University of Virginia Library

The Lord Chancellor's Speech to the Parliament.

Would you send Kate to Portugal,
Great James to be a Cardinal?
And make Prince Rupert Admiral?
This is the time.
Would you turn D---y out of Doors,
Banish Italian and French Whores,
That worser sort of Common-Shores?
This is the time.
Would you unravel Popish Plots,
Send Laud---le among the Scots,
And rid the Court of Irish Sots?
This is the time.
Would you exalt the mighty Name
Of Shaftsbury and Buckingham,
And not forget Judg Scroggs's Fame?
This is the time.
Would you our Sov'reign disabuse,
And make his Parliament of use,
Not to be chang'd like dirty Shoes?
This is the time.
Would you extirpate Pimps and Panders,
Disband the rest of our Commanders,
Send Mulg---ve after Teague to Flanders?
This is the time.
Would you give Bellasis his Due,
And hang him if his Crime proves true,
Send Petre to his Name-sake Hugh?
This is the time.
Would you send Confessors to tell
Powis, Stafford, Arundel,
They must prepare their Souls for Hell?
This is the time.
Would you remove our Ministers,
The cursed Causes of our Fears,
Without forgetting Turn-coat Meers?
This is the time.
Would you hang those who take Example
By Clar---n and Timber Temple,
For all such Rascals merit Hemp well?
This is the time.
Would you once bless the English Nation,
By changing of Queen Kate's Vocation,
And find one fit for Procreation?
This is the time.
Would you let Portsmouth try her Chance,
Believe Oates, Bedloe, Dugdale, Prance,
And send Barillon home to France?
This is the time.
Would you turn Papists from the Queen,
Cloister up fulsom Mazarine,
And once more make Charles King agen?
This is the time.