And view those errors which new sects maintain,

Or which of old disturb'd the [Church's] peaceful reign:

And we can point each period of the time

When they began and who begat the crime;

Can calculate how long th' eclipse endured;

Who interposed; what digits were obscured;

Of all which are already pass'd away,

We [know] the rise, the progress, and decay.

Dryden.—Hind and Panther, Part II.

[Ah!] said the Hind, how many sons have you