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The London-Spy Compleat In Eighteen Parts

By the Author of the Trip to Jamaica [i.e. Edward Ward]

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381

[When Bacchus once the Priest subdues]

When Bacchus once the Priest subdues,
With his prevailing Liquor,
The Man in spight of Art breaks Loose,
Abstracted from the Vicar.
Sober he kept the Formal Path,
In's Cups was not the same Man,
But Reel'd and Stagger'd in his Faith,
And Hickup'd like a Lay-man.
A many pretty things be spoke,
Deserving our Attention;
Not Dross of Saints to Feed a Flock,
But of his own Invention.

382

Yet whether Truths said o'er his Glass,
Of which I took great Notice,
Were or in Vino Veritas,
Or 'n Verbo Sacerdotis
We could not tell; yet Praise was due,
Tho' unto which to give it,
I vow I know not of the two,
The Liquor, or the Levite.
His Scarlet Cheeks inflam'd with Drink,
Together with his White-Head,
Made him appear just like a Link,
When at one end 'tis Lighted.
He Drank in Earnest, broke his Jest,
No Scripture Praises utter'd;
The Man he play'd, and not the Priest;
Thus put the best side outward.
Till Drown'd at last in Bacchus streams,
The Prophets weak condition,
Lull'd him to Sleep to Dream strange Dreams,
Or see some wond'rous Vision.