In conformity to our author's plan, announced in the preface, the fable is divided into Three Parts. The First is dedicated to the general description and character of the religious sects, particularly the churches of Rome and of England. And here Dryden has used the more elevated strain of heroic poetry. In the Second, the general arguments of the controversy between the two churches are agitated, for which purpose a less magnificent style of language is adopted. In the Third and last Part, from discussing the disputed points of theology, the Hind and Panther descend to consider the particulars in which their temporal interests were judged at this period to interfere with each other. And here Dryden has lowered the tone of his verse to that of common conversation. We must admit, with Johnson, that these distinctions of style are not always accurately adhered to. The First Part has familiar lines; as, for instance, the four with which it concludes:
Considering her a civil well-bred beast,
And more a gentlewoman than the rest,
After some common talk, what rumours ran,
The lady of the spotted muff began.
Some passages are not only mean in expression, but border on profaneness; as,
The smith divine, as with a careless beat,
Struck out the mute creation at a heat;
But when at last arrived to human race,
The Godhead took a deep considering space.