By those who lodg'd their gifts and graces,
Like better bowlers, in your places :
All which you bore with refolution,
Charg'd on th' account of perfecution;
And though most righteously opprefs'd,
Against your wills, ftill acquiefc'd;
And never hum'd and hah'd Sedition,
Nor fnuffled Treason, nor Misprision :

1155

1160

That is, because you never durft ;

For, had you preach'd and pray'd your worst,
Alas! you were no longer able

1165

To raise your poffe of the rabble :

One fingle red-coat centinel

Outcharm'd the magic of the fpell,

And, with his squirt-fire, could disperse

Or wit to carry a design,

Or correspondence to trepan,
Inveigle, or betray one man,

There's nothing elfe that intervenes,
And bars your zeal to ufe the means;
And therefore wondrous like, no doubt,
To bring in kings, or keep them out:

1180

Brave undertakers to restore,

1186

That could not keep yourselves in power;

T'advance the interests of the Crown,

That wanted wit to keep your own.

'Tis true ye have (for I'd be loth To wrong you) done your parts in both,

1190

To keep him out, and bring him in,

As Grace is introduc'd by Sin;
For 'twas your zealous want of fenfe,
And fanctify'd impertinence,

Your carrying bufinefs in a huddle,

That forc'd our rulers to new-model,

Oblig'd the State to tack about,

And turn you, root and branch, all out;

To reformado, one and all,

Tyour great Croyfado General :

Your greedy flavering to devour,
Before 'twas in your clutches, power;

That fprung the game you were to fet,
Before ye 'ad time to draw the net :
Your fpite to fee the Church's lands
Divided into other hands,
And all your facrilegious ventures
Laid out in tickets and debentures:
Your envy to be sprinkled down,

By under-churches in the Town,

And no courfe us'd to ftop their mouths,

Nor th' Independents' fpreading growths:

All which confider'd, 'tis most true

None bring him in fo much as you,

*1195

'1200

V1205

1210

Who

Who have prevail'd beyond their plots,
Their midnight juntos, and feal'd knots;
That thrive more by your zealous piques,
Than all their own rafh politics.
And this way you may claim a share
In carrying (as you brag) th' affair;

Elfe frogs and toads, that croak'd the Jews
From Pharaoh and his brick-kilns loose,"

1215

1220

And flies and mange, that fet them free
From taskmafters and slavery,

But firft, o' th' first: The Isle of Wight
Will rife up, if you fhould deny 't,
Where Henderson, and th' other Maffes,
Were fent to cap texts, and put cafes:

1240

To

Ver. 1239. Where Henderfon.] When the King, in the year 1646, was in the Scotch army, the English Parliament fent him fome propofitions, one of which

was

To pass for deep and learned scholars,
Although but paltry Ob and Sollers:

As

was the abolition of Epifcopacy, and the fetting up Prefbytery in its ftead. Mr. Henderson, one of the chief of the Scotch Prefbyterian minifters, was employ, ed to induce the King to agree to this propofition, it being what his Majefty chiefly ftuck at. Accordingly he came provided with books and papers for his purpofe: the controverfy was debated in writing, as well as by perfonal conference, and feveral papers paffed between them, which have been feveral times published; from which it appears that the King, without books or papers, or any one to affift him, was an overmatch for this old champion of the Kirk (and, I think, it will be no hyperbole if I add, for all the then English and Scotch Prefbyterian teachers put together), and made him fo far a convert, that he departed, with great forrow, to Edinburgh, with a deep fenfe of the mifchief of which he had been the author and abettor; and not only lamented to his friends and confidents, on his death-bed, which followed foon after, but likewife publifhed a folemn declaration to the Parliament and Synod of England, in which he owned, "That they had been "abufed with moft falfe afperfions against his Majesty,

and that they ought to restore him to his full rights, "royal throne, and dignity, left an endless character

of ingratitude lie upon them, that may turn to their "ruin. As to the King himself, befides mentioning his juftice, his magnanimity, his fobriety, his charity, and other virtues, he has thefe words: "I do declare, "before God and the world, whether in relation to "the Kirk or State, I found his Majefty the most in"telligent man that ever I fpake with, as far beyond "my expreffion as expectation.-I profefs I was often"times aftonished with the quickness of his reafons

and

As if th' unfeasonable fools

Had been a courfing in the fchools,

Until they 'ad prov'd the devil author

1245

O' th' Covenant, and the Caufe his daughter:

For, when they charg'd him with the guilt
Of all the blood that had been spilt,

They

"and replies; wondered how he, fpending his time "in fports and recreations, could have attained to fo 66 great knowledge; and must confess that I was con"vinced in confcience, and knew not how to give him

any reasonable fatisfaction: yet the sweetness of his "difpofition is fuch, that whatever I faid was well "taken. I must say that I never met with any dispu"tant of that mild and calm temper; which convinced "me that his wifdom and moderation could not be "without an extraordinary measure of divine grace. "I dare fay, if his advice had been followed, all the "blood that is fhed, and all the rapine that has been "committed, would have been prevented."

Ver. 1242. Ob and. Sollers.] Whoever confiders the context, will find that Ob and Sollers are defigned as a character of Mr. Henderson and his fellow difputants, who are called Maffes (as Mas is an abridgment of Mafter) that is, young mafters in divinity; and this character fignifies fomething quite contrary to deep and learned fcholars; particularly fuch as had ftudied controverfies, as they are handled by little books or fyftems (of the Dutch and Geneva cut) where the authors reprefent their adverfaries' arguments by fmall objections, and fubjoin their own pitiful folutions. In the margin of thefe books may be feen Ob and Sol. Such mushroom-divines are ingeniously and compendiously called Ob and Sollers."