Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/363

And recent from the slaughter am I come
Of tribes and embryo nations: I have sought
With sharpened eye and persecuting zeal,
Where, folded in their silken webs they lay
Thriving and happy; swept them from the tree
And crushed whole families beneath my foot ;
Or, sudden, poured on their devoted heads
The vials of destruction.—This I’ve done,
Nor felt the touch of pity : but when thou,—
A single wretch, escaped the general doom,
Making me feel and clearly recognise
Thine individual existence, life,
And fellowship of sense with all that breathes,—
Present'st thyself before me, I relent,
And cannot hurt thy weakness.—So the storm
Of horrid war, overwhelming cities, fields,
And peaceful villages, rolls dreadful on:
The victor shouts triumphant ; he enjoys
The roar of cannon and the clang of arms,
And urges, by no soft relentings stopped,