Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/363

Rh And recent from the slaughter am I come Of tribes and embryo nations: I have sought With sharpened eye and persecuting zeal, Where, folded in their silken webs they lay Thriving and happy; swept them from the tree And crushed whole families beneath my foot ; Or, sudden, poured on their devoted heads The vials of destruction.—This I’ve done, Nor felt the touch of pity : but when thou,— A single wretch, escaped the general doom, Making me feel and clearly recognise Thine individual existence, life, And fellowship of sense with all that breathes,— Present'st thyself before me, I relent, And cannot hurt thy weakness.—So the storm Of horrid war, overwhelming cities, fields, And peaceful villages, rolls dreadful on: The victor shouts triumphant ; he enjoys The roar of cannon and the clang of arms, And urges, by no soft relentings stopped,