Their houses were forts, that seemed proof against light; Their parlours, all day, were the blackness of night: And, as if at their thresholds a cannon did roar, The animals hardly dared open their door 'Till the sun disappeared--then, like a mole's snout In the dusk of the evening, their noses popped out. In the school of oppression though woefully taught, 'Twas only to be the oppressors they sought; All, all but themselves were be-deviled and blind, And their narrow-souled creed was to serve all mankind. This beautiful system of nature below They neither considered, nor wanted to know, And called it a dog-house wherein they were pent, Unworthy themselves, and their mighty descent. They never perceived that in Nature's wide plan There must be that whimsical creature called Man, Far short of the rank he affects to attain, Yet a link in its place, in creation's vast chain. * * * * * Whatever is foreign to us and our kind Can never be lasting, though seemingly joined-- The hive swarmed at length, and a tribe that was teazed Set out for Rhode-Island to think as they pleased. Some hundreds to Britain ran murmuring home-- While others went off in the forests to roam, When they found they had missed what they looked for at first, The downfall of sin, and the reign of the just. Hence, dry controversial reflections were thrown, And the old dons were vexed in the way they had shown; So those that are held in the work-house all night Throw dirt the next day at the doors, out of spite. Ah pity the wretches that lived in those days, (Ye modern admirers of novels and plays) When nothing was suffered but musty, dull rules, And nonsense from Mather and stuff from the schools! No story, like Rachel's, could tempt them to sigh, Susanna and Judith employed the bright eye-- No fine spun adventures tormented the breast, Like our modern Clarissa, Tom Jones, and the rest. Those tyrants had chosen the books for your shelves, (And, trust me, no other than writ by themselves, For always by this may a bigot be known, He speaks well of nothing but what is his own.) From indwelling evil these souls to release, The Quakers arrived with their kingdom of peace-- But some were transported and some bore the lash, And four they hanged fairly, for preaching up trash. The lands of New-England (of which we now treat) Were famous, ere that, for producing of wheat; But the soil (or tradition says strangely amiss) Has been pestered with pumpkins from that day to this. * * * * * Thus, feuds and vexations distracted their reign, (And perhaps a few vestiges still may remain) But time has presented an offspring as bold, Less free to believe, and more wise than the old.