And ev'ry partner to possess
His church and state joint-purchases,
In which the ablest saint, and best,
Was nam'd in trust by all the rest
То pay their money, and, instead
Of ev'ry brother, pass the deed,
He straight converted all his gifts
To pious frauds and holy shifts,
And settled all the other shares
Upon his outward man and 's heirs ;

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65

Held all they claim'd as forfeit lands
Deliver'd up into his hands,

70

And pass'd upon his conscience
By pre-entail of Providence;
Impeach'd the rest for reprobates,
That had no titles to estates,
But by their spiritual attaints
Degraded from the right of saints.
This b'ing reveal'd, they now begun
With law and conscience to fall on,
And laid about as hot and brain-sick
As th' utter barrister of Swanswick;
Engag'd with money-bags as bold
As men with sand-bags did of old;
That brought the lawyers in more fees
Than all unsanctify'd trustees;
Till he who had no more to show
I' th' case receiv'd the overthrow;
Or, both sides having had the worst,
They parted as they met at first.

Poor Presbyter was now reduc'd,
Secluded, and cashier'd, and chous'd!
Turn'd out, and excommunicate
From all affairs of church and state;
Reform'd t'a reformado saint,

And glad to turn itinerant,

To stroll and teach from town to town,
And those he had taught up teach down,

77. William Prynn, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq. born at Swanswick, who styled himself Utter Barrister, a very warm person, and voluminous writer; and after the Restoration, keeper of the records in the Tower.

And make those uses serve agen
Against the new-enlighten'd men,
As fit as when at first they were
Reveal'd against the Cavalier;
Damn Anabaptist and fanatic,
As pat as popish and prelatic;
And with as little variation,

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To serve for any sect i' th' nation.

The Good Old Cause, which some believe

To be the devil that tempted Eve

With knowledge, and does still invite

105

The world to mischief with new Light,

Had store of money in her purse

When he took her for better or worse;

But now was grown deform'd and poor,
And fit to be turn'd out of door.

110

The Independents (whose first station

Was in the rear of reformation,

A mongrel kind of church dragoons,

That serv'd for horse and foot at once,
And in the saddle of one steed

115

The Saracen and Christian rid,

Were free of ev'ry spiritual order,

To preach, and fight, and pray, and murder)

No sooner got the start to lurch

Both disciplines of war, and church,

120

T'attack themselves, as th' had before.
For now there was no foe in arms,

T'unite their factions with alarms,

But all reduc'd and overcome,

Except their worst, themselves at home,

130

Wh' had compass'd all they pray'd, and swore, And fought, and preach'd, and plunder'd for; Subdu'd the nation, church, and state,

And all things but their laws and hate.

P

135

But when they came to treat and transact,
And share the spoil of all th' had ransackt,
To botch up what th' had torn and rent,
Religion and the government,

They met no sooner, but prepar'd
To pull down all the war had spar'd;
Agreed in nothing but t' abolish,
Subvert, extirpate, and demolish :
For knaves and fools b'ing near of kin
As Dutch Boors are t'a Sooterkin,

Both parties join'd to do their best
To damn the public interest,
And herded only in consults,
To put by one another's bolts;
T'out cant the Babylonian labourers,
At all their dialects of jabberers,

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150

And tug at both ends of the saw,
To tear down government and law.

For as two cheats that play one game,
Are both defeated of their aim,

155

So those who play a game of state,
And only cavil in debate,

Although there's nothing lost or won,

The public bus'ness is undone;

160

Which still the longer 'tis in doing,

Becomes the surer way to ruin.

This when the royalists perceiv'd

(Who to their faith as firmly cleav'd,

And own'd the right they had paid down

165

So dearly for, the church and crown,)
Th' united constanter, and sided

The more, the more their foes divided:
For though out-number'd, overthrown,
And by the fate of war run down,
Their duty never was defeated,

170

Nor from their oaths and faith retreated;

146. It is reported of the Dutch women, that making so great a use of stoves, and often putting them under their petticoats, they engender a kind of ugly monster, which is called a Sooterkin.

151. At the building of the Tower of Babel, when God made the confusion of languages.

For loyalty is still the same,
Whether it win or lose the game;

True as the dial to the sun,

175

Although it be not shin'd upon.
But when these brethren in evil,
Their adversaries, and the devil,

Began once more to shew them play,
And hopes, at least, to have a day,
They rally'd in parades of woods,
And unfrequented solitudes;
Conven'd at midnight in outhouses,
T'appoint new-rising rendezvouses,
And, with a pertinacy unmatch'd,
For new recruits of danger watch'd.
No sooner was one blow diverted,
But up another party started;
And, as if nature too, in haste
To furnish out supplies as fast,

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190

Before her time, had turn'd destruction

Nor all the desperate events

Of former try'd experiments,

Nor wounds could terrify, nor mangling,
To leave off loyalty and dangling;
Nor death (with all his bones) affright
From vent'ring to maintain the right,
From staking life and fortune down
'Gainst all together, for the crown;
But kept the title of their cause

From forfeiture, like claims in laws :
And prov'd no prosp'rous usurpation
Can ever settle in the nation;
Until, in spite of force and treason,
They put their loyalty in possession;
And, by their constancy and faith,
Destroy'd the mighty men of Gath.

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210

Toss'd in a furious hurricane,
Did Oliver give up his reign;"
And was believ'd, as well by saints
As mortal men and miscreants,
To founder in the Stygian ferry,
Until he was retriev'd by Sterry;
Who, in a false erroneous dream,
Mistook the New Jerusalem
Profanely for th' apocryphal

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220

False Heaven at the end o' th' hall;
Whither it was decreed by fate
His precious reliques to translate.
So Romulus was seen before

225

B' as orthodox a senator,
From whose divine illumination

He stole the Pagan revelation.

Next him his son and heir apparent
Succeeded, though a lame vicegerent;
Who first laid by the Parliament,
The only crutch on which he leant;

230

215. At Oliver's death was a most furious tempest, such as had not been known in the memory of man, or hardly ever recorded to have been in this nation.

This Sterry reported something ridiculously fabulous concerning Oliver, not unlike what Proculus did of Romulus.

224. After the Restoration, Oliver's body was dug up, and his head set at the farther end of Westminster-hall, near which place there is a house of entertainment, which is commonly known by the name of Heaven.

227. A Roman senator, whose name was Proculus, and much beloved by Romulus, made oath before the senate, that this prince appeared to him after his death, and predicted the future grandeur of that city, promising to be protector of it; and expressly charged him that he should be adored under the name of Quirinus; and he had his temple on Mount Quirinale.

231. Oliver's eldest son Richard was, by him before his death, declared his successor; and, by order of privycouncil, proclaimed Lord Protector, and received the compliments of congratulation and condolence, at the same time, from the lord mayor and court of aldermen : and addresses were presented to him from all parts of the nation, promising to stand by him with their lives and fortunes. He summoned a parliament to meet at Westminster, which recognised him Lord Protector: yet, notwithstanding, Fleetwood, Desborough, and their partisans, managed affairs so, that be was obliged to resign