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An error fatal not to him alone,
But to his future ſons, his fortune's heirs.
Inglorious bondage! ——Human nature groans
Beneath a vaſſalege so vile and cruel,
And its vaſt body bleeds thro' ev'ry vein.
What havock left thou made, foul monster ſin?
Greateſt and firſt of ills. ——The fruitful parent
Of woes of all dimenſions! ——But for the
Sorrow had never been. ——Ah! noxious thing,
Of vileſt nature! ——Other forts of evils
Are kindly circumſcrib'd, and have their bounds.
The fierce Volcano, from his burning entrails,
That belches molten ſtone and globes of fire,
Involv'd in pitchy clouds, and ſmoke, and ſtench,
Mars the adjacent fields, for ſome leagues round,
And there it ſtops. ——The big ſwoln inundation,
Of mischief more diſſuſive, raving loud,
Buries whole tracks of country ——threat'ning more
But that too has it ſhore it cannot paſs.
More dreadful far than theſe, Sin has laid waſte,
Not here and there a country, but a world!
Diſpatching at a wide-extended blow,
Entire mankind! ——and, for their ſakes, defacing
A whole creation's beauty with rude hands!
Blaſting the foodful grain, the loaded branches,
And marking all along its way with ruin!
Accurſed thing! Oh! where all fancy, find
A proper name to call thee by, expreſſive
Of all thy horror! ——Pregnant womb of ill!
Of temper so tranſcendently malign,
That toads and ſerpents, of most deadly kind,
Compar'd with thee, ale harmleſs. ——Sicknesses,
Of ev'ry ſize and ſymptom-racking pains,
And blueſt plagues, are thine. ——See how the fiend
Profusely ſcatters the contagion round!
Whiſt deep-mouth'd Slaughter, bellowing at her heels,
