University of Virginia Library

WHen London's fatal Bills were blown abroad,
And few but Specters travel'd on the Road,
Not Towns, but Men in the black page inroll'd
Were in Gazets by Typographers sold;
But our Gazets without Errata's Must
Report the Plague of Towns reduc'd to Dust:
And Feavors, but ere while to Tenants sent
Arrest the Timbers of the Tenement.

Ere the late ruines of poor Groton's cold,
Of Marlburies peracute Disease we're told;
The feet of such, who neighb'ring dwellings urn'd
Unto its ashes, not its doors return'd.
So what remain'd of Tears as yet unspent
Are to its final gasps a Tribute lent.

If Painter ever track my Pen, let him
An Olive colour mix, these Elves to trim;
Of such an hue, let many hundred Thieves
Be drawn like Scarecrows clad with Oaken leaves,
Exhausted of their Verdant Life, and blown
From place to place without a home to own:
Draw Devils like themselves, upon their cheeks
Those Banks of Grease and Mud a plat for Leeks;
Whose dangling Locks Medusa's Snakes resemble,
With grizly looks would make Achilles tremble.
Limn them besmear'd with Christian blood, and oyl'd
With fat out of white humane Bodies boyld.
Draw them with Clubs like Mauls, all full of stains;
Like Vulcan's anvelling New Englands brains:
Let round be gloomy Forrests, and thick Rocks;
Where like to Castles they may hide their Flocks:
Till opportunity their constant friend,
Shall jogge them Vulcan's Worship to attend.
Shew them like Serpents in an avious path,
Waiting to sow the Fire-balls of their wrath.
Much like AEneas, in his cloak of mist,
Who undiscover'd, move where ere they list.
Cupid some tell us, had two sorts of Darts,
But we feel none, but such as drill our hearts;
From Indian sheaves which to their shoulders cling,
Upon the Word they quickly feel the string.
Hide first the Sun beneath the Earth, and quench
In Thetis boul the Stars; the Lunar Wench
So mutable in fashions, make her happe
To lie a slumbering in Apollo's lappe.
Let Earth be made a Screen to hide our woe,
From Heaven's Monarch, and his Ladies too:
And least our jealousie think they partake,
For the Red Stage with Clouds a Curtain make.
Let Doggs be gagg'd, and every quickning sound,
Be charm'd to silence: here and there all round,
The Town, to suffer. From a thousand holes
Let crawl those Fiends with brands and firing Poles.
Paint here an House and there a Barn on fire,
With Holocausts ascending in a spire.
Here Granaries, yonder the Churches smoke,
Which Vengeance on the Actors did invoke.
Let Morpheus with his Leaden Keys have bound
In Feather beds some, some upon the Ground,
That none may burst his drousie Shackles till
The Bruitish Pagans have obtain'd their will,
And Vulcan files them off. Then Zeuxis paint
The phrensie glances of the Sinking Saint.
Draw there the Pastor for his Bible crying,
The Souldier for his Sword, the Glutton frying
With Streams of glory fat. The thin-jaw'd Miser,
Ah had I given this, I had been wiser.
Let here the Mother seem a Statue turn'd,
At the sad object of her Bowels burn'd.
Let the unstable Weakling in belief,
Be mounting Ashur's Horses for relief.
Let the half Convert seem suspended 'twixt
The Dens of Darkness and the Planets fixt.
Ready to quit his hold and yet hold fast
By the great Atlas of the Heavens vast.
Paint Papists mutt'ring over apish Beads,
Whom the Blind follow while the Blindman leads.
Let ATTAXIE be mounted on a Throne,
Imposing her Commands on every one:
A many-headed Monster without Eyes,
To see the Wayes which wont to make men wise.
Give her a Thousand Tongues with Wings and Hands
To be Ubiquitary in commands:
But let the Concave of her Soul appear,
Washt Clean and Empty, quite of all but fear.
One she bids run, another stay, a third
She bids betake him to his rusty Sword;
This to his treasure, t'other to his Knees,
Some Counsels she to fry, and some to freeze:
These to the Garrisons, those to the Load;
Some to run empty, some to take the Load.
Thus while Confusion, most mens hearts divide,
Fire doth the small Exchequer soon decide.
Thus all things seeming ope or secret foes,
An Infant may grow gray before a close.
But yet my hopes remain in perfect strength,
New England will be prosperous once at length.