bler, with which he treats me, when the fit of enthusiasm is strong upon him; by which wellmanner'd and charitable expressions I was certain of his sect before I knew his name. What would you have more of a man? He has damn'd me in your cause from Genesis to the Revelations; and has half the texts of both the Testaments against me, if you will be so civil to yourselves as to take him for your interpreter, and not to take them for Irish witnesses. After all, perhaps you will tell me that you retain'd him only for the opening of your cause, and that your main lawyer is yet behind.. Now if it so happen he meet with no more reply than his predecessors, you may either conclude that I trust to the goodness of my cause, or fear my adversary, or disdain him, or what you please, for the short on 't is, 't is indifferent to your humble servant, whatever your party says or thinks of him.

THE MEDAL

Of all our antic sights and pageantry, Which English idiots run in crowds to

see,

The Polish Medal bears the prize alone:
A monster, more the favorite of the town
Than either fairs or theaters have shown.
Never did art so well with nature strive,
Nor ever idol seem'd so much alive:
So like the man; so golden to the sight,
So base within, so counterfeit and light.
One side is fill'd with title and with face; 10
And, lest the king should want a regal place,
On the reverse, a tow'r the town surveys;
O'er which our mounting sun his beams
displays.

The word, pronounc'd aloud by shrieval voice,

Latamur, which, in Polish, is rejoice.
The day, month, year, to the great act are
join'd;

And a new canting holiday design'd.
Five days he sate for every cast and look;
Four more than God to finish Adam took.
But who can tell what essence angels are, 20
Or how long Heav'n was making Luci-

that pretense,

50

The wretch turn'd loyal in his own de-
fense,

And malice reconcil'd him to his prince.
Him in the anguish of his soul he serv'd,
Rewarded faster still than he deserv'd.
Behold him now exalted into trust;
His counsel's oft convenient, seldom just.
Ev'n in the most sincere advice he gave,
He had a grudging still to be a knave.
The frauds be learnt in his fanatic years
Made him uneasy in his lawful gears:
At best as little honest as he could,
And, like white witches, mischievously
good;

60

To his first bias longingly he leans,
And rather would be great by wicked

And true, but for the time; 't is hard to

know

How long we please it shall continue so.
This side to-day, and that to-morrow burns;
So all are God-a'mighties in their turns. 110
A tempting doctrine, plausible and new:
What fools our fathers were, if this be
true!

Who, to destroy the seeds of civil war,
Inherent right in monarchs did declare;
And, that a lawful pow'r might never cease,
Secur'd succession, to secure our peace.
Thus property and sovereign sway, at last,
In equal balances were justly cast:
But this new Jehu spurs the hot-mouth'd
horse;

119

Instructs the beast to know his native force,
To take the bit between his teeth, and fly
To the next headlong steep of anarchy.
Too happy England, if our good we knew,
Would we possess the freedom we pursue!
The lavish government can give no more;
Yet we repine, and plenty makes us poor.
God tried us once: our rebel fathers fought;
He glutted 'em with all the pow'r they
sought:

Till, master'd by their own usurping brave,
The freeborn subject sunk into a slave. 130
We loathe our manna, and we long for

quails;

Ah, what is man, when his own wish prevails!

How rash, how swift to plunge himself in ill;

Proud of his pow'r, and boundless in his will!

That kings can do no wrong we must believe;

None can they do, and must they all receive?

Help, Heaven! or sadly we shall see an hour,

When neither wrong nor right are in their pow'r !

Already they have lost their best defense,
The benefit of laws which they dispense: 140
No justice to their righteous cause allow'd;
But baffled by an arbitrary crowd;
And medals grav'd, their conquest to record,
The stamp and coin of their adopted lord.

The man who laugh'd but once, to see an

ass

Mumbling to make the crossgrain❜d thistles pass,

Might laugh again, to see a jury chaw,

And are content to thrive and to obey.
But wisdom is to sloth too great a slave;
None are so busy as the fool and knave.
Those let me curse; what vengeance will
they urge,

Whose ordures neither plague nor fire can purge;

Nor sharp experience can to duty bring, Nor angry Heaven, nor a forgiving king! 190 In gospel-phrase their chapmen they betray;

Their shops are dens, the buyer is their prey.
The knack of trades is living on the spoil;
They boast, ev'n when each other they be-
guile.

Customs to steal is such a trivial thing,
That 't is their charter to defraud their king.
All hands unite of every jarring sect;
They cheat the country first, and then in-
fect.

They for God's cause their monarchs dare dethrone,

And they'll be sure to make his cause their

T is working in th' immediate pow'r to be;
For from pretended grievances they rise,
First to dislike, and after to despise;
Then, Cyclop-like, in human flesh to deal,
Chop up a minister at every meal;
Perhaps not wholly to melt down the king,
But clip his regal rights within the ring;
From thence tassume the pow'r of peace
and war;

And ease him by degrees of public care.
Yet, to consult his dignity and fame,
He should have leave to exercise the

name,

And hold the cards, while commons play'd

the game.

230

For what can pow'r give more than food and drink,

To live at ease, and not be bound to think? These are the cooler methods of their crime, But their hot zealots think 't is loss of time; On utmost bounds of loyalty they stand, And grin and whet like a Croatian band, That waits impatient for the last command.

241

Thus outlaws open villainy maintain, They steal not, but in squadrons scour the plain;

And, if their pow'r the passengers subdue, The most have right, the wrong is in the few.

Such impious axioms foolishly they show, For in some soils republics will not grow: Our temp'rate isle will no extremes sustain Of pop'lar sway or arbitrary reign,

But slides between them both into the best, Secure in freedom, in a monarch blest; 251 And tho' the climate, vex'd with various winds,

Works thro' our yielding bodies on our minds,

The wholesome tempest purges what it

breeds,

Shall on the necks of the lewd nobles ride, His brethren damn, the civil pow'r defy, 300 And parcel out republic prelacy.

But short shall be his reign: his rigid yoke And tyrant pow'r will puny sects provoke; And frogs and toads, and all the tadpole train,

Will croak to Heav'n for help from this devouring crane.

The cutthroat sword and clamorous gown shall jar,

In sharing their ill-gotten spoils of war; Chiefs shall be grudg'd the part which they pretend;

Lords envy lords, and friends with every friend About their impious merit shall contend.

309

PROLOGUE TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, UPON HIS FIRST APPEARANCE AT THE DUKE'S THEATER SINCE HIS RETURN FROM SCOTLAND

SPOKEN BY MR. SMITH

[This prologue was first published as a broadside, in 1682; it was reprinted in the third edition, 1702, of Sylva, with the addition of 1682 at the close of the title.

In March, 1682, the Duke of York was recalled from Scotland, where he had been living in honorable exile, as high commissioner, since October, 1680. His first visit to the theater called by his name was on April 21. Otway's Venice Preserv'd, or A Plot Discover'd, a play of political tendency (first performed in the preceding February), in which Antonio, the villain, a fine speaker in the senate," is meant to suggest Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury, was represented on this occasion. Date and play are known to us from the heading of the special epilogue, published as a broadside, which Otway wrote for this performance. The play was first published in 1682; the special prologue and epilogue were not printed with it.]

IN those cold regions which no summers cheer,

When brooding darkness covers half the

year,

To hollow caves the shivering natives go; Bears range abroad, and hunt in tracks of

snow: