While women, great with child, miscarry'd,
For being to malignants marry'd:
Transform'd all wives to Dalilahs,
Whofe husbands were not for the Caufe;
And turn'd the men to ten-horn'd cattle,
Because they came not out to battle;
Made taylors' 'prentices turn heroes,
For fear of being transform'd to Meroz,
And rather forfeit their indentures,
Than not efpoufe the Saints' adventures:
Could tranfubftantiate, metamorphofe,

And charm whole herds of beasts, like Orpheus;
Inchant the King's and Church's lands,
T'obey and follow your commands,
And fettle on a new freehold,
As Marcly-hill had done of old;

Could turn the Covenant, and translate

The Gospel into fpoons and plate:
Expound upon all merchants' cashes,
And open th' intricateft places;
Could catechife a money-box,

For, had you preach'd and pray'd your worst,

Outcharm'd the magic of the spell,
And, with his fquirt-fire, could difperfe,
Whole troops with chapter rais'd and verse. 1170
We knew too well thofe tricks of yours,
To leave it ever in your powers,

was a perfon of extraordinary sobriety, induftry, and courage, and was killed at the taking of Bristol by the King, in 1643.

ere Henderfon, and th' other Maffes, re fent to cap texts, and put cafes: pafs for deep and learned scholars, nough but paltry Ob and Sollers:

As if th' unfeasonable fools
1240 Had been a courfing in the schools,

1243

1250

Until they 'ad prov'd the devil author,
O' th' Covenant, and the Cause his daughter:
For, when they charg'd him with the guilt
Of all the blood that had been spilt,
They did not mean he wrought th' effusion
In perfon, like Sir Pride or Hughfon;
But only those who first begun
The quarrel were by him fet on;
And who could thofe be but the Saints,
Thofe Reformation termagants?
But ere this pafs'd, the wife debate
Spent fo much time it grew too late;
For Oliver had gotten ground,

inclofe him with his warriors round;
Had brought his Providence about,
And turn'd th' untimely fophifts out.

Nor had the Uxbridge bufinefs lefs
Of nonfenfe in 't, or fottifhness;
When from a fcoundrel holder-forth,
The fcum as well as fon o' th' earth,

1255

1260

Fer. 1239. Where Henderson.] When the King, he year 1646, was in the Scotch army, the h Parliament feat him fome propofitions, of which was the abolition of Epifcopacy, the fetting up Prefbytery in its flead. Mr. derfon one of the chief of the Scotch Prefrian minifters, was employed to induce the g to agree to this propofition, it being what Majefty chiefly stuck at. Accordingly he e provided with books and papers for his pofe: the controverfy was debated in writing, vell as by perfonal conference, and feveral ers paffed between them, which have been eral times published; from which it appears, :the King, without books or papers, or any to afft him, was an overmatch for this old mpion of the Kirk (and, I think it will be hyperbole if I add, for all the then English Scotch Prefbyterian teachers put together), made him fo far a convert, that he departed, h great forrow, to Edinburgh, with a deep fe of the mischief of which he had been the hor and abettor; and not only lamented to his nds and confidents, on his death-bed, which owed foon after, but likewife publifhed a mn declaration to the Parliament and Synod England, in which he owned, "That they had been abused with most falfe afperfions against his Majefty, and that they ought to restore him to his full rights, royal throne, and dignity, left an endless character of ingratitude lie upon them, that may turn to their, ruin." As to the King himfelf, befides menning his juftice, his magnanimity, his fobriety, charity, and other virtues, he has thefe ords: "I do declare, before God and the world, whether in relation to the Kirk or State, I found his Majesty the most intelligent man that ever I fpake with, as far beyond He is called Thomas Lord Pride, in the commifmy expreffion as expectation.-I profefs I was oftentimes aftonished with the quick-trial of Sir Henry Slingfby, Dr. Hewit, &c. fion for erecting a High Court of Justice for the nefs of his reafons and replies; wondered how he, fpending his time in sports and recreations, could have attained to fo great knowledge and must confefs that I was convinced in confcience, and knew not how to give him any reasonable fatisfaction: yet the fweetness of his difpofition is fuch, that whatever I faid was well taken. I must say that I never met with any difputant of that mild and calm temper; which convinced me that his wifdom and moderation could not he without an extraordinary measure of divine grace. I dare fay, if his advice had been followed, all the blood that is fhed, and all the rapine that has been committed, would have been 6 prevented."

defigned as a character of Mr. Henderson and his fellow difputants, who are called Males (as Mas is an abridgment of Mafter) that is, young mafters in divinity; and this character fignifies fomething quite contrary to deep and learned fcholars; particularly fuch as had ftudied controverfies, as they are handled by little books or fyftems (of the Dutch and Geneva cut) where the authors reprefent their adverfaries' arguments by small objections, and subjoin their own pitiful folutions. In the margin of these books may be feen Ob and Sol. Such mushroom-divines are ingenioufly and compendiously called Ob and Sollers.

Ver. 1242. Ob and Sollers.] Whoever confiders the context, will find that Ob and Sollers are

Ver. 1250. Pride.] Pride was a foundling. He went into the army, was made a colonel, and was principally concerned in fecluding the members, in order to the King's trial; which He was one of Oliver Cromwell's upper house. great change was called Colonel Pride's Purge.

Mr. Butler calls him Sir Pride, by way of sneer upon the manner of his being knighted; for Oliver Cromwell knighted him with a faggotftick instead of a fword.

Ibid, Hughson.] He was a cobler, went into the army, and was made a colonel; knighted by Oliver Cromwell, and, to help to cobble the crazy ftate of the nation, was made one of Oliver's upper houfe.

Ver. 1263.] This was Mr. Chriftopher Love, a furious Prefbyterian, who, when the King's commiffioners met thofe of the Parliament at Uxbridge, in the year 1644, to treat of peace, preached a fermon there, on the 30th of Janu ary, against the treaty, and faid, among other things, that "no good was to be expected from "it, for that they (meaning the King's commif.

To prove themselves your troity friends,
You bafely left them and the Church
They train'd you up to, in the lurch,

1275

As if we did not take, but give;
Set up the Covenant on crutches,
'Gainie thofe who have us in their clutches,
And dream of pulling churches down,
Before we 're fure to prop our own;
Your conftant method of proceeding,
Without the carnal means of heeding,
Who, 'twixt your inward fenfe and outward,
Are worse, than if y' had none, accoutred.
I grant all courfes are in vain,

1315

1320

And fuffer'd your own tribe of Christians
To fall before, as true Philistines.
This fhews what utenfils y' have been,
To bring the King's concernments in;
Which is fo far from being true,
That none but he can bring in you;
And if he take you into trust,
Will find you moft exactly just,
Such as will punctually repay
With double intereft, and betray.
Not that I think the fe pantomimes,
Who vary action with the times,
Are lefs ingenious in their art,
Than those who dully act one part,
Or those who turn from fide to fide,
More guilty than the wind and tide.
All countries are a wife man's home,
And fo are governments to fome,
Who change them for the fame intrigues
That statesmen ufe in breaking leagues;
While others in old faiths and troths
Look odd, as out-of-fathion'd clothes,
And naftier in an old opinion,

1280

Unless we can get in again;

The only way that 's left us now,
But all the difficulty 's how.

'Tis true we 'ave money, th' only power
That all mankind falls down before;

Money, that, like the fwords of kings,
Is the laft reafon of all things;

1285 And therefore need not doubt our play
Has all advantages that way,
As long as men have faith to fell,
And meet with thofe that can pay well;
Whofe half-ftarv'd pride, and avarice,
One church and state will not fuffice,

1330

1395

1290

1295

T'expose to fale, befides the wages,
Of storing plagues to after-ages,
Nor is our money lefs our own
Than 'twas before we laid it down;
For 'twill return, and turn t' account,
If we are brought in play upon 't,
Or but, by cafting knaves, get in,

1340

What power can hinder :s to win?
We know the arts we us'd before,

1349

Than thofe who never fhift their linen.
For True and Faithful's fure to lofe,
Which way foever the game goes;
And, whether parties lofe or win,
Is always nick'd, or elie hedg'd in:

1300

In peace and war, and fomething more,

And by th' unfortunate events

Can mend our next experiments;

For when we're taken into trust,

How eafy are the wifeft chouft,

While power ufurp'd, like ftol'n delight,
Is more bewitching than the right;

1305

Who fee but th' outfides of our feats,

And, when the times begin to alter,

None rife fo high as from the halter.
And fo may we, if we 'ave but fenfe
To use the neceffary means,

1310

"fioners) came from Oxford with hearts full " of blood."

Ver. 1269, 1270] The expence the English rebels engaged the nation in, by bringing in their brother rebels from Scotland, amounted to an extravagant fum; their receipts in money and free-quarter, 1,462,7691. 55. 3d. William Lilly, the Sidraphel of this Poem, obferves of the Scots, "That they came into England purposely to ❝fteal our goods, ravish our wives, enilave our "perfons, inherit our poffeffions and birthrights, remain here in England, and everlast"ingly to inhabit among us."

Mr. Bowlitrode, fon of Colonel Bowlstrode, a factious rebel in Buckinghamshire, in his

And not their fecret fprings and weights,
And, while they 're bufy at their eaie,
Can carry what defigns we please?
How eafy is 't to ferve for agents
To profecute our old engagements?
To keep the good old Caufe on foot,
And prefent power from taking root;

And stand for, as the times will bear it, 1395 | And draw in ftore of customers,

That beaftly rabble-that came down
From all the garrets-in the Town,
And ftalls, and fhop-boards-in vaft fwarms,
With new-chalk'd bills, and rufty arms,
To cry the Caufe-up, heretofore,
And bawl the Bishops-out of door,

Ver. 1504.] We learn from Lilly, that the meffenger who brought this terrifying intelligence to this cabal was Sir Martyn Noell. Sir Martyn tells his story naturally, and begins like a man in a fright and out of breath, and continues to make breaks and ftops till he naturally recovers it, and then proceeds floridly, and without impediment. This is a beauty in the Poem not to be difregarded; and let the reader make an experiment, and shorten his breath, or, in other words, put himself into Sir Martyn's condition, and then read this relation, and, he will foon be convinced that the breaks are natural and judicious.