 | Miscellanies in Verse and Prose |  |
49
Fragment of a Letter
To the Honble Mr. James Brudenell, 1714.
Curse on the lazy, fawning, treach'rous Tribes;
Who meanly would our Freedom circumscribe;
And bred themselves in Slav'ry and in Vice,
Would prostitute our Reason to their Lies.
Mistake me not—with Reverence I bow,
And bend my humbled Heart devoutly low
To those good Men, who zealous but sincere,
Serve at the Altar with Religious Fear,
Practise th' Austerities they gravely Teach,
And in their Lives as well as Sermons preach.
Such are the Guardian Angels of Mankind;
All must adore their Light who are not Blind.
But when some sawcy Pedant of the Schools
Would bridle Senates by Fantastick Rules;
When Mother Church turns Bawd to Regal Pow'r.
That her black Locusts may the Land devour,
Each honest Britton should assert his Right,
And put those Spiritual Dragoons to Flight.
Who meanly would our Freedom circumscribe;
And bred themselves in Slav'ry and in Vice,
Would prostitute our Reason to their Lies.
Mistake me not—with Reverence I bow,
And bend my humbled Heart devoutly low
To those good Men, who zealous but sincere,
Serve at the Altar with Religious Fear,
Practise th' Austerities they gravely Teach,
And in their Lives as well as Sermons preach.
Such are the Guardian Angels of Mankind;
All must adore their Light who are not Blind.
But when some sawcy Pedant of the Schools
Would bridle Senates by Fantastick Rules;
50
That her black Locusts may the Land devour,
Each honest Britton should assert his Right,
And put those Spiritual Dragoons to Flight.
Too fully did a late Example show
What ill Effects from Superstition flow.
Our Laws and Treaties were become a Jest,
And blind Obedience was the only Test.
Some Prigg Divine was ready still at hand,
With spread Phylactery, and well-starch'd Band,
(The sacred Ensigns of his dread Command)
To preach th' Absurdity throughout the Land.
All Orders and Degrees of Men infected,
Acted as the smooth Hypocrites directed.
Laymen and Priests were huddled in the Cry,
And Atheists wrangled for a Mystery.
Ev'n Whores would Cant Religion (so they mock'd her!
And lewdly Toasted to the Church and Doctor;
Rail'd at the Taxes, grumbled at the War;
While Love (poor Things!) was but their second Care;
For when oppress'd with Miseries like these,
How could they Cultivate the Arts of Peace?
What ill Effects from Superstition flow.
Our Laws and Treaties were become a Jest,
And blind Obedience was the only Test.
Some Prigg Divine was ready still at hand,
With spread Phylactery, and well-starch'd Band,
(The sacred Ensigns of his dread Command)
To preach th' Absurdity throughout the Land.
All Orders and Degrees of Men infected,
Acted as the smooth Hypocrites directed.
Laymen and Priests were huddled in the Cry,
And Atheists wrangled for a Mystery.
Ev'n Whores would Cant Religion (so they mock'd her!
And lewdly Toasted to the Church and Doctor;
51
While Love (poor Things!) was but their second Care;
For when oppress'd with Miseries like these,
How could they Cultivate the Arts of Peace?
| Miscellanies in Verse and Prose | |