his jaw

That Officer are intail'd, and that there are
Perpetuities of them, lasting as far
As the last day; and that great Officers
Do with the Spaniards share, and Dunkirkers,

I more amaz’d than Circes prisoners, when
They felt themselves turn beasts, felt myself then
Becoming Traytor, and methought I saw
One of our Giant Statutes

ope To fuck me in for hearing him: I found That as burnt venemous Leachers do

grow

found By giving others their fores, I might grow Guilty, and he free: Therefore I did show All signs of loathing; but since I am in, I must pay mine, and my forefathers fin To the laft. farthing. Therefore to my power Toughly and stubbornly I bear; but th’ hower Of

mercy now was come: he tries to bring Me to pay a fine to 'scape a torturing, And says, Sir, can you spare me---? I said, Willingly; Nay, Sir, can you spare me a crown? Thankfully I Gave it, as ransom; but as fidlers, still, Though they be paid to be gone, yet needs will Thrust one more jigg upon you: so did he With his long complimental thanks vex me.

Notes. VER. 167. fall endlong] The sudden effect of the transformation is strongly and finely painted to the imagination, not in

Nay hints, 'tis by connivance of the Court, 164
That Spain robs on, and Dunkirk's still a Port.
Not more amazement seiz'd on Circe's guests,
To see themselves fall. endlong into beasts,
Than mine, to find a subject stay'd and wise
Already half turn'd traytor by surprize.
I felt th' infection slide from him to me, 170
As in the

pox,

some give it to get free; And quick to swallow me, methought I faw One of our Giant Statutes ope its jaw.

In that nice moment, as another Lye Stood just a-tilt, the Minister came by.

175 To him he flies, and bows, and bows again, Then, close as Umbrá, joins the dirty train, Not Fannius' self more impudently near, When half his nose is in his Prince's ear. I quak'd at heart; and still afraid, to see 180 All the Court filld with stranger things than he, Ran out as fast, as one that

pays

his bail And dreads more actions, hurries from a jail.

Bear me, some God! oh quickly bear me hence To wholsome Solitude, the nurse of sense:

a

185

NOTES. the found, but in the sense of these two words.

VER. 184. Bear me,] These four lines are wonderfully subBut he is gone,

thanks to his needy want, And the Prerogative of my Crown; scant His thanks were ended, when I (which did see AlltheCourt fill'd with more strange things than he) Ran from thence with such, or more hast than one Who fears more actions, doth hast from prison.

At home in wholefome solitariness My piteous foul began the wretchedness Of suiters at court to mourn, and a trance Like his, who dreamt he saw hell, did advance It self o'er me: such men as he saw there I saw at court, and worse and more. Low fear Becomes the guilty, not th' accuser : Then, Shall I, none's slave, of high-born or rais’d men Fear frowns; and

my mistress truth, betray thee For th' huffing, bragart, puft nobility? No, no, thou which since yesterday hast been, Almost about the whole world, haft thou seen, O sun, in all thy journey, vanity, Such as swells the bladder of our court? I

NOTES lime. His impatience in this region of vice, is like that of Vire gil, in the region of heat. They both call out as if they were half ftifed by the fulphury air of the place,

O qui me gelidis
O quickly bear me hence.

Where Contemplation prunes her ruffled wings,
And the free foul looks down to pity Kings!
There sober thought pursu'd th' amusing theme,
Till Fancy colour'd it, and form’d a Dream.
A Vision hermits can to Hell transport, 190
And forc'd ev'n me to see the damn'd at Court.
Not Dante dreaming all th' infernal state,
Beheld such scenes of envy, sin, and hate.
Base Fear becomes the guilty, not the free;
Suits Tyrants, Plunderers, but suits not me: 195
Shall I, the Terror of this sinful town,
Care, if a liv'ry'd Lord or smile or frown?
Who cannot flatter, and detest who can,
Tremble before a noble Serving-man?
O my fair mistress, Truth! shall I quit thee 200
For huffing, braggart, puft Nobility ?
Thou, who since yesterday hast rollid o'er all
The busy, idle blockheads of the ball,
Hast thou, oh Sun! beheld an emptier fort,
Than such as swell this bladder of a court? 205

a

NOTES. Ver. 188. There sober thought] These two lines are remarkable for the delicacy and propriety of the expression.

Ver. 194. Base Fear] These four admirable lines become the high office he had assumed, and so nobly sustained.

b

Think he which made your b Waxen garden, and
Transported it from Italy, to stand
With us at London, flouts our Courtiers; for
Just such gay painted things, which no fap, nor
Tast have in them, ours are; and natural
Some of the stocks are ; their fruits bastard all.

'Tis ten a Clock and past; all whom the mues,
Baloun, or tennis, diet, or the stews
Had all the morning held, now the second
Time made ready, that day, in flocks are found
In the Presence, and I (God pardon me)
As fresh and sweet their Apparels be, as be
Their fields they sold to buy them. For a king
Those hofe are, cry the flatterers : and bring
Them next week to the theatre to fell.

.

Wants reach all states: me seems they do as well

NOTES. • A show of the Italian Garden in Waxwork, in the time of King James the First.

P. c That is, of wood.

VER. 206. Court in wax!] A famous show of the Court of France, in -Wax-work.

P. VER. 213. At Fig's, at White's,] White's was a noted gam