Thinks't thou there are no serpents in the world
But those that slide along the grassy sod,
And sting the luckless foot that presses them?
There are who in the path of social Iife
Do bask their spotted skins in Fortune's sun,
And sting the soul.
Source: De Monfort, Act 1, Sc. 2, 1798
-- Joanna Baillie, (Sep 11 1762-1851), Scottish poet, dramatist; Her plays, mainly in verse, were highly praised at a period when serious drama was in decline; wrote her Plays on the Passions, 3 vol., 1798-1812.