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.

    Ah, said the Hind, how many sons have you,
  Who call you mother, whom you never knew! 
  But most of them who that relation plead,
  Are such ungracious youths as wish you dead. 
  They gape at rich revenues which you hold,
  And fain would nibble at your grandame Gold;
  Inquire into your years, and laugh to find 150
  Your crazy temper shows you much declined. 
  Were you not dim and doted, you might see
  A pack of cheats that claim a pedigree,
  No more of kin to you, than you to me. 
  Do you not know, that for a little coin,
  Heralds can foist a name into the line? 
  They ask you blessing but for what you have;
  But once possess’d of what with care you save,
  The wanton boys would piss upon your grave.

    Your sons of latitude that court your grace, 160
  Though most resembling you in form and face. 
  Are far the worst of your pretended race. 
  And, but I blush your honesty to blot,
  Pray God you prove them lawfully begot: 
  For in some Popish libels I have read,
  The Wolf has been too busy in your bed;
  At least her hinder parts, the belly-piece,
  The paunch, and all that Scorpio claims, are his. 
  Their malice too a sore suspicion brings;
  For though they dare not bark, they snarl at kings:  170
  Nor blame them for intruding in your line;
  Fat bishoprics are still of right divine.

    Think you your new French proselytes[121] are come
  To starve abroad, because they starved at home? 
  Your benefices twinkled from afar;
  They found the new Messiah by the star: 
  Those Swisses fight on any side for pay,
  And ’tis the living that conforms, not they. 
  Mark with what management their tribes divide,
  Some stick to you, and some to the other side, 180
  That many churches may for many mouths provide. 
  More vacant pulpits would more converts make;
  All would have latitude enough to take: 
  The rest unbeneficed your sects maintain;
  For ordinations without cures are vain,
  And chamber practice is a silent gain. 
  Your sons of breadth at home are much like these;
  Their soft and yielding metals run with ease: 
  They melt, and take the figure of the mould;
  But harden and preserve it best in gold. 190

   Your Delphic sword, the Panther then replied,
  Is double-edged, and cuts on either side. 
  Some sons of mine, who bear upon their shield
  Three steeples argent in a sable field,
  Have sharply tax’d your converts, who unfed
  Have follow’d you for miracles of bread;
  Such who themselves of no religion are,
  Allured with gain, for any will declare. 
  Bare lies with bold assertions they can face;
  But dint of argument is out of place. 200

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