Satires and miscellaneous poetry and prose :: :: University of Virginia Library

Should [once] the world Resolve t' abolish
All that's Ridiculous, and Foolish,
It would have nothing left to do
T' apply in Jeast or Earnest to,
No Busnes of Importance, Play,
Or State, to pass it's time away.

Mankind's the same to Beasts and Fouls
That Devils are to Humane Soules,
Who therefor, when like Fiends th' appeare,
Avoyd and Fly with equal feare;
And to be tempted or to be tam'd
Is but to be betrayd or Damnd;
While Both have but one Reason for't,
Their own Advantages or Sport.

The world, the more it know's,
The worse and wickeder it grows.
Is but more vaine, and Foolisher
The more it turns Philosopher:
For Truth, and Reason are not fit
For all mens Tempers, nor their wit,
And knowledge honestly acquird
More hard to come by, then th' Inspird
Where Men may 'ssume with greater ease
Then Pains, and Study, what they please;
And, as they Grow more Rich by stealing
By Cheats, and Fraud then honest Dealing,
Appeare more wise by shifts and Tricks
Then Just, and solid Politiques

228

And sooner wriggle into Trust
Then think to rise by being Just.

When al the world for Sin was drownd,
That which succeeded was not found
To be much better, then Before,
But to deserve that vengeance more.

The Greatest People and the least
Are much the same, like East and West,
For Luxury the one, as much as
The other Penury, Deboches.

What Horrid Actions would the world forbear
If Men were sure to be Immortal here?
When those that do but think, they may be so,
Such Barbrous Villanys Presume to do.

For Innocence is a Defence
For nothing else but Conscience;
'Twil not beare out the blows of Fate,
Nor Fence against the Tricks of State;
Nor from th' oppression of the Laws
Defend the Plain'st and Justest Cause;
Nor keep unspotted a good Name
Against the obloquies of fame;
Feeble as Patience, and as soon
By being blown upon undon.

If a few sober thoughts might be allowd
Free from the Sottish Madnes of the Crowd;
Or that it were not madnes now to dare
But to be less mad then our betters are,
I would say something faine, but truth and Sense
Are now become a high and bold offence,
And knowledg such forbidden fruite, [he] shows
A desprat Folly, that Speake's what he knows.
For men are grown so bad, they can indure
The ------ Disease no longer, nor the Cure,
But rave like madmen in their hottest fits
'Gainst those that strive to bring them to their wits.

229

Never for Satyr was there better times,
Wee now are got up to the hight of Crimes:
All that was don before was mean and low
To that, which evry Day produce's now.

When Death Come's to the happy and the blest
They'r turnd out; and the wretched but releast.

For to what end do's wit and Learning serve
But to bring those, that own them most, to s[t]erve?

There's nothing great, or high, or Noble,
That is not ful of glorious trouble.

Disclame the mean Applause of Ignorants
Live with thy self and thou wilt know thy wants.

As no excess can hold without supply,
Rapine is Treasurer to Luxury.

Think evry Day thy last and what remain[s]
Comes unexpectedly and is cleare gaines.

This world is like Noahs Ark
In which few men but many Beasts imbark.

Vices, like eeles, slip through a gentle hand,
But with rough Leaves are held, or rugged Sand.

A Pimp
Is but a whores familiar or her Imp.

The world would be more Just, if truth, and Lys
And Right, and wrong, did beare an æqual Price;
But since Impostures are so highly Raysd,
And Fayth, and Justice equally Debasd,
Few men have Tempers, for such Paltry Gaines,
T' undo themselves, with Drudgery, and Paines.

A Place so barbarous and foul
The Devil would [not] go there for a Soul,
And, if h' had left his eies behind,
Rather then fetch 'em would be blinde.

230

Our solemn Blacks are worn
To cloath our selves not them for whom we [mourn].

Shame and Repentance are the Constant Price
Of all our False and Idle vanities,
And our best wisdom only to esteeme
The world a vain and Short Fantastique Dreame.

For most mens Lives are nothing but Diversions
T' avoyd th' uneasinesses of their own Person's.
Had rather tumble Sisiphus his Stone
Then but indure themselvs, to be alone.

Man of all Creatures the most Fierce and wild
That ever God Made, or the Devil Spoyld.

For Mankind Naturally resents the Need
Of nothing more then what they are forbid.

There is no honest meanes of Rising high:
The Stairs of Rooms of State are built awry.

So wax, that is the worst of all things else,
Is therefore usd to serve the world in Seales,
When nothing in the world can be more fit
To be Defacd, and Forgd, and Counterfit.

Dead mens Graves
Consume and Bury their own Epitaph[s].

Life is a Game that'[s] lost before 'tis Playd
And is but not thrown up, when 'tis Injoyd.