them, may be retaliated on thofe of his own perfuafion.

As for the poem in general, I will only thus far satisfy the reader, that it was neither imposed on me, nor fo much as the fubject given me by any man. It was written during the laft winter and the beginning of this fpring, though with long interruptions of ill health and other hindrances. About a fortnight before I had finished it, his Majesty's declaration for liberty of confcience came abroad: which, if I had fo foon expected, I might have fpared myself the labour of writing many things which are contained in the third part of it. But I was always in fome hope, that the Church of England might have been per fuaded to have taken off the Penal Laws and the Teft, which was one defign of the poem, when I propofed to myself the writing of it.

It is evident that fome part of it was only occafional, and not firft intended: I mean that defence of myself, to which every honest man is bound, when he is injuriously attacked in print; and I refer myself to the judgment of thofe who have read the Answer to the Defence of the late King's Papers, and that of the Dutchefs (in which laft I was concerned) how charitably I have been reprefented there. I am now informed both of the author and fupervifers of his pamphlet, and will reply, when I think he can affront me: for I am of Socrates's opinion, that all creatures cannot. In the mean time let him confider, whether he deserved not a more fevere reprehenfion, than I gave him formerly, for ufing fo little refpect to the memory of those whom he pretended to anfwer; and

at his leisure, look out for fome original treatise of Humility, written by any Proteftant in English, (I believe I may say in any other tongue :) for the magnified piece of Duncomb on that fubject, which either he muft mean, or none, and with which another of his fellows has upbraided me, was tranflated from the Spanish of Rodriguez; though with the omiffion of the seventeenth, the twenty-fourth, the twentyfifth, and the laft chapter, which will be found in comparing of the books.

He would have infinuated to the world, that her late Highness died not a Roman Catholic. He declares himself to be now fatisfied to the contrary, in which he has given up the caufe: for matter of fact was the principal debate betwixt us. In the mean time, he would difpute the motives of her change; how prepofterously, let all men judge, when he seemed to deny the subject of the controversy, the change itfelf. And because I would not take up this ridiculous challenge, he tells the world I cannot argue : but he may as well infer, that a Catholic cannot fast, because he will not take up the cudgels against Mrs. James, to confute the Proteftant religion.

I have but one word more to fay concerning the poem as fuch, and abftracting from the matters, either religious or civil, which are handled in it. The first part, confifting moft in general characters and narration, I have endeavoured to raise, and give it the majestic turn of heroic poefy. The fecond, being matter of difpute, and chiefly concerning Church Authority, I was obliged to make as plain and perfpicuous as poffibly I could; yet not wholly

neglecting the numbers, though I had not frequent occafions for the magnificence of verfe. The third, .which has more of the nature of domeftic converfation, is, or ought to be, more free and familiar than the two former.

There are in it two Episodes, or Fables, which are interwoven with the main defign; fo that they are properly parts of it, though they are alfo diftin&t ftories of themselves. In both of these I have made use of the common places of Satire, whether true or false, which are urged by the members of the one Church against the other: at which I hope no reader of either party will be scandalized, because they are not of my invention, but as old, to my knowledge, as the times of Boccace and Chaucer on the one fide, and as thofe of the Reformation on the other.

THE

HIND AND THE PANTHER*.

A MILK-WHITE Hind, immortal and unchang'd,

Fed on the lawns, and in the forest rang'd;

* This piece is a defence of the Roman Catholic Church, by way of dialogue between a Hind, who reprefents the Church of Rome, and a Panther, who fuftains the character of the Church of England. These two beafts very learnedly debate the principal points controverted between the two Churches, as tranfubftantiation, infallibility, church-authority, &c. This poem was immediately attacked by the wits; particularly by Montague, afterwards Earl of Halifax, and Prior, who joined in writing The Hind and Panther, parodied in the Story of the Country Moufe and the City Moufe. DERRICK.

* There is a pointed allufion to this poem, in a fatire entitled Ecebolius Britannicus, or A Memento to the Jacobites of the higher order; in which, indeed, many of Dryden's phrafes and fentiments are introduced, and printed in the Italic character.This fatire is worthy of perufal. It occurs in "The loyal and impartial Satyrist, containing eight Mifcellany Poems, 4to, Lond. 1694."

ECEBOLIUS BRITANNICUS, &c.

You, whom Religion fits fo loofe about,
That you want charity to fill it out;

You that can't fwear, (that might confift with Love)
Yet curfe and damn like the great Lateran Jove;
Remember him who lately feem'd to say,

What is Religion but a Solemn Play?
We do but act a while, and then give o'er;

And, when we quit this stage, we are no more.

Without unfpotted, innocent within,
She fear'd no danger, for fhe knew no fin.

In vain men hope th'abyfs of light to fee,
No fpirits wait in hollow trees beneath,
Nor is there any bellowing after death,
"Tis all but vain and fenfelefs poetry:

Death shuts the comick scene; when parted hence
None ever cry'd, What am I, or from whence?
No dæmons walk; no glaring eye-balls rowl;
But horrid ftillness then invades the foul.
Great fouls difcern not when the leap's too wide;
Heroes will be for ever changing fide:
And fince religions vary like the wind,
Who would to one be curfedly confin'd?
He that can fervilely creep after one,
Is fafe, but ne'er fhall reach promotion.

Sell Plays for Legends, (that's the way to profper,)
I'll part with fcenes for a more coftly fhrine;
Phillis for Bridget, or Saint Katherine,
Bizarre and Escapade for Pater Nofter;
My Maximin for Lewis; and I hope

To find a new Almanzor in the Pope.

Rome's Church, tho' once a whore, now cannot be ;
She must be chafte, because she's lov'd by me.

How dear is Mother-Church, how charming fair,
To a diftreffed finner in despair!

The world fhall fee I'll turn, because I dare.
As once Empedocles to get a name,

Wing'd with ambition to be thought a god,
O'er unfrequented hills, and peaks untrod,
Pafs'd into fcorching Etna's liquid flame:
So to be dubb'd a faint, and fill a story,

From fairy land, and dark enchanted ifle,
From mountains of the moon, and head of Nile,
Immortal Bays will pass to Purgatory.

2.

But ha! what ftrange new project here is shewn,
So long kept fecret, and fo lately known?

As if our old plot modeftly withdrew,

And here in private were brought forth ancw.
New almanacks foretel fome change at hand,
When bear-fkinn'd men in floating caftles land;
And all our hopes, like old men's children, be
Blafted and wither'd in their infancy.

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