Nothing the dire
contagion
can oppose.
Marvell - Poems
The chiefest blessings Adam's chaplain got.
Thrice wretched they, who nature's laws detest.
To trace the ways fantastic of a priest.
Till native reason 's basely forced to yield.
And hosts of upstart errors gain the field.
My muse presumed a little to digress,
And touch their lioly function with my verse.
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304 THE POEMS
Now to the stage again she tends direct.
And does on giant Lauderdale reflect.
This haughty oaooster, with his ugly claws.
First tempered poison to destroy our laws ;
Declares the council's edicts are beyond
The most authentic statutes of the land ;
Sets up in Scotland a la mode de France ;
Taxes, excise, and armies does advance.
This Saracen his country's freedom broke.
To bring upon their necks the heavier yoke ;
This b the savage pimp, without dispute,
First brought his mother for a prostitute ;
Of all the miscreants e*er went to hell.
This villain rampant bears away the bell.
Now must my muse deplore the nation's fate,
Like a true lover for her dying mate.
The royal evil so malignant grows.
Nothing the dire contagion can oppose.
In our weal-public scarce one thing succeeds,
For one man's weakness a whole nation bleeds
Ill-luck starts up, and thrives like evil weeds.
Let Cromwell's ghost smile with contempt, to see
Old England struggling under slavery.
His meagre highness, now he 's got astride,
Does on Britannia, as on Churchill, ride.
White-livered D calls for his swifl jackal
To hunt down 's prey, and hopes to master all.
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OP MARVELL. 305
Clifford and Hyde before had lost the day ;
One hanged himself, and t'other ran away.
'Twas want of wit and courage made them fail,
But C ^n, and the duke, must needs
prevail.
The duke now vaunts with Popish myrmidons ;
Our fleets, our port^, our cities and our towns,
Are manned by him, or by his Holiness ;
Bold Irish ruffians to his court address.
Tliis is the colony to plant his knaves,
From hence he picks and culls his murdering
braves.
Here for an ensign, or lieutenant's place,
They '11 kill a judge or justice of the peace.
At his command Mac will do any thing :
He '11 bum a city, or destroy a king.
From Tiber came the advice-boat monthly home.
And brought new lessons to the duke from Rome.
Here with cursed precepts, and with counsels dire.
The godly cheat-king (would be) did inspire ;
Heaven had him chieftain of Great Britain made.
