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The Hind and the Panther.
133
With loss of Life, if any should be found
To crow or peck on this forbidden Ground.
That Bloody Statute chiefly was design'd
For Chanticleer the white, of Clergy kind;
But after-malice did not long forget
The Lay that wore the Robe, and Coronet;
For them, for their Inferiours and Allyes,
Their Foes a deadly Shibboleth devise:
By which unrighteously it was decreed,
That none to Trust, or Profit should succeed,
Who would not swallow first a poysonous wicked Weed:
Or that, to which old Socrates was curs't,
Or Henbane-Juice to swell 'em till they burst,
The Patron (as in reason) thought it hard
To see this Inquisition in his Yard,
By which the Soveraign was of Subjects use debarr'd.

All gentle means he try'd, which might withdraw
Th' Effects of so unnatural a Law:

But