Hastening to be
envenomed
with the pox.
Marvell - Poems
PABT n.
Spread a large canvas, Painter, to contain
The great assembly, and the numerous train ;
Where all about him shall in triumph sit,
Abhorring wisdom, and despising wit ;
Hating all justice, and resolved to fight,
To rob their native country of their right.
First draw his Highness prostrate to the
. south,
Adoring Rome, this label in his mouth, —
'* Most holy father ! being joined in league
** With father Patrick, Danby, and with Teague,
" Thrown at your sacred feet, I humbly bow,
" I, and the wise associates of my vow,
** A vow, nor fire nor sword shall ever end,
^ Till all this nation to your footstool bend.
" Thus armed with zeal and blessing from your
hands,
**I'll raise my Papists, and my Irish bands,.
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248 THE POEK8
" And by a noble well-contrived plot,
" Managed by wise Fitz-Gerald, and by Scott,
^ Prove to the worid, I'll make old England
know,
^ That common sense is my eternal foe.
^ I ne'er can fight in a more glorious cause,
** Than to destroy their liberty and laws ;
*• Their House of Commons, and their House of
Lords,
<< Their parchment precedents, and dull records,
** Shall these e'er dare to contradict my will,
*' And think a prince o'the blood can
** It is our birthright to have power
*♦ Shall they e'er dare to think they shall decide
*<The way to heaven, and who shall be my
guide?
^ Shall they pretend to say, that bread is bread,
" If We affirm it is a God indeed ?
" Or there 's no Purgatory for the dead ?
" That extreme unction is but common oil?
^ And not infallible the Roman soil ?
<^ I '11 have those villains in our notions rest ;
"And I do say it, therefore 'it 's the best"
Next, Painter, draw his Mordaunt by his side,
Conveying his religion and his bride :
He, who long since abjured the royal line.
Does now in popery with his master join.
Then draw the princess with her golden locks,
.
Hastening to be envenomed with the pox.
t my will, 1
1 e'er do ill? >
to kill J
}
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OF MAKVELL. 249
And in her youthful veins receive a wound,
Which sent N. H. before her under ground ;
The wound of which the tainted C ret fades^
Laid up in store for a new set of maids.
Poor princess, bom under a sullen star.
To find such welcome when jou came so far !
Better some jealous neighbour of your own
Had called you to a sound, though petty
throne ;
Where 'twixt a wholesome husband and a page,
Tou might have lingered out a lazy age,
Than on dull hopes of being here a Queen,
Ere twenty die, and rot before fifteen.
Now, Painter, show us in the blackest dye,
The counsellors of all this villany.
Clifford, who first appeared in humble guise,
Was always thought too gentle, meek, and
wise ;
But when he came to act upon the stage,
He proved the mad Cethegus of our age.
He and his Duke had both too great a mind,
To be by justice or by law confined :
Their broiling heads can bear no other sounds,
Than fleets and armies, battles, blood and
wounds :
And to destroy our liberty they hope,
By Irish fools, and an old doting Pope.
Next, Talbot must by his great master stand.
Laden with folly, flesh, and ill-got land ;
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250 THE POEMS
He 's of a size indeed to fill a porch.
But ne'er can make a pillar of the charch.
His sword is all bis argument, not his book ;
Although no scholar, he can act the cook.
