University of Virginia Library

Among the Race of England's modern Peers,
There's one whose Looks betray his leuder Years;
Whom early Nature for all Ill did frame,
And time increas'd not faster than his Fame:
Unheard-of Vices were his study'd Care,
Th' effects of which his rotten Ruins were.
His sight's a Terror to the boldest Punk,
Who shuns him more than Pembroke when he's drunk.
But tho to Pox and Impotence confin'd,
His Body's less corrupted than his Mind.
Both Politick and Hero he'd be thought,
By James's Ruin he has Judgment bought,
And Epsom-Hedg can witness how he fought.
To a Soul so mean ev'n Shadwell is a Stranger;
Nay, little Sid, it seems, less values danger:
The most hen-hearted Wretches of the Age,
Who ne'er durst give offence, but on the Stage.

But on such Trash my time were ill bestow'd;
Those Hackney Cowards in the Common Road.
The Man, whose Character I would relate,
From Infamy defin'd divines his Fate.
'Tis France can tell where he the Broil began,
Engag'd his Friend, and then away he ran.
This is that worship'd Idol, who with's Pen
Detracts the best of Monarchs, best of Men:
Whose Libels wholly tend to move Sedition,
Like those good Men, who now-a-days petition.
Falshood and Knavery his Morals guide,
A Stain to Honour, and a Slave to Pride;
Yet courts and flatters you in ev'ry place,
And all the while designing your Disgrace;
The most fantastick of all Fools i'th' Nation,
Industrious only to be out of Fashion,
Which he affects from tawny A--- A---n,
That tawdry, impudent, insipid Baron,
Who to be Fop Supreme does drudge and labour,
And whom on Earth nothing can match but Baber:
He of the Two's the more Authentick Ass,
As witness his translating Hudibras;
And prating still of Poetry and Writing,
In which he just succeeds as in his Fighting.

But besides these there is another sort,
Infects the Coffee-House, as these haunt the Court:
A sort of Rascals, in whose tainted Veins
The Blood of their rebellious Fathers reigns:
And Broods of creeping Rogues of mungrel Races,
Whose Principles are fatal as their Faces.
Such abject Animals! one would forswear
Ev'n witty Men to find such Vermin there:
Villains that Faction daily do foment,
And practise to defame the Government:
Assembling their Cabal, at whose discretion
The Royal Line must prostrate the Succession.
What Times we live in, when such Beasts as Clud,
The Whartons, Jepson, and that Blockhead Wood,
The Ashes, Bradbury, and mad Sir John,
Blunt, Marshal, St. John, Spicer, Ireton,
Merry, and Cuckold Smithsby, Harris, Cope,
The Patron of the Faction-burning Pope;
Chase, Lower, Negus, Tizard, all the Shrubs,
Of Kings head, Dragon, and of Ashley Clubs.
When Insects, such as these, from Filth begun,
Thy Peace disturb, and slight thy milder Sun;
Shine, out great Cæsar, let thy glorious Heat
Declare thee pow'rful, as thou'rt truly Great.
Disperse those saucy Flies, that tempt thy Flame,
At nothing less than thy Destruction aim.
To Mon---th, Sh---ry, and Maxfield bring
The just Resentments of an injur'd King.
Call home thy banish'd Brother, by whose Hand,
Being Lord o'th'Sea, thou'rt King again at Land.
Let that wrong'd Prince enjoy his antient Right,
The Sailor's Genius, and their God in Fight.
Then shall the Navy stretch its joyful Wings,
While every Muse of Britain's Triumph sings.
The French no more shall dare our Ships despise,
But Homage pay where-e'er thy Standard flies.
All honest Men with Signs of Joy shall greet
This prosp'rous Leader, and thy matchless Fleet;
Whose happy Conduct shall again restore
Those Wreaths of Glory which our Fathers wore.
Then Knaves and Plotters shall be publick made,
And we no more of Perjuries afraid.
The Nations all throughout will then proclaim
Th'Injustice done to his Illustrious Name:
And thou, great King, rejoice above the rest,
With such a Subject, and a Brother blest.