The method they took to get
it was this: The King had agreed with some bankers, with
whom he bad contracted a debt of near a million nn
to assign over the revenue to them ; and he paid tliem at the
rate of eight per cent, and in some proclamations promised
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294 THE POEMS
When plajers come to act the part of queens,
Within the curtains, and behind the scenes ; *
When sodomj shall be prime minister's s|)ort,
And whoring shall be the least crime at court ;
When boys shall take their sisters for their
mate,
And
practise
incest between seven and eight ;
When no man knows in whom to put his trust,
And e'en to rob the chequer shall be just ;
When declarations, lies, and every oath,
Shall be in use at court, but faith and troth ;
When two good kings shall be at Brentford
town.
Marvell - Poems
XVII.
And wJio, pray, could swear,
That he would forbear
To cull out the good of an alien,
Who still doth advance
The government of France
With a wife and religion Italian ?
XVIII.
And now, worshipful sirs,
Go fold up your furs.
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OF MAUVELL. 291
And Viners turn again, turn again ;
I see (whoe'er *s freed,)
You for slaves are decreed,
Until you burn again, burn agsiin.
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292 TUK POEMS
ON BLOOD'S STEALING THE CROWN.
When daring Blood, Lis rent to have regained,
Upon the English diadem distrained,
He chose the cassock, surcingle, and gown,
The fittest mask for one that i*obs the crown :
But his lay-pity underneath prevailed,
And whilst he saved the keeper's life he failed ;
With the priest's vestment had he but put on
The prelate's cruelty, the crown had gone.
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OF MARVELL. 293
NOSTRADMUS' PROPHECY.
For faults and follies London's doom shall fix ;
And she must sink in flames in sixty-six.
Fire-balls shall fly, but few shall see the train,
As far as from Whitehall to Pudding-Lane,
To burn ihe city, which again shall rise,
Beyond all hopes, aspiring to the skies,
Where vengeance dwells. But there is one
thing more.
Though its walls stand, shall bring the city lower :
When legislators shall their trust betray,
Saving their own, shall give the rest away ;
And those false men, by the easy people sent^
Give taxes to the king by parliament ;
When barefaced villains shall not blush to cheat.
And chequer-doors shall shut up Lombard-street ; *
* In tho year 1672, the court resolving on a war, looked
out for money to carry it on.
The method they took to get
it was this: The King had agreed with some bankers, with
whom he bad contracted a debt of near a million nn
to assign over the revenue to them ; and he paid tliem at the
rate of eight per cent, and in some proclamations promised
Digitized by VjOOQIC
294 THE POEMS
When plajers come to act the part of queens,
Within the curtains, and behind the scenes ; *
When sodomj shall be prime minister's s|)ort,
And whoring shall be the least crime at court ;
When boys shall take their sisters for their
mate,
And
practise
incest between seven and eight ;
When no man knows in whom to put his trust,
And e'en to rob the chequer shall be just ;
When declarations, lies, and every oath,
Shall be in use at court, but faith and troth ;
When two good kings shall be at Brentford
town.
And when in London there shall not be one ;
When the seat's given to a talking fool.
Whom wise men laugh at, and whom women rule,
A minister able only in his tongue,
To make harsh empty speeches two hours long ;
When an old Scotch covenanter shall be
The champion for the English hierarchy ; t
When bishops shall lay all religion by.
And strive by law to establish tyranny ;
he would make good all his assignments, till the whole debt
was paid; but, in order for a supply, the payments were
stopped for a your. This was a great shock to the b:inkcr> ;
for many of the nobility and gentry, who were in the sccrc,
took their money, before tlie design was publicly known, out
of the hands of their bankers.
♦ Reflecting on tlie King for taking Mrs. Gwyn from the
ttage.
t Lauderdale, who was at first a noted Dissenter.
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OP MARVELL. 295
When a lean treasurer shall in one year
Make himself fat, his king and people hare ;
When the English prince shall Englishmen
despise,
And think French only loyal, Irish wise ;
When wooden shoon shall be the English wear,
And Magna Charta shall no more appear ; —
Then the English shall a greater tyrant know,
Than either Greek or Latin story show ;
Their wives to 's lust exposed, their wealth to 's
spoil.
With groans, to fill his treasury, they toil ;
But like the Belides must sigh in vain,
For that still filled flows out as fast again ;
Then they with envious eyes shall Belgium see,
And wish in vain Venetian liberty.
The frogs too late, grown weary of their pain.
Shall pray to Jove to take him back again.
