Page images
PDF
EPUB

And to the devil himself may go,
If they have motives thereunto :
For as there is a war between
The dev❜l and them, it is no fin
If they, by fubtle stratagem,

Make use of him, as he does them.
Has not this present parl'ament

135

A ledger to the devil fent,

140

Fully empower'd to treat about
Finding revolted witches out?

And has not he, within a year,

Hang'd threescore of 'em in one shire?

Some only for not being drown'd,

And some for fitting above ground,

Whole days and nights upon their breeches, Not feeling pain, were hang'd for witches;

And fome for putting knavish tricks

Upon green geese and turkey-chicks,

145

15.0

[blocks in formation]

Or pigs, that fuddenly deceast,

Of griefs unnat❜ral, as he guest;

Who after prov'd himself a witch,
And made a rod for his own breech.
Did not the dev❜l appear to Martin
Luther in Germany for certain?
And wou'd have gull'd him with a trick,
But Mart. was too, too politick.
Did he not help the Dutch to purge,
At Antwerp, their cathedral church?
Sing catches to the faints at Mascon,
And tell them all they came to ask him?
Appear in divers fhapes to Kelly,

And speak i̇' th' nun of Loudon's belly?
Met with the parl'ament's committee,
At Woodstock, on a pers'nal treaty ?
At Sarum take a cavalier,
I' th' caufe's fervice, prisoner?

155

160

165

As Withers, in immortal rhyme,
Has register'd to after-time.

Do not our great reformers use
This Sidrophel to forebode news;
To write of victories next year,
And castles taken, yet i̇' th' air?
Of battles fought at sea, and ships
Sunk, two years hence, the last eclipse?
A total o'erthrow giv'n the king
In Cornwall, horse and foot, next spring?
And has not he point-blank foretold
What s'e'er the close committee would?
Made Mars and Saturn for the cause,
The Moon for fundamental laws?
The ram, the bull, the goat, declare
Against the book of common prayer?
The scorpion take the protestation,
And bear engage for reformation?

170

175

180

185

Made all the royal stars recant,
Compound, and take the covenant?
Quoth Hudibras, the cafe is clear
The faints may 'mploy a conjurer,
As thou haft prov'd it by their practice;
No argument like matter of fact is :
And we are best of all led to

190

Men's principles, by what they do.
Then let us strait advance in quest
Of this profound gymnosophist,

195

And as the fates and he advife,
Pursue, or wave this enterprise.
This faid, he turn'd about his fteed,
And eftfoons on th' adventure rid;
Where leave we him and Ralph awhile,
And to the conj'rer turn our style,
To let our reader understand

What's useful for him before hand.

200

He had been long t'wards mathematics,

Optics, philosophy, and statics,
Magic, horoscopy, astrology,

And was old dog at physiology;
But as a dog, that turns the spit,
Bestirs himself, and plies his feet

To climb the wheel, but all in vain,

His own weight brings him down again ;
And still he's in the felf-fame place
Where at his setting out he was:

So in the circle of the arts

Did he advance his nat'ral parts,

Till falling back still, for retreat,
He fell to juggle, cant, and cheat :
For as thofe fowls that live in water

Are never wet, he did but smatter;
What e'er he labour'd to appear,
His understanding still was clear;

;

205

210

215

220

« PreviousContinue »