"Fraud, rapine, murder, guilt's long horrid train, "Distracted nature's anarchy maintain.

"No more pure Reason earthly minds can move, "No more can Order's charms persuasive prove. "But as the moon reflecting borrow'd day, "Sheds on our shadow'd world a feeble ray ; "Some scatter'd beams of Reason law contains, "While Order's rule must be enforc'd by pains. "Hence death's black scroll, dire tortures hence are

giv'n;

"Hence kings, the necessary curse of heav'n.
"And just the doom of an avenging God,

"Who spurn'd his sceptre, feel the tyrant's rod.
"Blind by our fears we meet the ills we fly,
"In rule oppression, want in property."

So spoke the Sage, and if not learn'd in vain,
If spotless truth in sacred books remain ;
Dearly the child hath paid the parent's pride,
And ill hath Law the heavenly rule supply'd.
Thus boasts some leech with unavailing art,
To mend the tainted lungs and wasting heart;
Bids the loose springs with wonted vigor play,
And sprightly juices warm in cold decay.

Or would imperious reason deign to own, The world not made for sovereign man alone ; Some things there are for human use design'd, And these in common dealt to human kind.

To mortal wants is given a power to use,

What to th' immortal part just heav'n might well re

fuse.

This faithful instinct in each breast implants,

All know their rights, for all must feel their wants.

But soon began the rage of wild desire
To thirst for more than use could e'er require.
Ere stung by luxury's unsated call,

And ere ambition madly grasp'd the ball,
Vain restless man in busy search employ'd,
Saw somewhat still beyond the bliss enjoy'd,
Press'd eager on; the lowly and the great,
Alike their wish beyond their destin'd state;
Alike condemn'd, whatever Fortune grant,
To real poorness in phantastic want.

And now some sages high by others deem'd, For virtue honor'd, and for parts esteem'd; Call'd forth to judge where dubious claims are try'd, Convince with reason, and with counsel guide; Fix'd rules devise 'to sway th' assenting throng, And marks distinct impress on right and wrong.

The simple precept subtle wiles evade, And statutes as our crimes increas'd were made: These were at first unwritten, plain and few, 'Till swell'd by time the law's vast volume grew; And grown with these, to sway th' unwieldy trust,

Thousands we chose to keep the millions just,
Some plac'd o'er others, others plac'd o'er these,
Thus government grew up by slow degrees;
Higher the pile arose, and still more high,
When lo! the summit ends in monarchy.
There plac'd, a man in gorgeous pomp appears,
And far o'er earth his tow'ring aspect rears;
While prostrate crowds his sacred smiles implore,
And what their crimes had form'd, their fears adore.
Low from beneath they lift their servile eyes,
And see the proud Colossus touch the skies.

So at some mountain's foot have children gaz'd, While close to heaven they view the summit rais'd, Eager they mount new regions to explore,

But heav'n is now as distant as before.

Thus views the crowd a throne, while those who rise

Claim not a nearer kindred to the skies;

Earth is their parent, thither kings should bend, 'Tis thence they rise, and not from heaven descend. Happy, had all the royal sons of earth

Thus sprung, nor guilt had claim'd the monstrous birth.

Where from the sire descending through the line,
Rapine and fraud confer a right divine.

Ye mortal gods, how vainly are ye proud? If just your title, servants to the crowd;

If wide your sway, if large your treasur'd store,
These but increase your servitude the more;
A part is only yours, the rest is theirs,

And nothing all your own, except your cares.
Shall man, by nature free, by nature made
To share the feast her bounteous hand display'd,
Transfer these rights? as well he may dispense
The beam of reason, of the nerve of sense;
With all his strength the monarch's limbs invest,
Or pour his valor in the royal breast.

Take the starv'd peasant's taste, devouring lord! Ere you deprive him of the genial board. And if you would his liberty control, Assume the various actings of his soul! So shall one man a people's powers enjoy, Thus Indians deem of wretches they destroy. Thus in old tales the fabled monster stands, Proud of a thousand eyes, a thousand hands. Thus dreams the sophist, who with subtle art Would prove the whole included in a part, A people in their king; and from the throng, Transfer to him their rights in nature's wrong; Those sacred rights in nature's charter plain, By wants that claim them, and by powers that gain.

Though sophists err, yet stand confess'd thy claim, And be the king and multitude the same, Whose deeds benevolent his title prove,

And royal selfishness, in public love:

Nor, draining wasted realms for sordid pelf,
O scepter'd suicide destroy thyself.

Where fails this proof, in vain would we unite
The ruler's int'rest with the people's right.
Frantic ambition has her sep'rate claim,
The dropsy'd thirst of empire, wealth, or fame;
Pride's boundless hope, valour's enthusiast rant,
With the long nameless train of fancy'd want.
Urg'd on by these, all view the magic prize,
The prospect widening as they higher rise ;
From him who seeks a limited command,

To him whose wish devours air, sea, and land.
Alike all foes to freedom's holy cause,

For freedom ties unbounded will with laws;
Alike all foes to every public gain.

For public blessings loose the bond-man's chain.

Ill-fated slaves of arbitrary sway!

Where trusted power seduces to betray;
Makes private failings rage a gen'ral pest,
And taints even virtue in the social breast;
Bids friendship plunder, charity undo
The blameless MANY for the favor'd FEW.
'Till guilt high rear'd on crimes protecting crime,
Fills the heap'd measure of predestin'd time.

Far others, ye, O wealthy, wise, and brave! Though subject, free; more freedom would enslave.