To stroll and teach from town to town,
And those he had taught up, teach down,
And make those uses serve again,

Against the new-enlighten’d men :
As fit, as when at first they were
Reveal'd against the Cavalier:
Damn Anabaptist and fanatic,
As pat as popish, and prelatic;
And with as little variation,

To serve for any sect i' th' nation.

The good old cause, which some believe
To be the Dev'l that tempted Eve
With knowledge, and does still invite
The world to mischief with new light,
Had store of money in her purse,
When he took her for bett'r or worse;

95

100

105

But now was grown deform'd and poor,
And fit to be turn'd out of door.

110

out men of honesty, holiness, and parts, to all counties, recommended from their test." For a further account of these Itinerants, see Vavasor Powell. Wood's Athene Oxon. 1st edit. part 2. col. 343, 344, &c.

v. 94. And those he had taught up, teach down] The Independents urged the very same doctrines against the Presbyterians, which the Presbyterians had before used against the Bishops, such as the no necessity of Ordination by the hands of the Presbytery: And that church government was committed to the Community of the faithful. Which doctrines, and others of the like nature, Presbyterians had preached up, in order to pull down the Bishops: but when the Independents used those arguments against the government they would have set up, they preached them down again. (Dr. B.)

v. 103. The good old cause] The covenant and protestation, for which they first pretended to take up arms.

v. 111. The Independents] See the best account of that sect, in the History of Independency, by Clement Walker, Esq.; a zealous Presby

The Independents (whose first station
Was in the rear of reformation,

A mongrel kind of church-dragoons,
That serv'd for horse and foot at once:

And in the saddle of one steed
The Saracen and Christian rid:
Were free of ev'ry spiritual order
To preach, and fight, and pray,

and murder :)

115

terian, and secluded member. The first Part of his Book was published in the year 1648. The second Part, intitled, Anarchia Anglicana 1649. By Theodorus Verax. Mr. Walker being discovered to be the author by Cromwell, was committed prisoner to the Tower of London, the 13th of November, 1649, where he wrote the third Part, intitled, The High Court of Justice, or Cromwell's Bloody Slaughter House, published in the Year 1651. After the restoration, a fourth Part was added, by T. M. Esq.; and all four published together in a thick quarto, 1660-1. And Bastwick's Routing of the Independent Army, 4to.

v. 112, 115, 116. Was in the rear of reformation, — And in the saddle of one steed―The Saracen and Christian rid] See an account of the rise of the Independents in the year 1643, where Independency is compared to Mahometism, Echard's History of England, vol. 2. p. 435.

Mr. Walker (History of Independency, part 1. p. 27.) says, Independents are a composition of Jew, Christian, and Turk."

"The

v. 117. Were free of ev'ry spiritual order] The Romish orders here alluded to, are the Jesuits, the Knights of Malta, the Fathers of the Oratory, and the Dominicans, who are at the head of the Inquisition. (Mr. W.)

It was so in Mr. Butler's time; but Mr. Baker observes, (History of the Inquisition, chap. 7. p. 48) "That this office is not as formerly committed to the Predicants, or Dominican Friars: they began to employ it in the secular clergy, who were skilful in the decrees and laws; till at last the whole power gradually devolved on them: so that now the Dominican Friars have no part in it, though the Inquisitors oftentimes use their assistance in judging of propositions; and they are employed as counsellors in the Holy Office."

v. 118. To preach, and fight, &c.] The officers and soldiers among the Independents got into pulpits, and preached, and prayed, as well as

No sooner got the start to lurch
Both disciplines, of war and church,
And providence enough to run
The chief commanders of 'em down,
But carried on the war against
The common enemy o' th' saints,
And in a while prevail'd so far,
To win of them the game of war,

And be at liberty once more

T'attack themselves as th' had before.

120

125

fought Oliver Cromwell was famed for a preacher, and has a sermon in print, intitled, Cromwell's Learned, Devout, and Conscientious Exercise, held at Sir Peter Temple's in Lincoln's Inn Fields, upon Romans xiii. 1. [penes me] in which are the following flowers of rhetoric: "Dearly beloved brethren and sisters, it is true this text is a malignant one; the wicked and ungodly have abused it very much; but, thanks be to God, it was to their own ruin; p. 1. But now that I spoke of kings, the question is, whether by the higher powers, are meant kings or commoners? Truly beloved, it is a very great question among those that are learned: for may not every one, that can read, observe, that Paul speaks in the plural number, higher powers; now, had he meant subjection to a King, he would have said, Let every soul be subject to the higher power. If he had meant one man; but by this you see he meant more than one: he bids us be subject to the higher powers, that is, the Council of State, the House of Commons, and the Army." ibid. p. 3.

When in the humble petition there was inserted an article against public preachers being Members of Parliament, Oliver Cromwell excepted against it expressly, "Because he (he said) was one, and divers officers of the army, by whom much good had been done-and therefore desired they would explain their article." (Heath's Chronicle, p. 408.) Ibid. and pray, and murder] Sir Roger L'Estrange observes, (Reflection upon Poggius's Fable of the Husband, Wife, and ghostly Father, part 1. fab. 357.) upon the pretended saints of those times, "That they did not set one step in the whole tract of this iniquity, without seeking the Lord first, and going up to enquire of the Lord,

For now there was no foe in arms,
T'unite their factions with alarms,
But all reduc'd and overcome,

130

Except their worst, themselves at home :
Wh' had compass'd all they pray'd, and swore,
And fought, and preach'd, and plunder'd for,
Subdu'd the nation, church and state,

And all things but their laws and hate.
But when they came to treat and transact,
And share the spoil of all th' had ransack'd,
To botch up what th' had torn and rent,
Religion and the government,

They met no sooner, but prepar'd
To pull down all the war had spar'd:
Agreed in nothing, but t' abolish,
Subvert, extirpate, and demolish.

135

140

according to the cant of those days; which was no other than to make God the author of sin: and to impute the blackest practices of Hell, to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost."

It was with this pretext of seeking the Lord in prayer, that Cromwell, Ireton, Harrison, and others of the Regicides, cajoled General Fairfax, who was determined to rescue the King from execution, giving orders to have it speedily done: and when they had notice that it was over, they persuaded the General, that this was a full return of prayer; and God having so manifested his pleasure, they ought to acquiesce in it. (Perinchief's Life of King Charles, prefixt to his Works, p. 91.)

So the late saints of blessed memory,

Cut throats in godly pure sincerity;

So they with lifted hands, and eyes devout,

Said grace, and carv'd a slaughter'd monarch out.

Oldham's Second Satire upon the Jesuits, p. 26. edit. 1703.

v. 136. And all things but their laws and hate] i. e. The laws of the land, and the hatred of the people.

For knaves and fools b'ing near of kin,
As Dutch boors are t' a sooterkin,
Both parties join'd to do their best,
To damn the public interest;

And herded only in consults,
To put by one another's bolts;
T'out-cant the Babylonian labourers,
At all their dialects of jabberers,
And tug at both ends of the saw,
To tear down government and law.

145

150

For as two cheats, that play one game
Are both defeated of their aim;

155

So those who play a game of state,

And only cavil in debate,

Although there's nothing lost nor won,
The public bus'ness is undone,

160

v. 146. As Dutch boors are t' a sooterkin] It is reported of the Dutch women, that making so great use of stoves, and often putting them under their petticoats, they engender a kind of ugly monster, which is called a sooterkin." See Cleveland's Character of a London Diurnal, Works 1677, p. 103.

v. 151, 152. T" out-cant the Babylonian labourers,—At all their dialects of jabberers] Dubartas thus describes the confusion at Babel : (Divine Weekes and Workes, p. 418.)

This said, as soon confusedly did bound

Through all the work, I wote not what strange sound,

A jangling noise; not much unlike the rumours
Of Bacchus' swains, amid their drunken humours:
Some speak between the teeth, some in the nose,
Some in the throat their words do ill dispose;
Some howl, some halloo, some do stut and strain;
Each hath his gibberish, and all strive in vain
To find again their known beloved tongue,
That with their milk they suckt in cradle young.