A Letter from Dr. Robert Wild to his Friend Mr. J. J. Upon Occasion of his Majesty's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience: Together with his Poetica Licentia, And a Freindly Debate Between a Conformist and a Non-Conformist |
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 | A Letter from Dr. Robert Wild to his Friend Mr. J. J. |  |
Suspect us not (Great Sir) nor think the worst;
For sudden Joys, like Griefs, confound at first:
The splendour of Your Favour was so bright,
That yet it dazzles and o'rewhelms our sight.
Drunk with Your Cup, my Muse did nothing mind;
And until now her feet she could not find:
Greediness makes prophane: In the first place
Hungry-men fill their belly, then say Grace.
We would make Bonfires (SIR) but that we fear
Name of Incendiaries we may hear.
We would have Musick too, but 'twill not do,
For All the Fidlers are Conformists too.
Nor can we Ring, the angry Church-man swears,
By the King's leave, the Bells and Ropes are Theirs:
And let them take them. Yet our Tongues shall sing
Your Honour louder than their Clappers ring.
But now they tole their Bells, and wring their hands,
Religion (that is to say, their Lands)
The Protestant Religion now will fall;
Bell and the Dragon will devour us all.
The Children of the Church are frighted: oh!
The POPE's Raw-head-and-bloody-bones cry Boh
Behind the door! a License without stint;
This bitter Cup hath Roman Wormwood in't.
O tender zealous hearts! O sad Condition!
Idolatry will eat up Superstition.
The Calf at Bethel fears the Calf at Dan;
The Gridiron grumbles at the Frying-pan.
And now the Jacks have lost their wonted prey,
They fear the Pikes will carry them away,
So Conjurers grow (toward their end) in fear,
That their familiar Devils will them tear.
Thus Melancholy Puss mews, and takes on.
When Mouse (with which she play'd before) is gone.
But Oh ye Champions bring forth and shew
The foreskins of those Philistines you slew
When in your power; then they favour found;
And now you cry, Tiber the Thames will drown'd.
But fear not (Gentlemen) if Pop'ry be,
You'l find the Nuns are pretty Company.
And if the fiery trial should return,
Most of you wet your selves too much to burn.
Raw men you were, raw still you are, and I
So scarce believe you'l carbonado'd die.
For sudden Joys, like Griefs, confound at first:
The splendour of Your Favour was so bright,
That yet it dazzles and o'rewhelms our sight.
Drunk with Your Cup, my Muse did nothing mind;
And until now her feet she could not find:
Greediness makes prophane: In the first place
Hungry-men fill their belly, then say Grace.
We would make Bonfires (SIR) but that we fear
Name of Incendiaries we may hear.
We would have Musick too, but 'twill not do,
For All the Fidlers are Conformists too.
Nor can we Ring, the angry Church-man swears,
By the King's leave, the Bells and Ropes are Theirs:
And let them take them. Yet our Tongues shall sing
Your Honour louder than their Clappers ring.
But now they tole their Bells, and wring their hands,
Religion (that is to say, their Lands)
The Protestant Religion now will fall;
Bell and the Dragon will devour us all.
The Children of the Church are frighted: oh!
The POPE's Raw-head-and-bloody-bones cry Boh
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This bitter Cup hath Roman Wormwood in't.
O tender zealous hearts! O sad Condition!
Idolatry will eat up Superstition.
The Calf at Bethel fears the Calf at Dan;
The Gridiron grumbles at the Frying-pan.
And now the Jacks have lost their wonted prey,
They fear the Pikes will carry them away,
So Conjurers grow (toward their end) in fear,
That their familiar Devils will them tear.
Thus Melancholy Puss mews, and takes on.
When Mouse (with which she play'd before) is gone.
But Oh ye Champions bring forth and shew
The foreskins of those Philistines you slew
When in your power; then they favour found;
And now you cry, Tiber the Thames will drown'd.
But fear not (Gentlemen) if Pop'ry be,
You'l find the Nuns are pretty Company.
And if the fiery trial should return,
Most of you wet your selves too much to burn.
Raw men you were, raw still you are, and I
So scarce believe you'l carbonado'd die.
| A Letter from Dr. Robert Wild to his Friend Mr. J. J. | |