Classic Poem

Pernicious Race! with ev'ry Vice accurst,
The least of Comforts, but of Plagues the worst:
What Wickedness has ever yet been nam'd,
That is not in each single Man contain'd?
Man! who was first created Lord of all,
And seated Monarch of this earthly Ball,
Till Devil-like, unlawful Means he try'd,
And lost his Sov'reign Power thro' his Pride.

'Twas then, divested of each God-like Grace,
Unmanly Passions fill'd the vacant Place:
And from the Checks of faithful Conscience freed,
Did soon his Hellish Precedent exceed:
The wretched Race their Parents Steps pursue,
Old Crimes re act, and eek 'em out with new.

Wolves, Bears, and Tygers need no more be fear'd;
For they are gentle, if with Men compar'd.
At open War with Humane Kind they strive,
But to defend, or keep themselves alive:
But Men in Peace, with friendly Love profest,
Smile when they kill, and hug where they detest.
The Crocodiles of Egypt they out do,
And prove the verier Serpents of the two.
O'er all the World their Vices they disperse,
And load with Crimes the burthen'd Universe.
Oh! that some pitying Pow'r would kindly deign
T' annihilate the Sex, or change their Name
To some emphatick Word. whose awful Sound
Might show their Souls, and them with Shame confound.
For Man no longer with their Nature suits,
Since they are Devils grown, as well as Brutes.