132 PROPER MORAL FEELING. 



beauties of creation, whether fruits or flowers, he 

 put forth his hand to save them, by killing the 

 reptiles that made them a prey. 



" I would not enter on my list of friends 

 (Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense, 

 Yet wanting sensibility) the man 

 Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. 

 An inadvertent step may crush the snail 

 That crawls at evening in the public path; 

 But he that has humanity, forewarn 'd, 

 Will tread aside, and let the reptile live. 

 The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight, 

 And charged perhaps with venom, that intrudes, 

 A visitor unwelcome, into scenes 

 Sacred to neatness and repose the alcove, 

 The chamber, or refectory may die: 

 A necessary act incurs no blame. 

 Not so when, held within their proper bounds, 

 And guiltless of offence, they range the air, 

 Or take their pastime in the spacious field; 

 There they are privileged; and he that hunts 

 Or harms them there is guilty of a wrong 

 Disturbs the economy of Nature's realm, 

 Who, when she form'd, designed them an abode. 

 The sum is this. If man's convenience, health, 

 Or safety, interfere, his rights and claims 

 Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs. 

 Else they are all the meanest things that are 

 As free to live and to enjoy that life 

 As God was free to form them at the first, 

 Who in his sovereign wisdom made them all. 

 Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons 

 To love it too. The spring-time of our years 

 Is soon dishonour'd and defiled in most 

 By budding ills, that ask a prudent hand 

 To check them. But, alas! none sooner shoots, 

 If unrestrain'd, into luxuriant growth, 

 Than cruelty, most devilish of them all 



