George Wither
Cruelty
Juvenilia, A Collection of Poems
「1622」George Wither, “Cruelty,” in Juvenilia; A Collection of Poems, vol. 1「Google Books」(London, 1622).
「1622」 George Wither, Juvenilia; A Collection of Poems, vol. 2 「Google Books」(London, 1622).
Such is their’s, also, whose unmanly natures
Can be the needless death of any creatures,
Or torture, or behold them pleasingly,
Whilst they abused and tormented die.
Trust me, be’t but a dog, nature denies
And GOD forbidds we should tyrannize.
Much more on man; yet there is many an one
That to this hellish passion is so prone,
With boasts he glories in his mischiefs too,
And uncompell’d, would make no more ado
To murder ’til a country were unmann’d,
Than doth a school-boy with a walking wand
To lop down thistle. But all such men be
Extremely cruel in the highest degree.
