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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,
B' an imp that came to her,
Like a man, to wooe her,

With black doublet and breeches

When he was whelp'd, for certain,
In divers feveral countries

The hogs and fwine

Did grunt and whine,

And the ravens croak'd upon trees;

The winds did blow, the thunder
And lightning loud did rumble;
The dogs did howl,

The hollow tree in th' owl'Tis a good horfe that ne'er ftumbled. 13

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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,
Nor ever thought it worth the while
A Swede or Rufs to reconcile, &c.

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,
Pals on the rabble for the learn'd;
And cowards, that can damn and rant,

País mufter for the valiant:

For he that has but impudence,
To all things has a just pretence,
And, put among his wants but shame,
To all the world may lay his claim.

HOW various and innumerable
Are those who live upon the rabble!
'Tis they maintain the church and state,
Employ the priest and magiftrate;
Bear all the charge of government,
And pay the public fines and rent;
Defray all taxes and excifes,
And impofitions of all prices;
Bear all th' expence of peace and war,
And pay the pulpit and the bar;
Maintain all churches and religions,
And give their pastors exhibitions;
And those who have the greatest flocks
Are primitive and orthodox;
Support all fchifmatics and fects,
And pay them for tormenting texts;
Take all their doctrines off their hands,
And pay them in good rents and lands
Difcharge all coftly offices,

The doctor's and the lawyer's fees,
The hangman's wages, and the scores
Of caterpillar bawds and whores;
Difcharge all damages and cofts
Of Knights and Squires of the Poft;
All statesmen, cutpurfes, and padders,
And pay for all their ropes and ladders;
All pettifoggers, and all forts
Of markets, churches, and of courts
All fums of money paid or spent,
With all the charges incident,
Laid out, or thrown away, or given
To purchase this world, hell, or heaven,

SHOULD once the world refolve t' abolif
All that's ridiculous and foolish,
It would have nothing left to do,
T' apply in jeft or earnest to,
No bufinefs of importance, play,
Or ftate, to país its time away.

THE world would be more just, if tṛuth and
Ives,

And right and wrong, did bear an equal price;
But, fince impoftors are fo highly rais'd,
And faith and juftice equally debas'd,
Few men have tempers, for fuch paltry gains,
T'undo themselves with drudgery and pains,

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,
And, by their nibbling on the outward rind,
Open the pores, and make way for the fun
To ripen it fooner than he would have done.

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,
Was routed and made prifoner:
The Sultan then, into whofe hands
He and his army fell, demands
A thoufand weight of gold, to free
And fet them all at liberty.

The king pays down one half o' th' nail,
And for the other offers bail,
The pyx, and in 't the eucharift,
The body of our Saviour Christ.
The Turk confider'd, and allow'd
The king's fecurity for good:
Such credit had the Chriftian zeal,
In those days, with an Infidel,
That will not pafs for two pence now,
Among themselves, 'tis grown fo low.

THOSE that go up-hill ufe to bow
Their bodies forward, and stoop low,
To poife themfelves, and fometimes creep,
When th' way is difficult and fteep:
So thofe at court, that do addrefs
By low ignoble offices;

Can ftoop to any thing that 's bafe,

To wriggle into truft and grace;
Are like to rife to greatness fooner
Than thofe that go by worth and honour.

ALL acts of grace, and pardon, and oblivion,
Are meant of fervices that are forgiven,
And not of crimes delinquents have committed,
And rather been rewarded than acquitted.

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
From whom the race of rebels came,
Who was the first bold undertaker
Of bearing arms against his Maker,
And, though mifcarrying in th' event,
Was never yet known to repent,
Though tumbled from the top of blifs
Down to the bottomlefs abyfs;
A property which, from their prince,
The family owns ever fince,

And therefore ne'er repent the evil
They do or fuffer, like the devil.

THE worst of rebels never arm
To do their king or country harm

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"Twill not bear out the blows of Fate,
Nor fence against the tricks of state;
Nor from th' oppreflion of the laws
Protect the plain't and jufteft caufe;
Nor keep unfpotted a good name
Against the obloquics of Faine;
Fecble as patience, and as foon,
By being blow upon, undone.
As beafts are hunted for their furs,
Men for their virtues fare the worse.

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
Was counterfeited by eleven,

The better to fecure the fate
And lasting empire of a state,
The falfe are numerous, and the true,
That only have the right, but few.
Hence fools, that understand them leaft,
Are ftill the fierceft in contest;
Unfight, unfeen, efpoufe a fide
At random, like a prince's bride,

To damn their fouls, and fwear and lye for,
And at a venture live and die 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;
The fumes of it invade the brain,
And make men giddy, proud, and vain;
By this the fool commands the wife,
The noble with the bafe complies,
The fot affumes the rule of wit,
And cowards make the bafe fubmit.

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,
As well as making of a motien?
B' allow'd to pray upon conditions,
As well as fuitors in petitions?
And in a congregation pray,
No less than Chancery, for pay?

A TEACHER's doctrine, and his proet,
Is all his province, and enough;
But is no more concern'd in ufe,
Than fhoemakers to wear all shoes.

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
Are free to take what course they please;
Have plenary indulgence to difpofe,
At pleasure, of the itirictest vows,
And challenge Heaven, they nade them to
To vouch and witness what they do;
And, when they prove averfe and loth
Yet for convenience take an oath,
Not only can difpenfe, but make it
A greater fin to keep than take it;
Can bind and loofe all forts of fn,
And only keep the keys within;
Has no fuperior to control

But what itfelf fets o'er the foul;
And, when it is enjoin'd t' obey,
Is but confin'd, and keeps the key;
Can walk invifible, and where,
And when, and how, it will appear:
Can turn itself into difguifes

Of all forts, for all forts of vices;
Can tranfubftantiate, metamorphofe,
And charm whole herds of beafts, like Orpheer
Make woods, and tenements, and lands,
Obey and follow its commands,
And fettle on a new freehold,
As Marcly-hill remov'd of old;

Make mountains move with greater fore
Than faith, to new proprietors;
And perjures, to fecure th' enjoyments
Of public charges and employments:
For true and faithful, good and just,
Are but preparatives to truit;
The gilt and ornament of things,
And not their movements, wheels, and fprif

ALL love, at first, like generous wing
Ferments and frets until 'tis fine;

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