University of Virginia Library

At dead of night, after an evening ball,
In her own father's lodging at Whitehall,
As youthful Tullia unregarded lay
By a dull lump of Netherlandish clay,
Whose frozen veins not all her charms could move;
The hero was incapable of love;
Thanks to a secret grip received when young;
That family had rid the states too long.

Neglected thus, the longing, wishing queen
Contemplates all the gallants she had seen,
Whose brisk ideas feed her warm desire,
And fancy adds more fuel to her fire.
When, lo! the scene all on a sudden turns,
Her blood grows chill, the taper dully burns,
A trembling seizes all her limbs with fear,
And a majestick shade, which did appear,
Draws wide the curtains, and approaches near;
Then thus, like oracle from hollow oak,
With awful tone the sacred spectre spoke.

Most impious wretch! behold thy mother's ghost,
By fate's permission from the Stygian coast,
To warn thee of the vengeance heav'n provides,
To punish unrepenting parricides.
Can quiet slumbers ever close thine eyes?
Or is thy conscience sunk, and cannot rise?
From this same place was not thy aged sire
Compell'd, by midnight summons, to retire?
When, with a baiting, fulsom trick of state,
The world was banter'd with an abdicate.
Had he been murder'd, it had mercy shown;
('Tis less to kill a King, than to dethrone.)
The miserable in their graves find rest,
But his afflictions cannot be exprest.
So great a Monarch to be brought so low,
And his own children strike the fatal blow!
Where are the crimes of which he is accus'd?
How are the nations gull'd, and he abus'd?
How boldly did some villains tax the King,
Engaging, the next Sanhedrim, to bring
Substantial proof of warming-pan intrigue,
Of horrid murder, and a Teaguish league?
Senates have met, and, after many years,
No proof is made, no witness yet appears;
The bold defamers now are hush'd and still,
For want of evidence, not want of will.
These bless'd reformers have our King dethron'd,
(Under such pharisees Judea groan'd);
And, with our native force, a foreign aid
Of vermin, who ne'er monarchy obey'd,
But by rebellion did themselves create,
Of provinces distress'd, a Hogan state:
Can any thing that's good from Frog-land come,
The very jakes and sink of Christendom?
A Dutchman is a rogue, whate'er he seems;
(No muddy fountain can yield chrystal streams.)
Awake, Britannia, guard thy tott'ring crown,
Which by republicans is pulling down:
Ambitious Orange serves but for a tool,
They set him up that they themselves may rule.
If one usurper's title is thought good,
The right lies in possession, not in blood;
Nor is't confin'd to any certain line,
Possession makes all governments divine.
Good pagan doctrine, brought to serve a time;
Success will justify the basest crime!
In former times, when England's Kings did err,
The fault was punish'd in the counseller,
But now the King is into exile sent,
And not one statesman brought to punishment,
The priests and advocates have wond'rous skill,
To qualify the same thing good or ill,
And can adduce, from scripture and the laws,
Arguments pro and con, for any cause.

Night's watchful centinel now blows the horn,
A certain sign of the approaching morn,
Which warns all wandring spirits to retire
To shades below, or to more dreadful fire.
I must be gone, the ghost said, then farewel,
What thou hast seen and heard, thy sister tell:
Repent, repent, before it be too late,
By restitution shun impending fate.
Thus having said, the vision disappears,
Leaving the drunken princess drown'd in tears.