The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 388 pages of information about The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 1.

The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 388 pages of information about The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 1.
  Never was so deform’d a beast of grace. 
  His ragged tail betwixt his legs he wears,
  Close clapp’d for shame; but his rough crest he rears,
  And pricks up his predestinating ears. 
  His wild disorder’d walk, his haggard eyes,
  Did all the bestial citizens surprise. 
  Though fear’d and hated, yet he ruled awhile,
  As captain or companion of the spoil. 
  Full many a year[100] his hateful head had been 170
  For tribute paid, nor since in Cambria seen: 
  The last of all the litter ’scaped by chance,
  And from Geneva first infested France. 
  Some authors thus his pedigree will trace,
  But others write him of an upstart race: 
  Because of Wickliff’s brood no mark he brings,
  But his innate antipathy to kings. 
  These last deduce him from th’ Helvetian kind,
  Who near the Leman lake his consort lined: 
  That fiery Zuinglius first th’ affection bred, 180
  And meagre Calvin bless’d the nuptial bed. 
  In Israel some believe him whelp’d long since,
  When the proud Sanhedrim oppress’d the prince;
  Or, since he will be Jew, derive him higher,
  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. 
  The Fox and he came shuffled in the dark, 190
  If ever they were stow’d 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 redress’d! 
  With teeth untried, and rudiments of claws,
  Your first essay was on your native laws:  200
  Those having torn with ease, and trampled down,
  Your fangs you fasten’d on the mitred crown,
  And freed from God and monarchy your town. 
  What though your native kennel[101] still be small,
  Bounded betwixt a puddle[102] and a wall;
  Yet your victorious colonies are sent
  Where the north ocean girds the continent. 
  Quicken’d with fire below, your monsters breed
  In fenny Holland, and in fruitful Tweed: 
  And, like the first, the last affects to be 210
  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

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.