Iter Boreale. Attempting something upon the Successful and Matchless March of the LORD GENERAL George Monk, From SCOTLAND to LONDON, in the Winter, 1659.
I.
THe day is broke!
Melpomene,
be gone;
Hag of my Fancy, let me now alone:
Night-mare my Soul no more; Go take thy flight
Where Traitors Ghosts keep an eternal night;
Flee to Mount
Caucasus,
and bear thy part
With the black fowl that tears
Prometheus
heart
For his bold Sacrilege: Go fetch the groans
Of defunct Tyrants, with them croak thy Tones;
Go see
Alecto
with her flaming whip,
How she fi
•
ks
Nol,
and makes old
Bradshaw
skip:
Go make thyself away,—Thou shalt no more
Choak up my Stand
•
sh with the blood and gore
Of English Tragedies: I now will choose
The merriest of the nine to be my Muse:
And come what will,
•
le scribble once again:
The
〈◊〉
Sword hath cut the nobler Vein
Of racy Poetry. Our small-drink-times
Must be contented, and take up with Rhimes.
They'r sorry toys from a poor Levites pack,
Whose Living and Assessments drink no Sack.
The Subject will excuse the Verse (I trow)
The Ven son's fat, although the crust be dough.
II.
I He who whileom sat and sung in Cage
My Kings and Countries Ruines by the rage
Of a rebellious Rout; w
•
o weeping saw
Three goodly Kingdoms (drunk with fury) draw
And sheath their Swords (like three engaged brothe
•
s
In one another's sides, ripping their Mothers
Belly, and tearing out her bleeding heart;
Then jealous that their Father fain would part
Their bloody fray, and let them fight no more,
Fell foul on Him, and slew Him at His door.
I that have only dared to whisper Verses,
And drop a tear (by stealth) on loyal Hearses;
I that enraged at the
Times
and
Rump,
Had gnaw'd my Goose-quill to the very stump,
And flung that in the Fire, no more to write,
But to sit down poor
Britain's Heraclite,
Now sing the triumphs of the Men of War,
The Glorious Rayes of the bright Northern Star,
Created for the nonce by Heaven to bring
The wise men of three Nations to their King:
MONCK!
the great
Monk!
that syllable outshines
Plantagenet's
bright Name, or
Constantine's.
'T was at His Rising that
Our Day
begun,
Be he the
Morning Star
to
CHARLES
our
Sun.
He took Rebellion rampant, by the throat,
And made the Canting
Quaker
change his Note;
His hand it was that wrote, (we saw no more)
Exit Tyrannus
over
Lamberts
door.
Like to some subtle Lightning, so His Words
Dissolved in their Scabbards Rebels Swords.
He with success the
Sovereign
skill hath found
To dress the Weapon, and to heal the Wound.
George,
and his Boys (as Spirits do, they say)
Only by walking, scare our Foes away.
III.
OLd
Holofernes
was no sooner laid,
Before the Idols Funeral Pomp was paid,
(Nor shall a penny ere be paid for me;
Let fools that trusted his true Mourners be.)
Richard
the Fourth, just peeping out of Squire,
No fault so much, as the old one was his Sire;
For men believed,—though all went in his Name,
He'd be but Tenant till the Landlord came:
When on a sudden (all amazed) we found
The seven years
Babel
tumbled to the ground;
And he, poor heart, (thanks to his cunning Kin)
Was soon in
Querpo
honest
Dick
agen.
Exit Protector.
—What comes next? I trow,
Let the State-Huntsmen beat again.—So-ho,
Cries
Lambert,
Master of the Hounds,—Here sits
That lusty Puss,
The Good Old Cause,—whose wits
Shew'd
Oliver
such sport; That, that (cries
Vane)
Lets put her up, and run her once again:
She'l lead our Dogs and Followers up and down,
Whilst we match Families, and take the Crown.
Enter the old Members: 'T was the Month of
May
These Maggots in the
Rump
began to play:
Wallingford
Anglers (though they stunk) yet thought
They would make baits, by which Fish might be caught;
And so it proved, they soon by taxes made
More money than the
Holland
Fishing Trade.
IV.
NOw broke in
Egypt's
Plagues (all in a day)
And one more worse than theirs,—We must not pray
To be delivered:—Their scab'd folks were free
To scratch where it did itch;—So might not we.
That Meteor
Cromwell,
though he scared, gave light;
But we were now covered with horrid night:
Our Magistracy was (like
Moses
Rod)
Turn'd to a Serpent by the angry God.
Poor Citizens, when Trading would not do,
Made brick without straw, and were blasted too:
Struck with the botch of Taxes and Excise;
Servants
(our very dust)
were turned to
Lice;
It was but turning Soldiers, and they need
Not work at all, but on their Masters feed.
Strange Catterpillars are our pleasant things;
And Frogs croakt in the Chambers of our Kings:
Black bloody veins did in the
Rump
prevail,
Like the Philistines Emrods in the Tayle.
Lightning, Hall, Fire, and Thunder
Egypt
had,
And
England
Guns, Shot, Powder, (thats as bad.)
And that Sea-Monster
Lawson
(if withstood)
Threatned to turn our Rivers into Blood.
And (Plague of all these Plagues) all these Plagues fell
Not on an
Egypt,
but our
Israel.
V.
SIck (as her heart can hold) the Nation lies,
Filling each corner with her hideous cries:
Somtimes Rage (like a burning Fever) hearts,
Anon Despair brings cold and clammy Sweats;
She cannot sleep: or if she doth she dreams
Of Rapes, Thefts, Burnings, Blood, and direful theams;
Tosses from side to side, then by and by
Her feet are laid there where the head did lie:
None can come to her but bold Empericks,
Who never meant to cure her but try tricks:
Those very
Doctors
who should give her ease,
(God help the
Patient)
was her worst disease.
Th'
Italian
Mountebank
Vane
tells her sure
Jesuits Powder will effect the Cure.
If grief but makes her swell,
Martin
and
Nevill
Conclude it is a spice of the Kings-Evil.
Bleed her again, another cries;—And
Scot
Saith he could cure her, if 'twas—you know what:
But giddy
Harrington
a whimsey found,
To make her head (like to his brains) run round:
Her old and wise Physicians, who before
Had well nigh cured her, came again to th' door,
But were kept out, which made her cry the more,
Help, help,
(dear Children)
Oh! some pity take
On her who bore you! help for mercy sake!
Oh heart! Oh head! Oh back! Oh bones! I feel
They've poison'd me with giving too much steel:
Oh give me that for which I long and cry!
Somthing that's
Sovereign,
or else I die.
VI.
KInd
Cheshire
heard;—And like some son that stood
Upon the Bank, straight jump'd into the
flood,
Flings out his arms, & strikes some strokes to sivim
Booth
ventured first, and
Middleton
with him;
Stout
Mackworth, Egerton,
and thousands more,
Threw themselves in, and left the safer shore;
Massey
(that famous Diver) and bold
Brown
Forsook his Wharf,—resolving all to drown,
Or save a sinking Kingdom:—But, O sad!
Fearing to lose her prey, the Sea grew mad,
Rais'd all her billows, and resolved her waves,
Should quickly be the bold Adventurers graves.
Out Marches
Lambert,
like an Eastern Wind,
And with him all the mighty waters join'd.
The Loyal Swimmers bore up heads and breasts,
Scorning to think of Life or Interests;
They ply'd their Arms and Thighs, but all in vain;
The furious Main beat them to shore again;
At which the floating Island (looking back,
Spying her loyal Lovers gone to wrack)
Shriekt louder then before,—and thus she cries,
"Can you be angry heavens, and frowning skies,
"Thus countenance rebellious Mutineers,
"Who, if they durst, would be about your ears?
"That I should sink, with Justice may accord,
"Who let my Pilot be thrown over-board;
"Yet 'twas not I (ye righteous Heavens do know)
"The Soldiers in me needs would have it so:
"And those who conjur'd up these storms themselves,
"And first engaged me 'mongst these Rocks and Shelves
"Guilty of all my woe, have raised this weather,
"Fearing to come to Land, and choosing rather
"To sink me with themselves,—O cease to frown
"In tears (just Heavens!) behold! myself I drown:
"Let not these proud waves doit: Prevent my fears,
"And let them fall together by the ears.
VII.
HEav'n heard, and struck th'insulting army mad
Drunk with their
Cheshire
Triumphs, straight they had
New Lights appeared, and new Resolves they take,
A
Single Person
once again to make.
Who shall be he? Oh!
Lambert,
without rub,
The fittest Devil to be
Belzebub.
He, the fierce Fiend, cast out o'th' House before,
Return'd, and threw the House now out of door:
A Legion then he raised of Armed Sprights,
Elves, Goblins, Fairs, Quakers, and new Lights,
To be his under Devils, with this rest
He Soul and Body (Church and State) possessed:
Who though they filed all countries, towns, and rooms
Yet (like that Fiend that did frequent the Tombs)
Churches, and Sacred Grounds they haunted most,
No Chapel was at ease from some such Ghost.
The Priests ordained to exercise those Elves,
Were voted Devils, and cast out themselves:
Bible, or Quran, all's one to them,
Religion serves but for a stratagem:
The holy Charms these Adders did not heed,
Churches themselves did Sanctuary need.
VIII.
THe Churches Patrimony and rich Store,
Alas! was swallowed many years before:
Bishops
and
Deans
we sed upon before,
They were the
Ribs
and
Surloyns
of the Whore:
Now let her
Legs
(the
Priests
go to the Pot,
(They have the Pope's eye in them) spare them not:
We have fat Benefices yet to eat,
(Bell,
and our
Dragon-
Army must have meat:)
Let us devour her Limb-meal, great and small,
Tythe Calves, Geese, Pigs, the Petitoes and all:
A Vicaridg in Sippets, though it be
But small, will serve a squeamish Sectary.
Though Universities we cannot endure,
There's no false Latin in their Lands (be sure.)
Give
Oxford
to our Horse, and let the Foot
Take
Cambridge
for their booty, and fall tooit.
Christ-Church
ile have (cries
Vane;) Disbrow
swops
At
Trinity; Kings
is for
Berry
's chops;
Kelsey,
take
Corpus Christi; All-Souls, Packer;
Grave
Creed, St. Johns; New College
leave to
Hacker;
Fleetwood
cries,
Weeping Maudlin
shall be mine,
Her tears I will drink instead of
Muscadine▪
The smaller
Halls
and
Houses
scarce are big
Enough to make one dish for
Hasilrig;
We must be sure to stop his mouth, though wide,
Else all our fat will be in the fire (they cried:
And when we have done these, we'll not be quiet,
Lordships and Landlords Rents shall be our diet.
Thus talked this jolly crew, but still mine 'Host
Lambert
resolves that he will rule the Rost.
IX.
BUt hark! Methinks I hear old
Boreas
blow;
What mean the north-winds that they bluster so?
More storms from that black nook? Forbear (bold
Scot
!)
Let not
Dunbar
and
Worc'ster
be forgot:
What? would you chaffer w'us for one
Charles
more
The price of Kings is fallen, give the Trade over.
And is the price of Kings and Kingdoms too,
Of Laws, lives, oaths, souls, grown so low with you?
Perfidious Hypocrites! Monsters of Men!
(Cries the good
Monk)
we'll raise their price agen
Heaven said
Amen,
and breathed upon that Spark;
That Spark (preserved alive in the cold and dark)
First kindled and enflam'd the British Isle,
And turned it all to Bonefires in a while:
He and his fuel was so small, no doubt,
Proud
Lambert
thought to tread or piss them out.
But
George
was wary;—His cause did require
A Pillar of a Cloud as well as Fire:
'Twas not his safest course to flame, but smoke;
His enemies he will not burn but choke;
Small Fires must not blaze out, lest by their light
They show their weakness, and their foes invite;
But Furnaces the stoutest Metals melt,
(And so did he) by fire not seen, but felt;
Dark-lanthorn Language, and his peep-bo-play,
Will-E-Wispt Lambert's
new Lights out o'th way.
George
& his boys, those thousands (ô strang thing)
Of
Snipes
and
Woodcocks
took by Lowbelling.
His few Scotch-Coal kindled with English Fire
Made
Lamberts
great
Nowcastle
heaps expire.
X.
SCotland
(though poor and peevish) was content
To keep the Peace, and (O rare!) money lent;
But yet the blessing of their Kirk was more;
George
had that too, and with this slender store
He and his Mirmidons advance:—Kind Heaven
Prepar'd a Frost to make their March more even
Easy and safe; it may be said, That year
Of th' Highways Heaven itself was Overseer,
And made-
November
ground as hard as
May;
White as their Innocence, so was their Way:
The Clouds came down in Feather-beds, to greet
Him and his Army, and to kiss their feet.
The frost and foes both came and went together,
Both thaw'd away, & vanished God knows whither.
Whole Countries crowded in to see this friend,
Ready to cast their bodies down to mend
His Road to
Westminster;
and still they shout,
Lay hold of th'
Rump,
and pull the
Monster
out:
A new one, or a whole one
(Good my Lord)
And to this cry the Island did accord,
The Echo of the Irish hollow ground
Heard
England,
and her language did rebound.
XI.
PResto-
Jack Lambert,
and his Sprights are gone
To dance a Jig with's brother
Oberon:
George
made him, and his Cut-throats of our lives,
Swallow their swords as Jugglers do their Knives.
And Carter
Disborough
to wish in vain,
He now were Waggoner to
Charles
his Wain.
The Conqueror is now come into th' South,
Whose warm Air is made hot by every mouth;
Breathing his welcome, and in spite of
Scot,
Crying—
The whole Child
(Sir)
divide it not:
The Rump begins to stink; Alas! (cry they)
W'have raised a Devil which we cannot lay.
I like him not—His Belly is so big,
There's a King init, cries furious
Has
•
lrig,
Let's bribe Him (they cry all) Carve him a share
Of our stolen Venison.—Varlets forbear,
In vain you put your Lime twigs to his Hands
George Monk
is for the King, not for his Lands,
When fair means would not do, next foul they try,
Vote him the City Scavenger, (they cry)
Send him to fcowr their Streets.—Well, let it be;
Your Rumpship wants a fcowring too, (thinks he)
That foul house where your Worships many year
Have laid your Tail, sure wants a Scavenger:
I smell your Fizzle, though it make no Crack,
You'ld mount me on the Cities galled Back,
In hope she'll cast her Rider: If I must
Upon some Office in the Town be thrust,
I will be their Sword-bearer,—and to their Dagger
I will join my Sword:—Nay,
(good Rump)
do not swagger,
The City feasts me, and as sure as Gun)
I will mend all
England's
Commons e're I have done.
XII.
ANd so he did: One morning next his heart
He goes to
Westminster,
and played his part;
He vampt their boots (which
Hewson
never could do)
With better leather, made them g'upright too.
The Restor'd Members
(Cato
-like, no doubt)
Did only enter that They might go out;
They did not mean within those Walls to dwell,
Nor did they like their Company so well:
Yet Heaven so blest them, that in three weeks space
They gave both Church and State a better face;
They gave
Boath, Massy, Brown,
some kinder lots;
The last years Traitors, this years Patriots:
The Churches poor Remainder they made good,
And washed the Nations Hands of Royal Blood;
And that a Parliament (they did devise)
From its own ashes
(Phoenix
-like) might rise;
This done, By
Act
and
Deed
that might not fail,
They past a Fine, and so cut off
th' Entail.
XIII.
LEt the Bells ring these Changes now from
Bow
Down to the Country Candlesticks below;
Ringers,
hands off; The Bells themselves will dance
In memory of their own deliverance.
Had not
George
showed his Metal, and said Nay,
Each Sectary had born the Bell away:
Down with them all, they are Christened (cried that Crew)
Tye up their Clappers, and the Parsons too;
Turn them to Guns, or sell them to the
Dutch.
Nay, hold, (quoth
George)
my Masters, that's too much
You will not leap over Steeples thus, I hope
I will save the Bells, but you may take the Rope.
Thus lay
Religion
panting for her life,
Like
Isaac,
bound under the bloody knife;
George
held the falling Weapon, saved the Lamb:
Let
Lambert
(in the Briars) be the
Ram.
So lay the Royal Virgin (as 'tis told)
When brave S.
George
redeemed her life, of old.
Oh that the Knaves that have consumed our Land,
Had but permitted Wood enough to stand
To be his Bonfires;—We'd burn every stem,
And leave no more but Gallow-trees for them.
XIV.
MArch on,
Great Heroe!
as thou hast begun,
And crown our
Happiness
before th'ast done
We have another
CHARLES
to fetch from
Spain,
Be thou the
GEORGE
to bring him back again:
Then shalt thou be (what was denied that Knight)
Thy Princes, and the Peoples Favorite.
There is no danger of the Winds at all,
Unless together by the Ears they fall,
Who shall the honor have to waft a King:
And they who gain it, while they work shall sing.
Methinks I see how those Triumphant Gales,
Proud of the great Enployment, swell the Sails:
The joyful Ship shall dance, the Sea shall laugh,
And loyal Fish their Masters health shall quaff:
See how the
Dolphins
crowd and thrust their large
And scaly shoulders, to assist the Barge;
The peaceful Kingfishers are met together
About the Decks and prophesy calm weather;
Poor Crabs and Lobsters are gone down to creep,
And search for Pearls and Jewels in the deep;
And when they have the booty,—crawl before,
And leave them for his welcome to the Shore.
XV.
ME-thinks I see how throngs of people stand
Scarce patient till the Vessel come to Land,
Ready to leap in, and if need require,
With Tears of Joy, to make the waters higher.
But what will
London
do? I doubt Old
Paul
With bowing to his Sovereign will fall,
The Royal Lions from the Tower shall roar,
And though they see him not, yet shall adore:
The Conduits will be ravished, and combine
To turn their very water into Wine:
And for the Citizens, I only pray
They may not over-joy'd all die that day:
May we all live more loyal and more true,
To give to
Caesar
and to God their due.
We'l make his Fathers Tomb with tears to swim
And for the Son we'll shed our blood for him.
England
her penitential Song shall sing,
And take heed how she quarrels with her King.
If for our sins—our Prince shall be misled,
We'l bite our nails, rather than scratch our
head.
XVI.
ONe English
George
out-weighs alone (by odds)
A whole Committee of the Heathens God's;
Pronounce but
Monk,
and (it is all his due)
He is our
Mercury, Mars,
and
Neptune
too.
Monk
(what great
Xerxes
could not) proved the man
That with a word shackled the Ocean;
He shall command
Neptune
himself to bring
His Trident, and present it to our King.
Oh do it then, great Admiral:—Away,
Let him be here against St.
George
's day;
That
Charles
may wear His
Dieu Et Mon Droit,
And Thou the Noble Garter'd
Honi Soit.
And when thy Aged Corps shall yield to Fate,
God save that soul that saved our
Church
and
State:
There thou shalt have a glorious Crown, I know,
Who Crown'dst our King and Kingdoms here below.
But who shall find a Pen fit for thy glory;
Or make Posterity believe thy Story?
Vive
St.
GEORGE,
THE TRAGEDY OF Mr.
Christopher Love,
Late Minister of the Gospel; Acted upon TOWER-HILL,
August
22. 1651.
The Prologue.
NEw from a slaughtered Monarchs Hearse I come,
A Mourner to a Martyred Prophet's Tomb:
Pardon, great
Charles
his Ghost, my Muse had stood
Yet three years longer, till sh'had wept a Flood;
Too mean a Sacrifice for Royal Blood.
But she must go, Heaven does by Thunder call
For her Attendance at
LOVE's
Funeral:
Forgive, great Sir, this Sacriledged in me,
The tenth Tear he must have, it is his Fee;
'It is due to him, and yet 'tis stolen from Thee.
The Argument.
'Twas when the Raging Dog did rule the Skies,
And with his scorching Face did tyrannize,
When cruel
Cromwell,
Whelp of that mad Star,
But sure more fiery than his Sire by far,
Had dry'd the
Northern Fife,
and with his heat
Put frozen
Scotland
in a Bloody Sweat:
When he had conquered, and his furious Train
Had chas'd the North-Bear, & pursued
Charles
Wain
Into the
English
Orb; then 'twas thy fate
(Sweet
LOVE)
to be a Present from our State.
A greater Sacrifice there could not come,
Than a Divine, to bleed his Welcome home.
For He, and
Herod
think no Dish so good,
As a
John Baptists Head,
served up in Blood.
ACT. I.
The
Philistines
are set in their High Court,
And
Love,
like
Samson's
fetched to make them
sport:
Unto the Stake the smiling Prisoner's brought:
Not to be tried, but baited, most men thought:
Monsters, like Men, must worry him; and thus
He fights with Beasts, like
Paul
at
Ephesus.
Adams, Far, Huntingdon,
with all the Pack
Of foisting Hounds, were set upon his Back.
Prideaux
and
Keeble
stand and cry, Halōo;
'T was a full Cry, and yet it would not do.
Oh how he foiled them! Standers by did swear,
That he the Judge, and they the Traitors were:
For there he proved (although he seemed a Lamb)
Stout, like a Lion, from whose Den he came.
ACT. II.
It is decreed; nor shall thy Worth, dear
Love,
Resist their Vows, nor their Revenge remove.
Though Pray'rs were joined to Pray'rs, & tears to tears,
No Softness in their Rocky Hearts appears:
Nor Heaven nor Earth abate their Fury can,
But they will have thy Head, thy Head, good Man.
Sure some She-Sectary longed, and in haste
Must try how
Presbyterian
Blood did taste.
'T is fit she have the best, and therefore thine,
Thine must be broach'd, blest Saint! 'tis Drink divine,
No sooner was the dreadful Sentence read,
The Prisoner straight bowed his condemned Head:
And by that humble Posture told them all,
It was a Head that did not fear a fall.
ACT. III.
And now I wish the fatal Stroke were given;
I am sure our Martyr longs to be in Heaven,
AndHeav'n to have him there: one moments blow
Makes him triumphant; but here comes his woe,
His Enemies will grant a Months Suspence,
Ifit be for the nonce to keep him thence:)
And that he may tread in his Savior's ways,
He shall be tempted too, his forty days:
And with such baits too, Cast thyself but down,
Fall, and but worship, and your Life's your own.
Thus cried his Enemies; oh 'twas their pride,
To wound his Body, and his Soul beside.
One Plot th'have more, when all their own do fail
If Devils cannot, Disciples may prevail.
Lets tempt him by his Friends, make
Peter
cry,
Good Master, Spare thyself, and do not die.
One Friend entreats, a second weeps, a third
Cries, Your Petition wants the other word:
I will write it for you, saith a fourth; Your Life,
Your Life, Sir, cries a fifth, Pity your Wife,
And the Babe in her: Thus this Diamonds cut
By Diamonds only, and to terror put.
Methinks I hear him still, You wound my heart;
Good Friends, forbear; for every word's a Dart:
'T is cruel pity, thus I do profess,
You'ld love me more, if you did love me less:
Friends, Children, Wife, Life, all are dear, I know
But all's too dear, if I should buy them so.
Thus, like a rock that routs the waves, he stands,
And snaps asunder,
Sampson
-like, these bands.
ACT. IV.
The Day is come, the Prisoner longs to go,
And chides the ling'ring Sun for tarrying so:
Which blushing seems to answer from the Sky,
That it was loath to see a Martyr die.
Methinks I heard beheaded Saints above
Call to each other, Sirs, Make room for
LOVE.
Who when he came to tread the fatal Stage,
(Which proved his Glory, and his Enemies rage)
His Blood never run tohis heart, Christ's Blood was there
Reviving, it, his own was all to spare:
Which rising in his Cheeks, did seem to say,
Is this the Blood you thirst for? Takit, I pray.
Spectators in his Looks such Life did see,
That they appeared more like to die than he.
But oh his Speech! methinks I hear it still;
It ravished Friends, and did his Enemies kill:
His keener Words did their sharp Ax exceed;
That made his head, but he their hearts, to bleed:
Which he concluded with so
•
t Prayer, and so
The Lamb lay down, and took the Butchers blow:
His Soul makes Heaven shine brighter by a Star,
And now we are sure there's one Saint
Christopher.
ACT. V.
LOVE
lies a bleeding, and the World shall see
Heaven act a part in this black Tragedy.
The Sun no sooner spy'd the Head o'th' floor,
But he pulled in his own, and looked no more.
The Clouds, which scattered, and in colors were,
Met altogether, and in black appear:
Light'nings, which filled the Air with blazing light,
Did serve for Torches at that dismal Night:
In which, and all next day, for many hours,
Heaven groaned in Thunder, & did weep in Showrs.
Nor do I wonder, that God thundered so,
When's
Boanerges
murdered lay below:
The High Court trembled,
Prideaux, Bradshaw, Keeble,
And all the guilty Rout, looked pale and feeble.
Timerous
Jenkins,
and cold-hearted
Drake,
Hold out, you need no base Petitions make:
Your Enemies thus Thunder-struck, no doubt,
Will be beholding to you to go out.
B
•
t if you will recant, now thundering Heaven
Such Approbation to
Love
's cause hath given,
I will add but this; Your Consciences perhaps,
Ere long, shall feel far greater Thunder-claps.
The Epilogue.
But stay, my Muse grows fearful too, and must
Beg that these Lines be buried with thy Dust:
Shelter, blessed
Love,
this verse within thy Shroud,
For none but Heaven dares take thy part aloud.
The Author begs this, lest, if it be known.
Whilst he bewails thy Head, he lose his own.
UPON THE DEATH OF So many Reverend Ministers of late.
STill we do find, Black cloth wears out the first;
And fruits that are the choicest keep the worst.
Such men? So many? and they die so fast?
They'r precious (death) on do not make such waste.
Scarce have we dry'd our eyes for loss of one,
But in comes tidings that another's gone.
Oh that I had my former Tears agen,
(All but those few laid out upon my sin,)
Had I an
Helicon
in either Eye,
I have occasion now to verse them dry.
Triumph (licentious Age) lift up thy Song,
Presbytery
sha'nt trouble you ere long;
Those that tormented you before your day,
Are now apace removing out o'th' way.
Yea, rather tremble
(England)
stand agast,
To see thy glorious Lamps go out so fast;
When Death (like
Sampson)
thus lays hold upon
The Pillars of the Church,—The Building's gone.
When we do see so many Stars to fall,
Surely, it boads the World's great Funeral.
London,
look tooit, and think what Heaven is doing
Thy Flames are coming when thy
Lots
are going,
Well may we all fear God intendeth Wars,
When he commands home his Ambassadors.
That Venerable Synod, which of late
Was made the Object of Men's Scorn and Hate,
(For want of Copes and Mitres, not of Graces)
Are now called up (with
Moses)
and their Faces
When they return, shall shine; God sees it fit,
Such an Assembly should in Glory sit.
The learned
Twisse
went first, (it was his right)
Then holy
Palmer, Borroughs, Love, Gouge, White,
Hill, Whitaker,
grave
Gataker,
and
Strong,
Pern, Marshal, Robinson,
all gone along.
I have not named them half: their only strife
Hath been (of late) who should first part with Life.
Those few who yet survive, sick of this Age,
Long to have done their parts, and leave the Stage.
Our English
Luther, Vines,
(whose Death I weep)
Stole away (and said nothing) in a Sleep:
Sweet (like a Swan) he preached that day he went,
And for his Cordial took a Sacrament:
Had it but been suspected—he would die,
His People sure had stopped him with their Cry.
My blearey'd Muse ('tis tears have made her so)
Must wash his Marble too, before she go.
THE
Norfolk
and
Wisbich.
COCK-FIGHT.
By
R. W.
GO you tame Gallants, you that have a Name,
And would accounted be Cocks of the Game;
That have brave Spurs to show for it, and can crow,
And count all Dunghil-breed, that cannot show
Suc
•
painted plumes as yours; which thinkit no vice
With Cock-like lust to tread your Cockatrice;
Though Peacocks, Weathercocks, Woodcocks you be,
If y'are not Fighting Cocks, y'are not for me.
I of two feathered Combatants will write;
And he that means to th'life to express their Fight,
M
…
ke his Ink the blood which they did spill,
An
…
their dying Wings must take his quill.
No so
…
were the doubtful People set,
The Match made up, and all that would had bet;
But straight the skillful Judges of the Play
Brought forth their sharp-heel'd Warriors; & they
Were both in Linnen Bags, as if 'twere meet
Before they died, to have their Winding-sheet.
Into the Pit they are brought, and being there
Upon the Stage, the
Norfolk
Chanticleer
Looks stoutly at his never-before-seen Foe,
And like a Challenger began to crow,
And clap his Wings, as if he would display
His Warlike colors, which were black and gray.
Mean time the wary
Wisbich
walks and breathes
His active Body, and in fury wreaths
His comely Crest; and often looking down,
He beats his angry Beak upon the ground.
This done, they meet, not like that coward Breed
Of
Aesope
's; these can better fight then feed:
They scorn the Dunghil; 'tis their only p
•
ize
To dig for Pearls within each others Eyes.
They fought so nimbly, that 'twas hard to know,
To th' skillful, whether they did fight or no;
If that the blood which died the fatal floor,
Had not born witness ofit. Yet fought they more,
As if each wound were but a Spur to prick
Their fury forward. Lightnings not more quick
Or red, then were their Eyes: 'Twas hard to know
Whether 'twas blood, or anger made them so.
I am sure they had been out, had they not stood
More safe, being walled in each others blood.
Thus they vy'd blows; but yet, alas, at length,
Although their courage were full tried, theirstrength
And blood began to ebb. You that have seen
A Watry Combat on the Sea, between
Two angry-roaring-boiling Billows, how
They march, and meet, and dash their curled brow;
Swelling like graves, as though they did intend
T'intomb each other, ere the quarrel end;
But when the wind is down, and blustering weather,
They are made
friends,
&
sweetly
run together;
May think these Champions such: their blood grows low
And they which leap'd but now, now scarce can go
For having left th' advantage of the Heel,
Drunk with each others blood, they only reel;
And yet they would fain fight: they came so near,
Methought they meant into each others ear
To whisper wounds; and when they could not rise
They lay and looked blows int' each others eyes.
But now the Tragic part! After this fit,
When
Norfolk
Cock had got the best of it,
And
Wisbich
lay a dying, so that none,
Though sober, but might venture seven to one,
Contracting, like a dying Taper, all
His strength, intending with the blow to fall,
He struggles up, and having taken wind,
Ventures a blow, and strikes the other blind.
And now poor
Norfolk,
having lost his Eyes,
Fights guided only by Antipathies:
With him, alas! the Proverb is not true,
The blows his Eyes never saw, his heart must rue.
At last, by chance, he stumbling on his Foe,
Not having any strength to give a blow,
He falls upon him with his wounded Head,
And makes his Conquerors wings his Featherbed.
His friends ran in, and being very chary,
Sent in all haste to call a Pothecary:
But all in vain, his body did so blister,
That 'twas not capable of any Clyster.
Physic's in vain, and 'twill not him restore;
Alas poor Cock, he was let blood before
Then finding himself weak, op'ning his Bill,
He calls a Scrivener, and thus makes his Will;
Imp.
First of all, let never be forgot,
My Body freely I bequeath to th' Pot,
Decently to be boil'd; and for its Tomb,
Let it be buried in some hungry Womb,
Item,
For Executors I will have none,
But he that on my side laid seven to one;
And, like a Gentleman that he may live,
To him, and to his Heirs, my Comb I give,
Together with my Brains, that all may know,
That oftentimes his Brains did use to crow.
Item,
For Comfort of those Weaker ones
Whose wives complain of, let them have my Stones
For Ladies that are light, it is my Will,
My Feathers make a Fan. And for my Bill;
I will give a Taylor: But 'faith 'tis so short,
I am afraid, he will rather curse me sorit.
And for that worthy Doctor's sake, who meant
To give me a Clyster, let my Rump be sent.
Lastly, because I find myself decay,
I yield, and give to
Wisbich
Cock the day.
AN ESSAY Upon the late
VICTORY
obtained by His Royal Highness the Duke of York, Against the DUTCH, upon
June
3. 1665.
By the Author of
Iter Boreale.
GOUT! I conjure thee by the powerful Names
Of
CHARLES
and
JAMES,
and their victorious Fames,
On this great Day set all thy Prisoners free,
(Triumphs command a Goal-Delivery)
Set them all free, leave not a limping Toe
From my
Lord Chancellors
to mine below;
Unless thou givest leave this day to dance,
Thou'rt not th' old Loyal Gout, but comest from
France.
'It is done, my grief obeys the Sovereign Charms,
I feel a Bonfire in my joints, which warms
And thaws the frozen jelly; I am grown
Twenty years younger; Victory hath done
What puzzled Physic: Give the
Dutch
a Rout,
Probatum est,
'twill cure an
English
Gout.
Come then, put nimble Socks upon my Feet,
They shall be
Skippers
to our
Royal Fleet,
Which now returns in dances on our Seas,
A Conqueror above
Hyperboles.
A Sea which with
Bucephalus
doth scorn
Less then an
Alexander
should be born
On her proud Back; but to a Loyal Rein
Yields foaming Mouth, & bends her cursed Main:
And conscious that she is too strait a Stage
For
Charles
to act on, swelled with Loyal Rage,
Urgeth the
Belgic
and the
Gallick
shore
To yield more room, Her Master must have more,
Ingrateful Neighbors! 'twas our kinder Isle,
With Her own Blood, made Your
Geneva
Style
Writ in-small Print [Poor States and sore Perplext:]
Swel to the
[HIGH AND MIGHTY LORD'S]
in text;
And can ye be such Snakes to sting that Breast
Which in your Winter gave you Warmth & Rest?
Poor
Flemish Frogs,
if Your Ambition thirst
To swell to
Eng
•
ish
Greatness, You will burst.
Could you believe Our Royal Head would fail
To Nod those down, who fell before our Tail?
Or could Your
Amsterdam
by her commands,
Make
London
carry Coals to warm her Hands?
A bold attempt! Pray practice it no more;
We saved our Coals, yet gave you fire good store
It is enough; The righteous Heavens have now
Judge'd the Grand Quarrel betwixt us and you.
The Sentence is—The Surface must be ours,
But for the bottom of the Sea 'tis yours:
Thither your
Opdam
with some thousands, are
Gone down to take possession of your share.
Methinks I here great
Triton
sound a Call,
And through th' affr
•
ghted Ocean summon all
His scaly Regiments, to come and take
Part of that
Feast
which
Charles
their King doth make;
Where they may glut Revenge, quit the old score,
And feed on those who fed on them before;
Whom when they have digested, who can find
Whether they are fish, or flesh, or what's their kind?
Van-Cod, Van-Ling, Van-Herring,
will be cried
About their Streets; All Fish, so
Dutchifi'd.
The States may find their
Capers
in their Dish,
And meet their
Admirals
in buttered Fish.
Thus they'll imbody and increase their Crew;
A cunning way to make each Dutch-man two.
And on themselves they now must feed or fast;
Their Herring Trade is brought unto its
Last.
To the KING.
GReat Sir, Belov'd of God and Man, admit
My Loyal zeal to run before my Wit.
This is my Pens miscarriage, not a Birth;
Her haste hath made her bring blind Puppies forth,
My aims in this attempt, are to provoke,
And kindle flames more Noble by my smoke;
My wisp of straw may set great Wood on Fire,
And my weak Breath Your Organs may inspire.
Amongst those Flags y'have taken from the Dutch,
Command your
Denham
to hang up his Crutch,
He is a man both of his Hands and Feet,
And with great numbers can your Navy meet,
His quicker Eye Your Conquest can survey;
His Hand,
York
's Temples Crown with flourishing Bay
Waller
(great
Poet
and true
Prophet
too)
Whose curious Pencil in Rich Colours drew
The Type of this grand Triumph for your view.
(The Fishers (like their Herrings) bleeding new)
With the same hand shall give the World the Sights
Of what it must expect when
England
Fights.
That Son and Heir of
Pindars
Muse and Fame,
Your modest
Cowley,
with Your breath will flame,
And make those
Belgic Beasts,
who live aspire
To fall your Sacrifice in his pure Fire.
He shall proclaim Our
JAMES
great
Neptune's Wonder,
And, like a
Jove,
Fighting in Clouds and Thunder.
THE GRATEFUL NON-CONFORMIST: OR, Return of Thanks to Sir
J. B.
Knight who sent the Author Ten CROWNS 1665.
TEn Crowns at once! and to one man! and h
•
As despicable as bad Poets be!
Who scarce has Wit (if you require the same)
To make an Anagram upon your Name!
Or to out-rime a Barber, or prepare
An Epitaph to serve a
Quinbrough
Mayer!
A limping
Levite!
who scarce in his prime
Could woe an
Abigail,
or say Grace in rhime!
Ten Crowns to such a Thing! Friend, 'tis a do
••
Able to raise dead
Ben,
or
Davenant
's Nose;
Able to make a Courtier prove a Friend,
And more then all of them in Victuals spend.
This free, free-Parliament, whose gift doth sou
••
Full five and twenty hundred thousand pound:
You have out-done them, for yours was your own,
And some of it shall last when theirs is gone.
Ten Crowns at once! and now at such a time,
When Love to such as I am, is a Crime
Greater then his Recorded in
Jane Shore,
Who gave but one poor loaf to the starved Whore.
What, now to help a Non-Conformist! Now
When Ministers are broke that will not bow!
When 'tis to be unblest to be ungirt!
To wear no Surplice, doth deserve no shirt:
No Broth, no Meat; no Service, no Protection;
No Cross, no Coin; no Collect, no Collection!
You are a daring Knight, thus to be kind;
If trusty
Roger
get it in the wind
He'l smell a Plot, a
Presbyterian
Plot,
Especially for what you gave the
Scot!
And if the Spiritual Court take fire from Crack,
They'l clap a Pariter upon your back:
Shall make you shrug, as if you wore the Collar
Of a Cashier'd Red-coat, or poor Scholar.
What will you plead, Sir, if they put you toit?
Was it the Doctor, or the Knight did doit?
Did you as Doctor, flux some Usurer?
And with your quick, did his dull Silver stir?
Or did your Zeal, you a Knight-Templer make,
To give the Church the booties you should take?
Or was it your desire to beg Applause?
Or show affection to the good old Cause?
Wasit to feed Faction, or uphold the stickle
Betwixt the old Church and new Conventicle?
No, none of these, but I have hit the thing,
It was because you knew I loved the King.
Ten Crowns at once! Sir you will suspected be
For no good Protestant, you are so free.
So much at once! sure you never gave before,
Or else, I doubt, mean to do so no more.
This is enough to make a man protest
Religio Medici
to be the best.
The Christians, for whose sakes we are undone,
Would have cried out, oh! 'tis too much for one
Either to give or take! what needs this wast?
Oh, how they love to have us keep a Fast!
Five private Meetings, (where at each, four men
In black coats, and white caps, (you will call them then
A teem of Ministers) have tug'd all day,
Deserving Provender, but scarce got hey;
Where I myself have drawn my part some hours,
Have not afforded such return as yours.
I'd wish them watch, and keep me sober still;
Not want of guilt in them, nor want of will
In me, but want of Wine does make me lame,
Or else I'd sacrifice them to the flame
Of a high blazing Satyr. Here's a man
Who never pretended at your rates, yet can
More freely feed us, with Wine and good Dishes,
Then they (yet that's their alms) with sighs and wishes
Oh, for a Rapture! how shall I describe
The love of thousands to their Reading Tribe!
Who so maintaind them, when they lost their places
They did not loose one pimple from their faces;
But after all, full fraught with flesh and flaggon,
Came forth like Monks, or Priests of Bel & Dragon
One would have judged by their high looks & smells
They had been kept in Cellars, not in Cells:
Where they grew big and batten'd; without doubt
Some that went Firkins in, came Hogs heads out.
But ours in two years time are skin and bones,
And look like
Gran-dames,
or old
Apple Johns:
One
Lazarus
amongst us was too much,
But ereit be long we all shall
•
look like such;
And when that comes to pass, the world shall see,
Who are the Ghostly Fathers, they or we;
And then our bellies (without better fare)
Will be as empty as their Noddles are:
Though we are silent, our guts will not be so,
But make a Conventicle as they go:
Poor
Colon
peace, and cease thy croaking din,
Thou art condemned to be a
Chitterlin.
N
•
ggardly Puritans! blush at the odds
Betwixt the
Bonners
and the meagre
Dodds;
You give your Drink in Thimbles, they in Bowls,
Your Church is poor St.
Faiths
and theirs is
Paul's;
And whilst you Priests and Altars do despise,
Your selves prove Priests, and we your Sacrifice.
But why do I permit my Muse to whine?
I wish my Brethren all such cheeks as mine,
And those that wish us well, such hearts as thine,
My Noble
Baber,
I have chosen you
For my Physician, and my Champion too;
Give me but sometimes such a dose, and I
Will never wish other Cordial till I die,
And then Proclaim you a most Valiant Knight,
(Shew but such Mettle) though you never Fight.
A POEM UPON THE Imprisonment OF M
R.
CALAMY In
NEWGATE.
THis Page I send you Sir, your
Newgate
Fate
Not to condole, but to congratulate.
I envy not our Mitred men, their Places,
Their rich Preferments, nor their richer
Faces:
To see them Steeple upon Steeple set,
As if they meant that way to Heaven to get.
I can behold them take into their Gills
A dose of Churches, as men swallow Pills,
And never grieve at it: Let them swim in Wine
While others drown in tears, I will not repine,
But my heart truly grudges (I confess)
That you thus loaded are with happiness;
For so it is: And you more blessed are
In
Peters
Chain, than if you set in's Chair.
One Sermon hath prefer'd you so much Honor,
A man could scarce have had from Bishop
Bonner;
Whilst we (your Brethren) poor Erraticks be,
You are a glorious fixed Star we see.
Hundreds of us turn out of House and Home,
To a safe Habitation you are come.
What though it be a Goal? Shame and Disgrace
Rise only from the Crime, not from the place.
Who thinks reproach or injuries is done
By an Eclipse to the unspotted
Sun?
He only by that black upon his brow
Allures spectators more; and so do you.
Let me find Honey, though upon a Rod,
And prize the Prison, where my Keeper's
God:
Newgate
or
Hell
were
Heaven,
if Christ were there,
He made the Stable so, and Sepulcher.
Indeed the place did for your presence call;
Prisons do want perfuming most of all.
Thanks to the Bishop, and his good Lord Mayor,
Who turned the Den of Thieves into a House of Prayer:
And may some Thief by you converted be,
Like him who suffered in Christ's company.
Now would I had sight of your
Mittimus;
Fain would I know why you are dealt with thus.
Jailor, set forth your Prisoner at the Bar,
Sir, you shall hear what your offenses are.
First, It is proved that you being dead in Law
(As if you cared not for that death a straw)
Did walk and haunt your Church, as if you'ld scar
•
e
Away the Reader and his Common-Prayer.
Nay 'twill be proved you did not only walk,
But like a
Puritan
your
Ghost
did talk.
Dead, and yet Preach! these
Presbyterian
slaves
Will not give over Preaching in their Graves.
Item,
You played the Thief, and ift be so,
Good reason (Sir) to
Newgate
you should go:
And now you're there, some dare to swear you are
The greatest Pick-pocket that e're came there:
Your Wife too, little better then yourself you make
She is th' Receiver of each Purse you take.
But your great Theft, you act it in your Church,
(I do not mean you did your Sermon lurch,
That's crime
Canonical)
but you did pray
And preach, so that you stole men's hearts away.
So that good man to whom your place doth fall,
Will find they have no heart for him at all:
This Felony deserved Imprisonment;
What cannot you
Non-conformists
be content
Sermons to make except you preach them too;
They that your places have, this Work can do.
Thirdly, 'tis proved, when you pray most devout
For all good men, you leave the Bishops out:
This makes Seer
Sheldon
by his powerful spel
Conjure and lay you safe in
Newgate
-hell:
Would I were there too, I should like it well.
I would you durst swap punishment with me;
Pain makes me fitter for the company
Of roaring boys; and you may lie a bed,
Now your Name's up; pray do it in my stead,
And if it be denied us to change places,
Let us for sympathy compare our cases;
For if in suffering we both agree,
Sir, I may challenge you to pity me:
I am the older Goal-bird; my hard fate
Hath kept me twenty years in
Cripple-gate;
Old
Bishop Gout,
that Lordly proud disease,
Took my fat body for his Diocese,
Where he keeps Court, there visits every Limb,
And makes them
(Levite
-like) conform to him,
Severely he doth Article each joint,
And makes enquiry into every point:
A bitter enemy to preaching; he
Hath half a year sometimes suspended me:
And if he find me painful in my station,
Down I am sure to go next Visitation:
He binds up, looseth; sets up and pulls down;
Pretends he draws ill humors from the Crown:
But I am sure he maketh such ado,
His humors trouble Head and members too:
He hath me now in hand, and e're he goes,
I fear for
Heretics
he will burn my toes.
O! I would give all I am worth, a fee,
That from his jurisdiction I were free.
Now Sir, you find our sufferitgs do agree,
One Bishop clapt up you, another me:
But oh! the difference too is very great,
You are allowed to walk, to drink and eat,
I want them all, and never a penny get.
And though you be debar'd your liberty,
Yet all your Visitors I hope are free,
Good Men, good Women, and good Angels come
And make your Prison better then your home.
Now may it be so till your foes repent
They gave you such a rich Imprisonment.
May for the greater comfort of your lives,
Your lying in be better then your Wives.
May you a thousand friendly papers see,
And none prove empty, except this from me.
And if you stay may I come keep your door,
Then farewell Parsonage, I shall never be poor.
ON THE DEATH OF M
R.
CALAMY,
Not known to the Author of a long time after.
Anno 1667.
ANd must our Deaths be silenced too! I guess
'It is some dumb Devil hath possessed the Press;
Calamy
dead without a Publication!
'It is great injustice to our
English
Nation:
For had this Prophet's Funeral been known,
It must have had an Universal Groan;
Afflicted
London
would then have been found
In the same year to be both burned and drowned;
And those who found no Tears their flames to quench,
Would yet have wept a Showre, his Herse to drench.
Methinks the Man who stuffs the Weekly Sheet,
With fine New-Nothings, what hard Names did meet.
The Emp'ress, how her Petticoat was lac'd,
And how her Lacquyes Liveries were sac'd;
What's her chief Woman's Name; what Dons do bring
Almonds and Figs to
Spain
's great little King:
Is much concerned if the Pope's Toe but aches,
When he breaks Wind, and when a Purge he takes;
He who can gravely advertise, and tell
Where
Lockier
and
Ronland Pippin
dwell;
Where a Black Box or Green-Bag was lost;
And who was Knighted, though not what it cost:
Methinks he might have thought it worth the while,
Though not to tell us who the State begnile,
Or what new Conquest
England
hath acquired;
Nor that poor Trifle who the City fired;
Though not how Popery exalts its head,
And Priests and Jesuits their poison spread;
Yet in swoln Characters he might let fly,
The Presbyterians have lost an Eye.
Had
Crackf—
's Fiddle been in tune, (but he
Is now a Silenc'd Man as well as We)
He had struck up loud Music, and had plaid
A Jig for joy that
Calamy
was laid;
He would have told how many Coaches went;
How many Lord's and Ladies did lament;
What Handkerchiefs were sent, and in them Gold
To wipe the Widows, he would have told;
All had come out, and we beholden all
To him, for th' ovreflowing of his gall.
But why do I thus Rant without a cause?
Is not Concealment Policy? Whose Laws
My silly peevish Muse doth ill tooppose:
For public Losses no Man should disclose;
And such was this, a greater loss by far,
One Man of God then twenty Men of War;
It was a King, who when a Prophet died,
Wept over him, and Father, Father cried.
O if thy Life and Ministry be done,
My Chariots and Horsemen, strength is gone.
I must speak sober words, for well I know
If Saints in Heaven do hear us here below,
A lie, though in his Praise, would make him frown,
And chide me, when with
Jesus
he comes down
To judge the World.—This little He,
This silly, sickly, silenced
Calamy,
Aldermanbury's
Curate, and no more,
Though he a mighty Miter might have wore,
Could have vi'd Interest in God or Man,
With the most pompous Metropolitan:
How have we known him captivate a throng,
And made a Sermon twenty thousand strong;
And though black-mouths his Loyalty did charge,
How strong his tug was at the Royal Barge,
To hale it home, great
GEORGE
can well attest,
Then, when poor Prelacy lay dead in'ts nest;
For if a Collect could not fetch him home,
Charles
must stay out, that Interest was mum.
Nor did Ambition of a Miter, make
Him serve the Crown, it was for Consciencesake.
Unbribed Loyalty! his highest reach
Was to be Master
Calamy,
and preach.
He blessed the King, who Bishop him did name,
And I bless him who did refuse the same.
O! had our Reverend Clergy been as free
To serve their Prince without Reward, as he,
They might have had less Wealth with greater Love:
Envy, like Winds, endangers things above;
Worth, not Advancement, doth beget esteem;
The highest Weathercock the least doth seem.
If you would know of what disease he died,
His grief was Chronical it is replied.
For had he opened been by Surgeons art,
They had found
London
burning in his heart;
How many Messengers of death did he
Receive with Christian Magnanimity!
The Stone, Gout, Dropsy, Ills which did arise
Form Griefs and Studies, not from Luxuries;
The Megrim too, which still strikes at the Head;
These he stood under, and scarce staggered.
Might he but work, though loaded with these Chains,
He Pray'd and Preach'd, and sung away his pains.
Then by a fatal Bill he was struck dead,
And though that blow he never recovered,
(For he remained speechless to his close)
Yet did he breath, and breath out Prayers for those.
From whom he had that wound: he lived to hear
An hundred thousand buried in one Year,
In his Dear City; over which he wept,
And many Fasts to keep off Judgments kept;
Yet, yet he lived, stout heart, he lived to be
Depriv'd, driven out, and kept out, lived to see
Wars, Blazing-Stars, Torches, which Heaven nev'r burns,
But to light Kings or Kingdoms to their Urns.
He lived to see the Glory of our Isle,
London,
consumed in its Funeral Pile.
He lived to see that lesser day of Doom,
London,
the Priests Burnt-sacrifice to
Rome;
That blow he could not stand, but with that Fire,
As with a Burning Feaver, did expire.
Thus died this Saint, of whom it must be said,
He died a Martyr, though he died in's bed.
So Father
Eli
in the Sacred page
Sat quivering with fear, as much as age,
Longing to know, yet loath to ask the News,
How it far'd with the Army of the
Jews.
Israel flies,
that struck his Palsy-head;
The next blow stunned him,
Your Sons are dead;
But when the third stroke came,
The Ark is lost;
His heart was wounded, and his life it cost.
Thus fell this Father, and we well do know
He feared our Ark was going long ago.
THE Loyal-Nonconformist; OR An Account what he dare swear and what he dare not swear. Published in the year, 1666.
I Fear an Oath, before I swear to take it;
And well I may, for 'tis the Oath of God:
I fear an Oath, when I have sworn, to break it:
And well I may, for Vengeance hath a Rod.
And yet I may swear, and must too, 'tis due
Both to my Heav'nly, and my Earthly King;
If I assent, it must be full and true;
And if I promise, I must do the thing,
I am no
Quaker,
not at all to swear;
Nor
Papist,
to swear East, and mean the West;
But am a
Protestant,
and shall declare
What
I cannot,
and what
I can
protest.
I never will endeavor Alteration
Of Monarchy, nor of that Royal Name,
Which God hath chosen to command this Nation,
But will maintain his Person, Crown and
Fame:
What he commands, if
Conscience
say not nay,
(For
Conscience
is a greater King then he)
For
Conscience-sake,
not
Fear,
I will obey;
And if not
Active, Passive
I will be.
I will pray that all his Subjects may agree,
And never more be crumbled into parts;
I will endeavor that his Majesty
May not be King of
Clubs,
but King of
Hearts.
The
Royal Oak
I swear I will defend;
But for the
lvy
which doth hug it so,
I swear that is a Thief, and not a friend,
And about Steeples fitter far to grow.
The Civil-Government I will obey;
But for Church-Policy I swear I doubt it;
And if my Bible want th'
Apocrypha,
I will swear my Book may be complete without it.
I dare not swear Church-Government is right
As it should be; but this I dare to swear,
(If they should put me toit) the Bishops might
Do better, and be better than they are.
Nor will I swear for all that they are worth,
That Bishoprics will stand, and Doomsday see;
And yet I will swear the Gospel holdeth forth
Christ with his Ministers till then will be.
That
Peter
was a Prelat they aver;
But I will not swearit when all is said and done:
But I dare swear, and hope I shall not err,
He preached a hundred Sermons to their one.
Peter
a Fisher was, and he caught Men:
And they have Nets, and in them catch Men too;
Yet I will not swear they are alike, for them
He caught he saved: these catch, and them undo.
I dare not swear that Courts Ecclesiastic
Do in their Laws make just and gentle Votes;
But I will be sworn that
Burton, Prynne
and
Bastwick
Were once
Ear-witnesses
of harsher Notes.
Archdeacons, Deans and Chapters are brave men,
By Canon, not by Scripture: but to this,
If I be called, I will swear, and swear agen,
That no such
Chapter
in my Bible is.
I will not condemn those
Presbyterians,
who
Refused Bishoprics, and might have hadthem:
But Mistress
Calamy
I will swear doth do
As well as if she were a
Spiritual Madam.
I will not swear, that they who this Oath take,
Will for Religion e're lay down their Lives:
But I will swear they will good Jugglers make,
Who can already swallow down such Knives.
For Holy Vestments I will not take an Oath
Which Linen most Canonical may be;
Some are for
Lawn,
some
Holland,
some
Scots-cloth;
And
Hemp
for some is fitter than all three.
Paul
had a Cloak, and Books, and Parchments too;
But that he wore a
Surplice
I will not swear,
Nor that his Parchments did his
Orders
show,
Or in his Books there was a
Common-Prayer.
I owe assistance to the King by Oath;
And if he please to put the Bishops down,
As who knows what may be, I should be loath
To see
Tom Beckets
Miter push Crown
And yet Church-Government I do allow,
And am contented Bishops be the men;
And that I speak in earnest, here I vow
Where we have one, I wish we might have ten.
In fine, the Civil Power I will obey,
And seek the Peace and Welfare of the Nation:
If this would not do, I know not what to say,
But farewell
London,
farewell
Corporation.
Proteus
his penal Resolution, speaking alone in the Tyring-house before his entering the Pulpit.
OH I am almost mad, 'twould make one so,
To see which way
Prefe
••
ents
game doth go.
I ever thought I had her in the
Wind,
And yet I am cast above
three years
behind.
Three times
already I have
turned
my Coat;
Three times
already I have
changed
my Note:
I will make it
four
and
four and twenty
more,
And turn the Compass round ere I will give ore.
Love to
Church-members
I will give no more;
For how I will only court the
Scarlet Whore.
I will ask the
Bishops
blessing; and good-night
To
Thomas Goodwin,
and his
Child of Light.
Poor man, he wears his Capps too much in's eyes
To be my Guide, No, I must be
more wise.
On all my
Brethren
I will look awry,
And cry,
Stand farther off
to
Philip Nye.
Ambition,
my great Goddess and my Muse,
Inspire thy
Prophets
all such Arts to use,
As may exalt; Betwixt this and my Grave
A
Miter,
or a
Halter,
I must have.
Tell me
(Ambition)
prithee tell me why
So many
Dunces
Doctors and not I?
A
Scarlet Gown
I must and will obtain,
I cannot else commence a
Priest in grain.
Among the
Doctors
I can get no room
Till
I recant;
that is my shameful doom.
Hang shame,
I will do it, and my end's to gain,
I will
cant, recant,
and
re-recant
again.
Now help me great
Ambition,
for thy sake
To
break my sleep,
to
break my Brains,
to
break
My
Faith
and
Oaths,
and so to act my part,
That men may think I have a
broken Heart.
When I do preach my
tears do trickle down;
But in my
sleeve
(my Cassock sleeves and Gown)
I
laugh,
to think how by my
whining trade
So many Fools in one day I have made.
Help me my
Muse,
a
new Song
I desire
By thee may be prepared for the
Choir,
That when my
Recantation Sermon's
done,
This
Penitential Anthem
may be sung.
But yet one thing ere I begin, I crave
A benefit, which Poets use to have,
That now and then, to make my Rimes agree,
What ends in
Lie,
may be pronounced
LEE.
The Second Part; Or,
the Changling in the Pulpit.
To the same Tune.
ATtend good People, lay by scoffs and scorns,
Let
Round-beads
all this day pull in their
Horns,
But let
Conformists
and brave
Caveliers
Unto my doleful Tone prick up their Ears.
Take from my neck this
Robe,
a
Rop's
more fit;
And turn this
Surplice
to a
Penance-sheet,
This Pulpit is too good to act my part,
More fit to preach at
Tyburn
in a Cart:
There I deserved t' have taken my degree,
And Doctor
Dun
should have presented me;
There with an
Hempen Hood
should be sped;
And his
thee-corner'd Cap
should crown my head.
Here I am come to hold up guilty hand,
And of the
Beast
to give myself the
brand;
Here by confessing I have been in the wrong,
I come to
bore
myself through my own
tongue.
In Learning my poor Parents brought up me,
And sent me to the University;
There I soon found
bowing
the way to
rise:
And th' only
Logic
was the
Falacies.
Instead of
Aristotle's Organon,
Anthems and Organs I did study on;
If I could play on them, I soon did find,
I rightly had Preferment in the
wind.
I followed that hot scent without control,
I bowed my body, and I sung
Fa Sol;
I cozened Doctor
Couzens,
and ere long
A Fellow ship obtained for
a Song.
Then by degrees I climb'd, until I
got
Good
Friends,
good
Cloaths,
good
Commons,
and what not?
I
got
so long, until at length
I got
A Wench with Child,
and then I got a blot.
Before the
Consistory
I was tried,
Where like a Villain I both swore and lie'd
And from
the whore I made
I was
made free,
By purging of myself
Incont'nent-LEE.
But as I scorned to father mine own Brat,
'Twas done to me as I had done with That;
The Doctors all, when Doctor I would be,
As a
base son,
refused to
father
me.
With much ado, at length by art and cunning,
My Tears & Vows prevailed with
Peter Gunning
Me to adopt; and for his love and care,
I will devote myself to
Peter's Chair.
Cambridge
I left with grief and great disgrace,
To seek my fortune in some other place;
And that I might the better save my stake,
I took an Order,
and did
Orders take.
Amongst
Conformists
I myself did list,
A
Son o'th Church
as good as ever pist.
But though I bowed, and cring'd, & crossed & all,
I only got a Vicarage very small.
Ere I was warm (and warm I never had been
In such a
starved hole
as I was in)
A
Fire
upon the Church and Kingdom came,
Which I straight helped to blow into a
flame.
The Third Part.
MY Conscience first, like
Balaam's Ass,
was shy,
Bogled and winc'd; which when I did espy,
I cudgeled her, and spurred her on each side,
Until the Jade her paces all could ride.
When first I mounted on her tender back,
She would not leave the
Protestant dull Rack,
Till in her mouth the
Cov'nant Bit
I got
And made her learn the
Presbyterian Trot;
'Twas an hard Trot, and fretted her (alas)
The
Independent Amble
easier was,
I taught her that, and out of that to fall
To the
Tantivy
of
Prela
•
ical.
I rode her once to
Rumford
with a pack
Of Arguments for th' Cov'nant on her back.
That Journey she performed at such a rate,
Th 'Committee gave me a rich
piece of Plate.
From
Hatfield to St. Albans
I did ride,
The Army called for me to be their
Guide;
There I so spurd her, that I made her fling,
Not only
dirt,
but
blood
upon my
King.
When
Cromwell
turned his Masters out by force;
I made the Beast draw like a
Brewers horse;
Under the
Rump
I made her wear a
Crooper,
And under
Lambert
she became a
Trooper.
When Noble
Monk
the KING did home convey,
She (like
Darius
Steed) began to
neigh.
I taught her since to
Organ Pipes
to prance,
As
Banks
his Horse could to a
Fiddle
dance.
Now with a
Snaffle,
or a
twined thread,
To
any Government
she'l
turn her head:
I have so
broke
her, she doth never start,
And that's the meaning of my
broken heart:
I have found out a cunning way with ease,
To make her
cast her Coat
when ere I please;
And if at
Rack
and
Manger
she may be,
Her
Colts tooth
she will keep most
Wanton
-LEE.
I will change as often as the
Man
in the
Moon;
[His frequent
Changing
makes him
rise so soon]
To eat
Church Plumb-broth
e're it all be gone,
I will have the
Devil's spoon
but I will have One.
For many years my Tongue did
lick the Rump;
But when I saw a KING was turned up
Trump,
I did resolve still in my hand to have
One winning Card,
although 'twere but a
Knave.
If the
Great Turk
to
England
come, I can
Make
Gospel
truckle to the
Quran;
And if their
Turkish Sabbaths
should take place,
I have in readiness my
Friday face.
If lock in Iron Chest (as we are told)
A
Loadstone
their great
Mahomet
can hold:
The
Loadstone
of Preferment (I presage)
To
Mahomet
may
draw this Iron Age.
The
Congregation way
best pleased my mind;
There were more
Shees,
and they most free and kind:
By
Chamber practice
I did better thrive,
Than all my
Livings,
though
I skimmed five.
Mine Eyes are open now my Sins to see,
With Tears I cry,
Good People Pardon me;
My
Reverend Fathers
Pardon I do crave,
And hope my
Mothers Blessing
yet to have.
My
Cambridge
sins, my
Bugden
sins are vile,
My
Essex
sins, my sins in
Eli-Isle,
My
Leicester
sins, my
Hatfield
sins are many,
But my
St. Albans
sins more red than any.
To
CHARLES the first
I was a bloody foe,
I wish I do not serve the
Second
so:
The only way to make me leave that trick,
Is to bestow on me a
Bishopric.
This is St.
Andrew's
Eve, and for his sake
A Bishopric in
Scotland
I could take;
And though a
Metropolitan
there be,
I'd be as
Sharp,
and full as
Arch
as he.
Now may this
Sermon
never be forgot,
Let others called a
Sermon,
I a
Plot,
A Plot that takes, if it believed be;
If not I shall repent
Unfained-LEE.
I must desire the
Crack-fart
of the Nation,
With
rev'rance
to
let fly
this
Recantation;
Our Names tied tail to tail, make a
sweet
change,
Mine only is
Strange-Lee,
and his
Le-strange.