When Corah with his brethren did conspire From Moses' hand the sovereign sway to wrest, And Aaron of his ephod to divest; 'Till opening earth made way for all to pass, And could not bear the burden of a class.[107] The Fox and he came shuffled in the dark, If ever they were stowed in Noah's ark; Perhaps not made; for all their barking train The dog (a common species) will contain; And some wild curs, who from their masters ran,} Abhorring the supremacy of man, } In woods and caves the rebel-race began. } O happy pair, how well have you increased! What ills in church and state have you redressed! With teeth untried, and rudiments of claws, Your first essay was on your native laws; Those having torn with ease, and trampled down,} Your fangs you fastened on the mitred crown, } And freed from God and monarchy your town. } What though your native kennel still be small, Bounded betwixt a puddle and a wall;[108] Yet your victorious colonies are sent Where the north ocean girds the continent. Quickened with fire below, your monsters breed In fenny Holland, and in fruitful Tweed; And, like the first, the last affects to be Drawn to the dregs of a democracy. As, where in fields the fairy rounds are seen, A rank sour herbage rises on the green; So, springing where those midnight elves advance, Rebellion prints the footsteps of the dance. Such are their doctrines, such contempt they show} To heaven above, and to their prince below, } As none but traitors and blasphemers know. } God like the tyrant of the skies is placed, And kings, like slaves, beneath the crowd debased. So fulsome is their food, that flocks refuse To bite, and only dogs for physic use. As, where the lightning runs along the ground, No husbandry can heal the blasting wound; Nor bladed grass, nor bearded corn succeeds, But scales of scurf and putrefaction breeds; Such wars, such waste, such fiery tracks of dearth Their zeal has left, and such a teemless earth. But, as the poisons of the deadliest kind Are to their own unhappy coasts confined; As only Indian shades of sight deprive, And magic plants will but in Colchos thrive; So presbytery and pestilential zeal Can only flourish in a commonweal. From Celtic woods is chased the wolfish crew;[109] But ah! some pity e'en to brutes is due; Their native walks, methinks, they might enjoy, Curbed of their native malice to destroy. Of all the tyrannies on human-kind, The worst is that which persecutes the mind. Let us but weigh at what offence we strike; 'Tis but because we cannot think alike. In punishing of this, we overthrow The laws of nations and of nature too. Beasts are the subjects of tyrannic sway, Where still the stronger on the weaker prey;