No More Learning

To have him made free of thy spices;

And do not mistrust,

He may once grow more just.
When he 's worn off his follies and vices.

XIV.
And what little thing
Is that which you bring
To the Duke, the kingdom's darling ?
19



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290 THE POEMS

Ye hug it, and draw
Like ants at a straw,
Though too small for the gristle of sterling.

XV.

It is a hox of pills

To cure the Duke's ills ?
He is too far gone to begin it !

Or does your fine show

In processioning go,
With the pyx and the host within it ?

XVI.

The very first head

Of the oath you him read,

Show you all how fit he 's to govern.

When in heart, you all knew,
He ne'er was, nor '11 be, true

To his country or to his sovereign.

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<l a half,
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.
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.