wards crofed it out, for which reafon I have not inferted it; and only mention it as a circumftance which may amufe fuch as are curious in hunting out the explication of niceties of this fort. It does not appear to bear any fenfe confiftent with the fubject; but fome other critic may perhaps find one, or at leaft pleafe himfelf with thinking fo. Ver. 16.] From the medals, and original portraits, which are left of Oliver Cromwell, one may probably conjecture, if not pofitively affirm, that this droll picture was defigned for him. The roundness of the face, the odnefs of the nofe, and the remarkable largenefs of the eyebrows, are particulars which correspond exactly with them. T CROMWELL PART II. HIS monfter was begotten Upon one of the witches, With black doublet and breeches When he was whelp'd, for certain, The hogs and fwine Did grunt and whine, And the ravens croak'd upon trees; The winds did blow, the thunder The hollow tree in th' owl'Tis a good horfe that ne'er ftumbled. 13 40 Ver. 61. From th's circumftance it appears, that this Ballad was wrote before the muider of the King, and that it is the ea licit peri rmance of Butler's that has yet been made public; and I. think one may, without prejudice, affirm, that it does no difcredit to his younger years. This, and the other little Sketches that follow, were among many of the fame kind, fairly written out by Butler, in a fort of poetical The45 faurus, which I have before mentioned. Whe Hud. p. II. c. i. v. 29. 50 55 ther he intended ever to publish any of them as feparate diftinct thoughts, or to interweave them into fome future compofitions, a thing verv ufua】 with him, cannot be afcertained; nor is it, indeed, very material to thofe who are fond of his manner of thinking and writing. I have ventured to give them the title of Mifcellaneous Thoughts; but i have not been over-curious in placing them in any methodical order. Out of this magazine he communicated to Mr. Aubrey that genuine fragment printed in his life, beginning, No Jefuit e'er took in hand To plant a church in barren land, The publishing of Mifcellaneous Thoughts, or what paties under the name of Table Talk, might be juftified by many names of the greateft authority in the learned world; and thefe fallies of wit, unconnectedly printed, fometimes give more pleafore than when they are interperfed in a long and regular work; as it is often more entertaining to examine jewels feparately in a cabinet, than to fee them adorning a prince's crown or a royal robe. One may venture to add, that thefe of our Author must have a kind of additional recommendation, by the agreeable fingularity of their being in verfe. Illiterate dunces, undifcern'd, País mufter for the valiant: For he that has but impudence, HOW various and innumerable The doctor's and the lawyer's fees, SHOULD once the world refolve t' abolif THE world would be more just, if tṛuth and And right and wrong, did bear an equal price; THE fottifh world without diftinétion looks On all that paffes on th' account of books; And, when there are two fcholars that within The fpecies only hardly are a-kin, The world will pafs for men of equal knowledge, If equally they've loiter'd in a college. CRITICS are like a kind of flies that breed In wild fig-trees, and, when they 're grown up, feed Upon the raw fruit of the nobler kind, AS all Fanatics preach, so all men write, Out of the ftrength of gifts, and inward light, In fpite of art; as horfes thorough pac'd Were never taught, and therefore go more fast, IN all mistakes the strict and regular Are found to be the defperat'ft ways to err, And worst to be avoided; as a wound Is faid to be the harder cur'd that 's round; For error and mistake, the lefs they' appear, In th' end are found to be the dangeroufer; As no man minds thofe clocks that ufe to go Apparently too over-faft or flow. THE trueft characters of ignorance Are vanity, and pride, and arrogance; As blind men ufe to bear their noses higher Than thofe that have their eyes and fight entire, THE metaphyfic's but a puppet mation That goes with screws, the notion of a notion; The copy of a copy, and lame draught, Unnaturally taken from a thought; That counterfeits all pantomimic tricks, And turns the eyes like an old crucifix; That counterchanges whatfoe'er it calls B' another name, and makes it true or falfe Turns truth to falfehood, falfchood into truth, By virtue of the Babylonian's tooth. 'TIS not the art of schools to understand. But make things hard, instead of being explain'd; And therefore thofe are commonly the learned'A That only ftudy between jest and earnest: For when the end of learning's to purfue And trace the fubtle fteps of falfe and true, They ne'er confider how they 're to apply, But only liften to the noife and cry, And are so much delighted with the chace, They never mind the taking of their preys MORE profelytes and converts ufe t'accrue To falfe perfuafions than the right and trus; For error and mistake are infinite, But truth has but one way to be i' th' right; As numbers may t' infinity be grown, But never be reduc'd to lefs than one. ALL wit and fancy, like a diamond, The more exact and curious 'tis ground, Is forc'd for every carat to abate As much in value as it wants in weight. THE great St. Lewis, king of Franse Fighting against Mahometans, In Egypt, in the holy war, The king pays down one half o' th' nail, THOSE that go up-hill ufe to bow Can ftoop to any thing that 's bafe, To wriggle into truft and grace; ALL acts of grace, and pardon, and oblivion, LIONS are kings of beafts, and yet their power Is not to rule and govern, but devour: Such favage kings all tyrants are, and they No better than mere beafts that do obey. NOTHING's more dull and negligent Than an old lazy government, That knows no interest of state, But fuch as ferves a present strait, And, to patch up, or fhift, will clofe Or break alike, with friends or foes; That runs behind-hand, and has spent Its credit to the last extent; And, the first time 'tis at a lofs, Has not one true friend nor one crofs. THE Devil was the first o' th' name And therefore ne'er repent the evil THE worst of rebels never arm "Twill not bear out the blows of Fate, WHO doth not know with what fierce rage Opinions, true or falfe, engage; And, 'cause they govern all mankind, Like the blind's leading of the blind, All claim an equal intereft, And free dominion o'er the rest. And, as one fhield that fell from heaven The better to fecure the fate To damn their fouls, and fwear and lye for, OPINION governs all mankind, Like the blind's leading of the blind; For he that has no eyes in 's head, Must be by' a dog glad to be led; And no beafts have fo little in them As that inhuman brute, Opinion; "Tis an infectious peftilence, The tokens upon wit and fenfe, That with a venomous contagion, Invades the fick imagination; And, when it feizes any part, It strikes the poison to the heart. This men of one another catch By contact, as the humours match; And nothing 's fo perverfe in nature As a profound opiniator. AUTHORITY intoxicates, And makes mere fots of magiftrates; A GODLY man, that has ferv'd out his time In holiness, may fet up any crime; As fcholars, when they 've taken their degrees, May fet up any faculty they pleafe. WHY fhould not piety be made, As well as equity, a trade, And men get money by devotion, A TEACHER's doctrine, and his proet, THE fobereft faints are more stiff-necked Than th' hottest-headed of the wicked. HYPOCRISY will ferve as well To propagate a church as zeal; As perfecution and promotion Do equally advance devotion; So round white stones will ferve, they fay As well as eggs, to make hens lay, THE greatest faints and finners have be made Of profelytes of one another's trade. YOUR wife and c uticus confciences But what itfelf fets o'er the foul; Of all forts, for all forts of vices; Make mountains move with greater fore ALL love, at first, like generous wing |