Speaks of all States and deeds that have been fince
The Spaniards came to th' loís of Amyens.
Like a big wife, at fight of loathed meat,
Ready to travail: fo I figh, and fweat
To hear this Makaron talk: in vain, for yet,
Either my humour, or his own to fit.
He like a priviledg'd fpie, whom nothing can
Difcredit, libels now 'gainst each great man.
He names the price of ev'ry office paid;
He faith our wars thrive ill because delaid;
That Offices are intail'd, and that there are
Perpetuities of them, lafting as far
As the laft day; and that great Officers
Do with the Spaniards fhare, and Dunkirkers.
I more amaz'd than Circes prifoners, when
They felt themselves turn beafts, felt myself then
Becoming Traytor, and methought I faw
One of our Giant Statutes ope his jaw
To fuck me in for hearing him: I found
That as burnt venemous Leachers do grow
By giving others their fores, I might grow
Guilty, and he fice: Therefore I did fhow
VER. 167. fall endlong] The fudden effect of the transformation is ftrongly and finely painted to the imagination, not in the found, but in the sense of these two words.
Trims Europe's balance, tops the statesman's part,
And talks Gazettes and Poft-boys o'er by heart. 155
Like a big wife at fight of loathfome meat
Ready to caft, I yawn, I figh, and sweat.
Then as a licens'd fpy, whom nothing can
Silence or hurt, he libels the great Man ;
Swears ev'ry place entail'd for years to come,
In fure fucceffion to the day of doom:
He names the price for ev'ry office paid,
And fays our wars thrive ill, because delay'd:
Nay hints, 'tis by connivance of the Court,
That Spain robs on, and Dunkirk's still a Port. 165.
Not more amazement feiz'd on Circe's guests,
To fee themselves fall endlong into beafts,
Than mine, to find a subject stay'd and wife
Already half turn'd traytor by surprize.
I felt th' infection flide from him to me,
As in the pox, fome give it to get free ;
And quick to fwallow me, methought I faw
One of our Giant Statutes ope its jaw.
In that nice Moment, as another Lye
Stood juft a-tilt, the Minister came by.
To him he flies, and bows, and bows again,
Then, close as Umbra, joins the dirty train.
All figns of loathing; but fince I am in,
I must pay mine, and my forefathers fin
To the last farthing. Therefore to my power
Toughly and stubbornly I bear; but th' hower
Of mercy now was come: he tries to bring
Me to pay a fine to 'fcape a torturing,
And fays, Sir, can you spare me-? I faid, Willingly;
Nay, Sir, can you spare me a crown? Thankfully I
Gave it, as ranfom; but as fidlers, ftill,
Though they be paid to be gone, yet needs will
Thrust one more jigg upon you: so did he
With his long complimental thanks vex me.
But he is gone, thanks to his needy want,
And the Prerogative of my Crown; fcant
His thanks were ended, when I (which did fee
All the Court fill'd with more ftrange things than he)
Ran from thence with fuch, or more haft than one
Who fears more actions, doth haft from prison.
At home in wholefome folitarinefs
My pitcous foul began the wretchedness
Of fuiters at court to mourn, and a trance
Like his, who dreamt he faw hell, did advance
It felf o'er me; fuch men as he saw there
I saw at court, and worse and more.
VER. 184. Bear me,] These four lines are wonderfully fublime. His impatience in this region of vice, is like that of Virgil, in the region of beat. They both call out as if they were half ftified by the fulphury air of the place,
Not Fannius' self more impudently near,
When half his nofe is in his Prince's ear.
I quak'd at heart; and ftill afraid, to fee
All the Court fill'd with ftranger things than he, his bail,
Ran out as fast, as one that pays
And dreads more actions, hurries from a jail.
Bear me, fome God! oh quickly bear me hence
To wholfome Solitude, the nurse of sense:
185
Where Contemplation prunes her ruffled wings,
And the free foul looks down to pity Kings!
There fober thought purfu'd th' amufing theme,
Till Fancy colour'd it, and form'd a Dream.
A Vision hermits can to Hell transport,
And forc'd ev'n me to fee the damn'd at Court.
Not Dante dreaming all th' infernal state,
Beheld fuch scenes of envy, fin, and hate.
Bafe Fear becomes the guilty, not the free;
Suits Tyrants, Plunderers, but fuits not me:
O qui me gelidis--
O quickly bear me hence.
VER. 188. There fober thought] These two lines are remarkable for the delicacy and propriety of the expreffion. VER. 194. Bafe Fear.] Thefe four admirable lines become the high office he had affumed, and so nobly sustained. VOL. IV.
Becomes the guilty, not th' accufer: Then,
Shall I, none's flave, of high-born or rais'd men
Fear frowns; and my mistress Truth, betray thee
For th' huffing, bragart, puft nobility?
No, no, thou which fince yesterday hast been,
Almost about the whole world, haft thou feen,
O fun in all thy journey, vanity,
Such as fwells the bladder of our court? I
Think he which made your h Waxen garden, and
Transported it from Italy, to ftand
With us at London, flouts our Courtiers; for
Juft fuch gay painted things, which no fap, nor
Taste have in them, ours are; and natural
Some of the stocks are; their fruits baftard all.
"Tis ten a Clock and past; all whom the mues, Baloun, or tennis, diet, or the stews
Had all the morning held, now the second
Time made ready, that day, in flocks are found
In the Prefence, and I (God pardon me)
As fresh and sweet their Apparels be, as be
b A fhow of the Italian Garden in Waxwork, in the time of King James the First.
VER. 206. Court in wax! A famous fhow of the Court of France, in Wax-work.
VER. 213. At Fig's, at White's,] White's was a noted gaming-houfe: Fig's, a Prize-fighter's Academy, where the
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