Yet he refus'd (nor could they take offence)

Their glutton kind should teach him abstinence,
Nor confecrated grain their wheat he thought,
Which new from treading in their bills they brought :
But left his Hinds each in his private power,

That those who like the bran might leave the flower.
He for himself, and not for others, chofe,

Nor would he be impos'd on, nor impofe;
But in their faces his devotion paid,
And facrifice with folemn rites was made,
And facred incenfe on his altars laid.
Befides thefe jolly birds, whofe corps impure
Repaid their commons with their salt-manure;
Another farm he 2 had behind his house,
Not overstock'd, but barely for his use:
Wherein his poor domeftic poultry fed,
And from his pious hands receiv'd their bread.
Our pamper'd Pigeons, with malignant eyes,
Beheld these inmates, and their nurseries:
Tho' hard their fare, at evening, and at morn,
A cruife of water and an ear of corn;

Yet ftill they grudg'd that modicum, and thought
A fheaf in every fingle grain was brought.
Fain would they filch that little food away,
While unrestrain'd those happy gluttons prey.
And much they griev'd to fee so nigh their hall,
The bird that warn'd St. Peter of his fall;
That he should raise his mitred creft on high,
And clap his wings, and call his family
To facred rites; and vex th' etherial powers
With midnight mattins at uncivil hours:
Nay more, his quiet neighbours fhould moleft,
Juft in the sweetness of their morning reft.

}

2 This alludes to the popish priests, whom the king particularly favour'd,

Beaft

Beaft of a bird, fupinely when he might
Lie fnug and fleep, to rife before the light!
What if his dull forefathers us'd that cry,
Could he not let a bad example die?
The world was fallen into an easier way;
This knew better than to fast and pray.
Good fenfe in facred worship would appear
So to begin, as they might end the year.

age

Such feats in former times had wrought the falls
Of crowing 3 Chanticleers in cloyfter'd walls.
Expell'd for this, and for their lands, they fled;
And fifter 4 Partlet with her hooded head
Was hooted hence, because she would not pray a-bed.
The way to win the reftiff world to God,
Was to lay by the difciplining rod,
Unnatural fasts, and foreign forms of prayer:
Religion frights us with a mien fevere.
'Tis prudence to reform her into ease,
And put her in undrefs to make her please:
A lively faith will bear aloft the mind,
And leave the luggage of good works behind.

Such doctrines in the pigeon-house were taught:
You need not ask how wond'rously they wrought:
But fure the common cry was all for thefe,
Whofe life and precepts both encourag'd ease.
Yet fearing those alluring baits might fail,
And holy deeds o'er all their arts prevail;
For vice, tho' frontlefs, and of harden'd face,
Is daunted at the fight of awful grace,
An hideous figure of their foes they drew,

Nor lines, nor looks, nor fhades, nor colour: true;
And this grotefque defign expos'd to public view.
One would have thought it fome Egyptian piece,
With garden-gods, and barking deities,

More thick than Ptolemy has ftuck the skies.

3 Fryars,

4 Nuns.

All

All fo perverfe a draught, so far unlike,

It was no libel where it meant to strike.

Yet ftill the daubing pleas'd, and great and fmall
To view the monster-crowded Pigeon-hall.
There Chanticleer was drawn upon his knees
Adorning fhrines, and stocks of fainted trees;
And by him, a mishapen, ugly race;

The curfe of God was feen on every face:

No Holland emblem could that malice mend,
But ftill the worse the look, the fitter for a fiend.
The master of the farm, displeas'd to find

So much of rancor in fo mild a kind,

Enquir'd into the caufe, and came to know,
The paffive church had ftruck the foremost blow;
With groundless fears, and jealoufies poffeft,
As if this troublesome intruding guest

Would drive the birds of Venus from their neft.
A deed his inborn equity abhorr'd;

}

But intereft will not trust, tho' God should plight his word.
A law, 5 the fource of many future harms,

Had banish'd all the poultry from the farms;
With lofs of life, if any fhould be found
To crow or peck on this forbidden ground.
That bloody ftatute chiefly was defign'd
For Chanticleer the white, of clergy kind;
But after-malice did not long forget
The lay that wore the robe and coronet.
For them, for their inferiors and allies,
Their foes a deadly Shibboleth devise:
By which unrighteously it was decreed,
That none to truft, or profit fhould fucceed,

Who would not fwallow firft a poisonous wicked weed:
Or that, to which old Socrates was curs'd,

Or henbane juice to fwell them till they burft.

5 Penal laws against popish recufants.

The test act.

The

The patron (as in reafon) thought it hard
To fee this inquifition in his yard,

By which the fovereign was of fubjects use debarr'd.
All gentle means he try'd, which might withdraw
Th' effects of fo unnatural a law:

But ftill the dove-house obftinately stood

Deaf to their own, and to their neighbours good;
And which was worse, if any worse could be,
Repented of their boafted loyalty:

Now made the champions of a cruel caufe,
And drunk with fumes of popular applause;
For those whom God to ruin has defign'd,
He fits for fate, and firft deftroys their mind.
New doubts indeed they daily ftrove to raise,
Suggested dangers, interpos'd delays;
And emiffary Pigeons had in ftore,
Such as the Meccan prophet us'd of yore,
To whisper counfels in their patron's ear;
And veil'd their falfe advice with zealous fear.
The mafter fmil'd to see them work in vain,
To wear him out, and make an idle reign :
He faw, but fuffer'd their protractive arts,
And ftrove by mildness to reduce their hearts;
But they abus'd that grace to make allies,
And fondly clos'd with former enemies ;

For fools are doubly fools, endeavouring to be wife.
After a grave confult what course were best,

}

}

One, more mature in folly than the rest,
Stood up, and told them with his head afide,
That defp'rate cures must be to defp'rate ills apply'd:
And therefore, fince their main impending fear
Was from th' increasing race of Chanticleer,
Some potent bird of prey they ought to find,
A foe profefs'd to him, and all his kind;
Some haggard Hawk, who had her eyry nigh,
Well pounc'd to faften, and well wing'd to fly;
VOL. II.

G

One

One they might truft, their common wrongs to wreak
The Mufquet, and the Coyftrel were too weak,
Too fierce the Falcon; but, above the reft,
The 7 noble Buzzard ever pleas'd me beft;
Of small renown, 'tis true; for, not to lye,
We call him but a Hawk by courtesy.

I know he hates the Pigeon-house and Farm,
And more, in time of war, has done us harm:
But all his hate on trivial points depends;
Give up our forms, and we shall foon be friends.
For Pigeons flesh he seems not much to care;
Cram'd chickens are a more delicious fare.
On this high potentate, without delay,
I wish you would confer the fov'reign fway:
Petition him t' accept the government,
And let a fplendid embaffy be fent.

This pithy fpeech prevail'd, and all agreed,
Old enmities forgot, the Buzzard fhould fucceed.
Their welcome fuit was granted foon as heard,
His lodgings furnish'd, and a train prepar'd
With B's upon their breaft, appointed for his guard.
He came, and crown'd with great folemnity,
God fave king Buzzard, was the general cry.
A portly prince, and goodly to the fight,
He feem'd a fon of Anach for his height:
Like those whom ftature did to crowns prefer:
Black-brow'd, and bluff, like Homer's Jupiter:

The noble Buzzard ever pleas'd me best.

}

The character of the Buzzard was drawn for Bifhop Burnet, out of compliment to King James II. to whom he had been, on many accounts, obnoxious. He is introduced as a prince, because his fpirit and activity raised him to be regarded by many of the opponents to the court-measures, as the head of their party; and certainly none of the clergy was fo meddling and inquifitive as he was; so that it is not unjust of our poet to say, that

He dares the world; and, eager of a name,
He thrufts about, and juffles into fame.

4

Broad