LICENTIOUS AGE OF CHARLES H.
IS a ftrange age we 've liv'd in, and a lewd,
"Taseer the fun in all his travels view'd;
An age as vile as ever Justice urg'a,
Like a fantastic letcher, to be fcourg'd;
Nor has it fcap'd, and yet has only learn'd,
The more 'tis plagued, to be the lefs concern'd.
Twice have we seen two dreadful judgments rage,
Enough to fright the ftubborn'ft-hearted age;
The one to mow vaft crowds of people down,
The other (as then needlefs) half the Town;
And two as mighty miracles reftore
What both had ruin'd and destroy'd before;
In all as unconcern'd as if they 'ad been
But paftimes for diversion to be seen,
As the preceding fatire was upon mankind in general, with fome allufion to that age in which it was wrote, this is particularly leveled at the licentious and debauched times of Charles II. humorously contrafted with the Puritanical ones which went before; and is a fresh proof of the Author's impartiality, and that he was not, as is generally, but falfely, imagined, a bigot to the Cavalier party.
Or, like the plagues of Egypt, meant a curse,
Not to reclaim us, but to make us worse.
Twice have men turn'd the World (that filly blockhead)
The wrong fide outward, like a juggler's pocket,
Shook out hypocrify as fast and loose
As e'er the devil could teach, or finners use,
And on the other fide at once put in
As impotent iniquity and fin.
As fculls that have been crack'd are often found
Upon the wrong fide to receive the wound;
And like tobacco-pipes at one end hit,
To break at th' other ftill that 's oppofite;
So men, who one extravagance would fhun,
Into the contrary extreme have run;
And all the difference is, that, as the first
Provokes the other freak to prove the worst,
So, in return, that strives to render lefs
The last delufion, with its own excefs,
And, like two unskill'd gamesters, ufe one way,
With bungling t' help out one another's play.
For those who heretofore fought private holes,
Securely in the dark to damn their fouls,
Wore vizards of hypocrify, to steal
And flink away in masquerade to hell,
Now bring their crimes into the open fun,
For all mankind to gaze their worst upon,
As eagles try their young against his rays,
To prove if they 're of generous breed or base;
Call heaven and earth to witness how they 've aim'd, With all their utmost vigour, to be damn'd,
And by their own examples, in the view
Of all the world, ftriv'd to damn others too;
On all occafions fought to be as civil
As poffible they could t' his grace the Devil,
To give him no unneceffary trouble,
Nor in fmall matters ufe a friend fo noble,
But with their conftant practice done their best
T'improve and propagate his interest:
For men have now made vice fo great an art,
The matter of fact 's become the slightest part;
And the debauched'ft actions they can do,
Mere trifles to the circumftance and show.
For 'tis not what they do that 's now the fin,
But what they lewdly' affect and glory in,
As if prepofteroufly they would profefs
A forc'd hypocrify of wickedness,
And affectation, that makes good things bad,
Muft make affected fhame accurs'd and mad
For vices for themfelves may find excufe,
But never for their compliment and fhews;
That if there ever were a mystery
Of moral fecular iniquity,
And that the churches may not lose their due
By being incroach'd upon, 'tis now, and new :
For men are now as fcrupulous and nice,
And tender-confcienc'd of low paltry vice;
Difdain as proudly to be thought to have
To do in any mischief but the brave;
As the most scrupulous zealot of late times
Tappear in any but the horrid'ft crimes;
Have as precife and ftrict punctilios
Now to appear, as then to make no shows,
And steer the world, by difagreeing force
Of different customs, 'gainst her natural course:
So powerful 's ill example to encroach,
And Nature, spite of all her laws, debauch,
Example, that imperious dictator
Of all that's good or bad to human nature,
By which the world 's corrupted and reclaim'd,
Hopes to be fav'd and ftudies to be damn'd;
That reconciles all contrarieties,
Makes wisdom foolishnefs, and folly wife,
Impofes on divinity, and fets
Her feal alike on truths and counterfeits;
Alters all characters of virtue' and vice,
And paffes one for th' other in disguise;
Makes all things, as it pleases, understood,
The good receiv'd for bad, and bad for good;
That flyly counter-changes wrong and right,
Like white in fields of black, and black in white;
As if the laws of Nature had been made
Of purpose only to be disobey'd;
Or man had loft his mighty interest,
By having been diftinguifh'd from a beaft;
And had no other way but fin and vice,
To be reftor'd again to Paradise.
How copious is our language lately grown,
To make blafpheming wit, and a jargon!
And yet how expreffive and fignificant,
In damme at once to curfe, and swear, and rant!
As if no way exprefs'd men's fouls fo well,
As damning of them to the pit of hell;
Nor any afleveration were so civil,
As mortgaging falvation to the devil;
Or that his name did add a charming grace,
And blasphemy a purity to our phrase.
For what can any language more enrich,
Than to pay fouls for viciating speech;
When the great'ft tyrant in the world made those
But lick their words out that abus'd his profe?
What trivial punishments did then protect
To public cenfure a profound respect,
When the most fhameful penance, and fevere,
That could b'inflicted on a Cavalier
For infamous debauchery, was no worfe
Than but to be degraded from his horse,
And have his livery of oats and hay,
Inftead of cutting fpurs off, tak'n away?
They held no torture then fo great as shame,
And that to flay was less than to defame;
For just fo much regard as men exprefs
To th' cenfure of the public, more or lefs,
The fame will be return'd to them again,
In fhame or reputation, to a grain;
And, how perverfe foe'er the world appears,
'Tis juft to all the bad it fees and hears;
And for that virtue ftrives to be allow'd
For all the injuries it does the good.
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