Pay their laft duty to the court, and come
All freth and fragrant to the drawing-room; 215
In hues as gay, and odours as divine,
As the fair fields they fold to look fo fine.
"That's velvet for a king!" the flatt'rer swears ;
'Tis true, for ten days hence 'twill be King Lear's.
Our court may juftly to our Stage give rules, 220
That helps it both to fools-coats and to fools.
And why not players ftrut in courtiers' cloaths?
For these are actors too, as well as thofe :
Wants reach all states; they beg, but better dreft,
And all is fplendid poverty at best.
225
Painted for fight, and effenc'd for the fmell,
Like frigates fraught with spice and cochine'l,
Had all the morning held, now the fecond
Time made ready, that day, in flocks are found
In the prefence, and I (God pardon me)
As freth and fweet their apparels be, as be
Their fields they fold to buy them. For a king
Thofe hose are, cry the flatterers: and bring
Them next week to the theatre to fell.
Wants reach all ftates: me feems they do as well
At ftage, as courts; all are players. Whoe'er looks
(For themselves dare not go) o'er Cheapfide books,
Shall find their wardrobes inventory. Now
The ladies come. As pirates (which do know
ming-houfe; Fig's, a prize-fighter's academy, where the young nobility received inftruction in those days: It was alto cuftomary for the nobility and gentry to vifit the condemned criminals in New gate.
Ver. 220. our Stage gives rules,] alluding to the Chamberlain's authority.
Şail in the ladies: how each pirate eyes
So weak a veffel, and fo rich a prize!
Top-gallant he, and fhe in all her trim,
He boarding her, fhe striking fail to him:
"Dear Countefs! you have charms all hearts to
"hit!"?
And, "Sweet Sir Fopling! you have fo much wit!"
Such wits and beauties are not prais'd for nought,
For both the beauty and the wit are bought, 235
'Twould burst ev'n Heroclitus with the spleen,
To fee thofe antics, Fopling and Courtin:
The prefence feems, with things fo richly odd,
The mofque of Mahound, or fome queer pagod,
That there came weak fhips fraught with cut
(well, The men board them; and praife (as they think) Their beauties; they the mens wits; both are
Why good wits ne'er wear fcarlet gowns, I thought
This caufe, Thefe men, mens wits for fpeeches buy,
And women buy all red which scarlets dye.
He call'd her beauty lime-twigs, her hair net :
She fears her drugs ill lay'd, her hair loose set..
Wouldn't Heraclitus laugh to fee Macrine
From hat to fhoe, himfelf at door refine,
As if the prefence were a mofque and lift
His fkirts and hofe, and call his cloaths to thrift,"
Making them confefs not only mortal
Great ftains and holes in them, but venial
Ver. 24. Durer's rules,] Albert Durer.
See them furvey their limbs by Durer's rules, 240
Of all beau-kind the best-proportion'd fools!
Adjust their cloaths, and to confeffion draw
Thofe venial fins, an atom, or a straw
But oh what terrors muft diftract the foul
Convicted of that mortal crime, a hole;
Or fhould one pound of powder lefs bespread
Thofe monkey tails that wag behind their head,
Thus finifh'd and corrected to a hair,
They march, to prate their hour before the fair.
So first to preach a white-glov'd chaplain goes,
With band of lily, and with cheek of rofe, 251
Sweeter than Sharon in immac'late trim,
Neatnefs itself impertinent in him.
Let but the ladies fmile, and they are bleft:
Prodigious! how the things proteft, proteft;
Peace, fools, or Gonfon will for Papifts feize you,
If once he catch you at your Je! Jesu!
Feathers and duft, wherewith they fornicate:
And then by Durer's rules furvey the state
Of his each limb, and with strings the odds tries
Of his neck to his leg, and waste to thighs.
So in immaculate cloaths, and fymmetry
Perfect as circles *, with fuch nicety
As a young preacher at his first time goes
To preach, he enters, and a lady which owes
Him not so much as good-will, he arrests,
And unto her protefts, protests, protests,
So much as at Rome would ferve to have thrown
Ten cardinals into the inquifition;
*Because all the lines drawn from the centre to the circumference are equal.
Nature made ev'ry fop to plague his brother, Juft as one beauty mortifies another.
But here's the captain that will plague them both,
Whofe air cries Arm! whofe very look's an oath :
The captain's honest, Sirs, and that's enough,
Tho' his foul's bullet, and his body buff.
He fpits fore-right; his haughty chest before,
Like batt'ring-rams, beats open ev'ry door: 265
And with a face as red, and as awry,
As Herod's hang-dogs in old tapestry,
Scarecrow to boys, the breeding woman's curse,
Has yet a ftrange ambition to look worse;
Confounds the civil, keeps the rude in awe, 277
Jefts like a licens'd fool, commands like law.
Frighted, I quit the room, but leave it fo
As men from jails to execution
And whispers by Jefu so oft, that a
Purfuevant would have ravilh'd him away
For faying our Lady's Pfalter. But 'tis fit
That they each other plague, they merit it.
But here comes Glorious that will plague them
both,
Who in the other extreme only doth
Call a rough careleffness, good fashion:
Whose cloak his fpurs tear, or whom he fpits on,
He cares not, he. His ill words do no harm
To him; he ruflres in, as if Arm, arm!
He meant to cry; and though his face be as ill
As theirs which in old hangings whip Chrift, ftill
He strives to look worfe; he keeps all in awe;
Jeits like a licens'd fool, commands like law.
VOL. II.
For hung with deadly fins I fee the wall,
And lin'd with giants deadlier than 'em all: 275
Each man an Afkapart, of strength to tofs
For quoits, both Temple-bar and Charing-crofs.
Scar'd at the grizly forms, I fweat, I fly,
And shake all o'er, like a discover'd spy.
Courts are too much for wits fo weak as mine: Charge them with heav'n's artill'ry, bold divine! From fuch alone the great rebukes endure, Whose satire's facred, and whose rage fecure: 'Tis mine to wash a few light stains, but theirs To deluge fin, and drown a court in tears. Howe'er what's now Apocrypha, my Wit, In time to come, may país for Holy Writ.
Tir'd, now I leave this place, and but pleas'd fo As men from gaols to execution go,
Go, through the great chamber (why is it hung
With the feven deadly fins?) being among
Thofe Akaparts *, men big enough to throw
Charing-crofs for a bar, men that do know
No token of worth, but queens man, and fine
Living; barrels of beef, flaggons of wine.
I fhock like a spied Spie----preachers which are
Seas of wit and arts, you can, then dare,
Drown the fins of this place, but as for me
Which am but a fcant brook, enough shall be
To wash the ftains away; Although I yet
(With Maccabees modefty) the known merit
Of my work leffen, yet fome wife men shall,
I hope, esteem my writs canonical.
A giant famous in romances.
Ver. 274. For hung with deadly fins] The room hung with old tapestry, reprefenting the feven deadly fins.
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