University of Virginia Library

For Faults and Follies London's Doom shall fix,
And She must sink in Flames in Sixty six;
Fire-Balls shall fly, but few shall see the Train,
As far as from White-hall to Pudding-Lane;
To burn the City, which again shall rise,
Beyond all hopes, aspiring to the Skies,
Where Vengeance dwells. But there is one thing more
(Though its Walls stand) shall bring the City low'r:
When Legislators shall their Trust betray,
Saving their own, shall give the rest away;
And those false men by th'easie People sent,
Give Taxes to the King by Parliament:
When bare-fac'd Villains shall not blush to cheat,
And Chequer-Doors shall shut up Lumbard street:
When Players come to act the part of Queens,
Within the Curtains, and behind the Scenes:
When Sodomy shall be prime Min'sters Sport,
And Whoring shall be the least Crime at Court:
When Boys shall take their Sisters for their Mate,
And practice Incests between Seven and Eight:
When no man knows in whom to put his trust,
And e'en to rob the Chequer shall be just:
When Declarations, Lies, and every Oath
Shall be in use at Court, but Faith and Troth,
When two good Kings shall be at Brentford Town,
And when in London there shall be not one;
When the seat's given to a talking Fool,
Whom wise men laugh at, and whom Women rule;
A Min'ster able only in his Tongue,
To make harsh, empty speeches two hours long:
When an old Scotch Covenant shall be
The Champion for th'English Hierarchy:
When Bishops shall lay all Religion by,
And strive by Law t'establish Tyranny:
When a lean Treasurer shall in one year
Make himself fat, his King and People bare:
When th'English Prince shall English men despise,
And think French only loyal, Irish Wise:
When Wooden Shoon shall be the English wear,
And Magna Charta shall no more appear;
Then th'English shall a greater Tyrant know,
Than either Greek or Latin Story shew;
Their Wives to's Lust expos'd, their Wealth to's Spoil,
With Groans to fill his Treasury they toil;
But like the Bellides, must sigh in vain;
For that still fill'd, flows out as fast again:
Then they with envious Eyes shall Belgium see,
And wish in vain Venetian Liberty.

The Frogs too late grown weary of their Pain,
Shall pray to Jove to take him back again.