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Till tir'd, and taking truce at length,
For new recruits of breath and strength,
I felt the blows still ply'd as fast,
As if they 'ad been by lovers plac'd,
In raptures of Platonic lafhing,
And chaste contemplative bardashing:
When facing hastily about,

To stand upon my guard and scout,
I found th' infernal cunning man,
And th' under-witch, his caliban,
With fcourges, like the furies, arm'd,
That on my outward quarters storm'd.
In hafte I fnatch'd my weapon up,
And gave their hellish rage a stop;
Call'd thrice upon your name, and fell
Courageously on Sidrophel,

Who now transform'd himself t' a bear,
Began to roar aloud, and tear;

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When I as furiously prefs'd on,

My weapon down his throat to run,
Laid hold on him; but he broke loofe,
And turn'd himself into a goose,
Div'd under water, in a pond,

To hide himself from being found;

In vain I fought him; but as foon
As I perceiv'd him fled and gone,

Prepar'd, with equal haste and rage,
His under-forc'rer to engage;

But bravely scorning to defile

My fword with feeble blood, and vile,
I judg'd it better from a quick-
Set-hedge to cut a knotted stick,
With which I furiously laid on;
Till, in a harsh and doleful tone,

It roar'd out, o hold, for pity, fir,
I am too great a sufferer,

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Abus'd as you have been b' a witch,
But conjur❜d int' a worse caprich,
Who fends me out on many a jaunt,
Old houses in the night to haunt,
For opportunities t' improve
Designs of thievery or love;

With drugs convey'd in drink or meat,
All feats of witches counterfeit ;

Kill pigs and geese with powder'd glass,
And make it for enchantment pafs;
With cow-itch meazle like a leper,

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And choke with fumes of Guinea pepper ; 320
Make letchers, and their punks, with dewtry,
Commit phantastical advowtry ;

Bewitch hermetic men to run

Stark staring mad with manicon ;
Believe mechanic virtuofi

Can raise 'em mountains in Potofi ;

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And fillier than the antic fools,

Take treasure for a heap of coals;
Seek out for plants with signatures,
To quack off universal cures ;

With figures, ground on pains of glass,
Make people on their heads to pass;
And mighty heaps of coin increase,
Reflected from a single piece;

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To draw in fools, whose natʼral itches

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Incline perpetually to witches,

And keep me in continual fears,

And danger of my neck and ears;

When lefs delinquents have been scourg'd,

And hemp on wooden anvils forg'd,
Which others for cravats have worn

About their necks, and took a turn.
I pity'd the fad punishment
The wretched caitiff underwent,

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And held my drubbing of his bones

Too great an honour for poltroons ;
For knights are bound to feel no blows
From paltry and unequal foes,

Who, when they flash and cut to pieces,
Do all with civillest addresses :

Their horfes never give a blow,

But when they make a leg and bow.
I therefore spar'd his flesh, and prest him
About the witch, with many a question.

Quoth he, for many years he drove
A kind of broking-trade in love,
Employ'd in all th' intrigues and trust,
Of feeble fpeculative luft;

Procurer to th' extravagancy,
And crazy ribaldry of fancy,

By those the devil had forfook,

As things below him, to provoke ;

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