Nor less destructive would this license prove,
Tho' thy breast flam'd with universal love.
In vain were thy benevolence of soul;
Soon would thy folly disconcert the whole.
No rains, or snows, should discompose the air;
But flow'rs and sun-shine drain the weary year:
No clouds should sully the clear face of day;
No tempests rise, — to blow a plague away.
Mercy should reign untir'd, unstain'd with blood;
Spare the frail guilty, — to eat up the good:
In their defence, rise, sacred Justice, rise!
Awake the thunder sleeping in the skies,
Sink a corrupted city in a minute:
— Wo! to the righteous ten who may be in it.
Pick out the bad, and sweep them all away!
— So leave their babes, to cats and dogs a prey.