his _Absalom_ and _Achitophel_ against the _Whigs_? Was it proper to write _seriously_ and _gravely_ against a Book, wherein the Author every where aims at Wit, Irony, and Burlesque, and does himself make so ridiculous a Figure, as to be a standing Jest throughout the whole? Was not the Convert himself, as such, a _Jest_, or as professing any Religion, a _Jest_; who argu'd for Pay, and spoke as he was brib'd, and would have profess'd any Opinions, as is the Mode and Practice of the World, to which Salary and Preferments are annexed? Some ingenious Persons of the Times took a better Method, and agreeably to the Temper and Disposition of our Countrymen, and to the nature of _Dryden_'s Attack, and his interested Writing for Religion, made a Return in a Paper intituled, _The Hind and Panther transvers'd to the Story of the Country-Mouse and City-Mouse_: Out of which, for a Specimen of _just Irony_, and _fine Raillery_, I will give you the following Passage. "_Sirrah, says_ Brindle, _thou hast brought us_ Wine, "_Sour to my Taste, and to my Eyes unfine._ "_Says_ Will, _All Gentlemen like it. Ah! says_ White, "_What is approved by them must needs be right._ "_'Tis true, I thought it bad, but if the_ House "_Commend it, I submit, a_ private Mouse. "_Nor to their Catholick Consent oppose_ "_My erring Judgment and reforming Nose._ "[86]_Why, what a Devil, shan't I trust my Eyes,_ "_Must I drink Stum, because the Rascal lies,_ "_And palms upon us_ Catholick _Consent,_ "_To give_ sophisticated Brewings _Vent?_ "_Says_ White, _what antient Evidence can sway,_ "_If you must argue thus and not obey?_ "Drawers _must be trusted, thro' whose hands convey'd_ "_You take the Liquor, or you spoil the Trade._ "_For sure those honest_ Fellows _have no Knack_ "_Of putting off stum'd Claret for_ Pontack. "_How long alas! would the poor Vintner last,_ } "_If all that drink must_ judge, _and every Guest_ } "_Be allow'd to have an understanding_ Taste? }