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The MOUSE's PETITION,[1]
Found in the Trap where he had been confin'd all Night.
Parcere ſubjectis, & debellare ſuperbos.
Virgil.
OH! hear a penſive priſoner's prayer,
For liberty that ſighs;
And never let thine heart be ſhut
Againſt the wretch's cries.
For
- ↑ To Doctor Priestley.
The Author is concerned to find, that what was intended as the petition of mercy against justice, has been conſtrued as the plea of humanity againſt cruelty. She is certain that cruelty could never be apprehended from the Gentleman to whom this is addreſſed; and the poor animal would have ſuffered more as the victim of domeſtic œconomy, than of philoſophical curioſity.
