"Whenever then thou art prepared
To prompt that vice thou shouldst reward,
And by the terrors of thy grisly face,
Make men turn rogues to shun disgrace;
The end of thy creation is destroyed
Justice expires of course, and law's made void.
"Thou like the devil dost appear
Blacker than really thou art far,
A wild chimeric notion of reproach
Too little for a crime, for none too much,
Let none the indignity resent,
For crime is all the shame of punishment.
Thou bugbear of the law stand up and speak
Thy long misconstrued silence break,
Tell us who 'tis upon thy ridge stands there
So full of fault, and yet so void of fear,
And from the paper on his hat,
Let all mankind be told for what."
These lines refer to his own condemnation, and the piece concludes,--
"Tell them the men who placed him here
Are friends unto the times,
But at a loss to find his guile
They can't commit his crimes."
Defoe seems to have thoroughly imbibed the ascetic spirit of his
brethren. He was fond of denouncing social as well as political
vanities. The "Comical Pilgrim" contains a considerable amount of coarse
humour, and in one place the supposed cynic inveighs against the drama,
and describes the audience at a theatre--
"The audience in the upper gallery is composed of lawyers, clerks,
valets-de-chambre, exchange girls, chambermaids, and skip-kennels, who
at the last act are let in gratis in favour to their masters being
benefactors to the devil's servants.
Pages:
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40