A Metrical History of England Or, Recollections, in Rhyme, Of some of the most prominent Features in our National Chronology, from the Landing of Julius Caesar to the Commencement of the Regency, in 1812. In Two Volumes ... By Thomas Dibdin |
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 | A Metrical History of England |  |
118
“The Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose;
“An evil soul producing Holy Writ,
“Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
“A goodly apple rotten at the core.”
Shakespeare.
“An evil soul producing Holy Writ,
“Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
“A goodly apple rotten at the core.”
Shakespeare.
“Both Cain and Abel back are come
“In vizards most divine;
“God bless us from a pulpit drum,
“And preaching Cataline.”
Sir John Birkinhead.
“In vizards most divine;
“God bless us from a pulpit drum,
“And preaching Cataline.”
Sir John Birkinhead.
“Guile, violence and murder, seiz'd on man;
“And, for soft milky streams, with blood the rivers ran.”
Thomson.
“And, for soft milky streams, with blood the rivers ran.”
Thomson.
OLIVER CROMWELL,
PROTECTOR.
Charles now no more, his best adherents fled,
Or those who dare espouse the martyr's side,
Or own the son of him unjustly dead,
Like him the victim of rebellion died.
Or those who dare espouse the martyr's side,
Or own the son of him unjustly dead,
Like him the victim of rebellion died.
Montrose thy loyalty and glorious lot
Will, to thine honor, live when traitors are forgot;
Scotland awhile deserves good men's applause,
By kind adherence to the royal cause.
The son of Charles essays to gain his right,
'Till all his hopes expire at Wor'ster fight;
Derby! the scaffold by thy foes decreed,
Graces the cause for which you nobly bleed.
The “King enacts more wonders than a man,”
Patient in suff'ring, hoping better fate;
He proves that fortune, threaten what she can,
Still never overcomes the truly great.
Eclips'd, like Alfred, in a peasant's guise,
He stoops to conquer, and submits to rise!
And long shall May thy gilded honors bring,
Kind Boscobel, the shelter of a King.
Will, to thine honor, live when traitors are forgot;
119
By kind adherence to the royal cause.
The son of Charles essays to gain his right,
'Till all his hopes expire at Wor'ster fight;
Derby! the scaffold by thy foes decreed,
Graces the cause for which you nobly bleed.
The “King enacts more wonders than a man,”
Patient in suff'ring, hoping better fate;
He proves that fortune, threaten what she can,
Still never overcomes the truly great.
Eclips'd, like Alfred, in a peasant's guise,
He stoops to conquer, and submits to rise!
And long shall May thy gilded honors bring,
Kind Boscobel, the shelter of a King.
Cromwell now seated in the ruling chair,
To tell his virtues haply were but fair;
But, not at present knowing what they were,
We'll just sum up his actions, first premising,
That, from our souls, we cannot help despising
The wretch whose nonchalance, while Charles's fate
Was canvass'd, with the cushion where he sate
Play'd like a schoolboy,—when the fatal scroll
Of death was signing, Cromwell, void of soul,
In fiend-like sport, black characters could trace,
With ink on his too black associates face.
To tell his virtues haply were but fair;
But, not at present knowing what they were,
We'll just sum up his actions, first premising,
That, from our souls, we cannot help despising
The wretch whose nonchalance, while Charles's fate
Was canvass'd, with the cushion where he sate
Play'd like a schoolboy,—when the fatal scroll
Of death was signing, Cromwell, void of soul,
120
With ink on his too black associates face.
England's respect, her navy and her trade,
In justice let us own he well supported;
(But that his interest prompted.) and his aid,
And close alliance more than once were courted.
Van Trump, DeWit, DeRuyter, led the Dutch,
And swept our seas, or dared to say as much;
'Till Monk, and Blake, the Nelson of that day,
With Pen and Ascue, in hard well fought fray,
Tore their high-top-broad-bottom'd-brooms away
In justice let us own he well supported;
(But that his interest prompted.) and his aid,
And close alliance more than once were courted.
Van Trump, DeWit, DeRuyter, led the Dutch,
And swept our seas, or dared to say as much;
'Till Monk, and Blake, the Nelson of that day,
With Pen and Ascue, in hard well fought fray,
Tore their high-top-broad-bottom'd-brooms away
The Quakers with incipient fermentation
Of spirit moving, next disturb the nation;
One calls himself the saviour of mankind,
Another, sword in hand, the senate meets:
And swear to kill each Rump that he may find,
At home, in parliament, or in the streets.
A third begins a fast of forty days,
But does not live to end it; yet my lays
Mean not to blame their present blameless race,
Facts, and not comments, here alone have place.
Therefore, to please you, we'll look back again,
And finish Cromwell's self-appointed reign.
Of spirit moving, next disturb the nation;
One calls himself the saviour of mankind,
Another, sword in hand, the senate meets:
And swear to kill each Rump that he may find,
At home, in parliament, or in the streets.
A third begins a fast of forty days,
But does not live to end it; yet my lays
Mean not to blame their present blameless race,
Facts, and not comments, here alone have place.
121
And finish Cromwell's self-appointed reign.
Regardless of promises, honor, and word,
He Drogheda's garrison puts to the sword;
At Dunbar and Wor'ster defeating the Scots,
For slaves sells his pris'ners, to India, in lots.
In private proposing to make himself King,
He cou'dn't get colleagues in concert to sing;
Rules over the English as Turks govern Moors,
A senate first forms, and then kicks out of doors;
Then fierce as Achilles, more bully than Hector,
That Government cancels, which makes him Protector.
The army maintained by this arrogant elf,
Kept popular liberty all to himself;
And, scorning to imitate Kings, he had houses
More num'rous than they, or their sons, or their spouses:
When fortune placed loyal men under his hands,
Or rather his feet, as the true matter stands,
If their heads he remitted, he cut off their lands.
Ungrateful to him who inspir'd all he knew,
(And to keep from his patron, the devil, his due)
As sure as his dark highness looks over Lincoln,
Noll made it high treason his death but to think on.
Tho' much disappointed, not mounting a throne,
He prank'd up a pert House of Peers of his own;
Last, vext he'd nought further to flatter his pride,
Like big Alexander, he manfully cried,
And so had his court, but by good luck he died.
He Drogheda's garrison puts to the sword;
At Dunbar and Wor'ster defeating the Scots,
For slaves sells his pris'ners, to India, in lots.
In private proposing to make himself King,
He cou'dn't get colleagues in concert to sing;
Rules over the English as Turks govern Moors,
A senate first forms, and then kicks out of doors;
Then fierce as Achilles, more bully than Hector,
That Government cancels, which makes him Protector.
The army maintained by this arrogant elf,
Kept popular liberty all to himself;
And, scorning to imitate Kings, he had houses
More num'rous than they, or their sons, or their spouses:
When fortune placed loyal men under his hands,
Or rather his feet, as the true matter stands,
If their heads he remitted, he cut off their lands.
Ungrateful to him who inspir'd all he knew,
(And to keep from his patron, the devil, his due)
As sure as his dark highness looks over Lincoln,
Noll made it high treason his death but to think on.
122
He prank'd up a pert House of Peers of his own;
Last, vext he'd nought further to flatter his pride,
Like big Alexander, he manfully cried,
And so had his court, but by good luck he died.
| A Metrical History of England | |