999:01,000['  ]| <The Cabal: from Harold, 22.2.00>
999:01,000['  ]| <Bagford Collection, III.22; Luttrell, II.23>
999:01,000['  ]| <The 1697 continuation at the end is believed by the POAS>
999:01,000['  ]| <editor to be spurious.>
999:01,001[A  ]| Now the reformer of the court and stage,
999:01,002[A  ]| The common beadle of this wilful age,
999:01,003[A  ]| Has with impartial hand whipped sovereign sin,
999:01,004[A  ]| In me it is but manners to begin.
999:01,005[A  ]| To correct vice keen satire may prevail,
999:01,006[A  ]| Beyond the law, when preaching blockheads fail;
999:01,007[A  ]| For law and satire from one fountain flow,
999:01,008[A  ]| Were not men vicious, there would be no law:
999:01,009[A  ]| But to cry up this saucy cant a rule
999:01,010[A  ]| For lawful satire, proves the wit a fool.   <10>
999:01,011[A  ]| To rail at states, and monarchs ill entreat,
999:01,012[A  ]| They cry " 
999:01,012@x   | 'Tis good, because the subject's great:"
999:01,013[A  ]| As Man was only placed in Paradise,
999:01,014[A  ]| To nibble on the fruit for which he dies.
999:01,015[A  ]| Can owls and woodcocks with the eagle play,
999:01,016[A  ]| And not in danger to become a prey?
999:01,017[A  ]| What is't to lash a king, and council table,
999:01,018[A  ]| When I myself am kicked by the town rabble?
999:01,019[A  ]| (For me to labour in a lower sphere,
999:01,020[A  ]| I think too much, yet it is safest there:)   <20>
999:01,021[A  ]| Nor do I covet matters for my rhymes,
999:01,022[A  ]| The greatest person, but the greatest crimes.
999:01,023[A  ]| What is't to me, who keeps a miss? who's wed?
999:01,024[A  ]| Or who got costly Carwell's maidenhead?
999:01,025[A  ]| Who got the better on't, the peer or knight?
999:01,026[A  ]| What lord was drunk, or lady shamed last night?
999:01,027[A  ]| These are the crying crimes; yet one may do
999:01,028[A  ]| All these, and be an honest subject too.
999:01,029[A  ]| But to supplant the Government, to cry
999:01,030[A  ]| Allegiance down, and raze out monarchy;   <30>
999:01,031[A  ]| To make cabals, and by a bold petition
999:01,032[A  ]| Imbrue the nation in a new sedition;
999:01,033[A  ]| To souse rebellion, lay up plots in pickle,
999:01,034[A  ]| And make each tavern bar a conventicle:
999:01,035[A  ]| This would become a muse's excellence,
999:01,036[A  ]| To whip the Club into allegiance.
999:01,037[A  ]| Who would not be affected as Sir Carr,
999:01,038[A  ]| As proud as Mulgrave, dull as De La Ware;
999:01,039[A  ]| As poor as Fish, who lost himself and prince
999:01,040[A  ]| In one debauch, and ne'er was sober since:   <40>
999:01,041[A  ]| Rather than that insatiate beast of prey,
999:01,042[A  ]| Worries the flock, to make himself away?
999:01,043[A  ]| (So wolves, when cloyed with blood of lambs and ewes,
999:01,044[A  ]| Do often fall into the shepherd's noose.)
999:01,045[A  ]| Those harmless men find a more safe abode,
999:01,046[A  ]| Who quit unlawful paths to keep the road.
999:01,047[A  ]| 'Tis strange, that human wisdom ever should
999:01,048[A  ]| Err most, under pretence of doing good:
999:01,049[A  ]| And those wise men that would prescribe us rules
999:01,050[A  ]| For government, prove either knaves or fools.   <50>
999:01,051[A  ]| Witness the Catiline that left Whitehall,
999:01,052[A  ]| To be made President of the Cabal:
999:01,053[A  ]| So he's in play (provided there's no blows)
999:01,054[A  ]| It matters not the New, or the Old Cause:
999:01,055[A  ]| Has through all points of government run his rounds,
999:01,056[A  ]| As Gore the compass did, with blood and zounds.
999:01,057[A  ]| But sooner may you fix the northern wind,
999:01,058[A  ]| Than hope this weathercock will be confined.
999:01,059[A  ]| Nature made him a perverse wight, whose nose
999:01,060[A  ]| Extracts the essence of his gouty toes;   <60>
999:01,061[A  ]| Double with head to tail he crawls apart,
999:01,062[A  ]| His Body's th'emblem of his double heart.
999:01,063[A  ]| In the court sun he wriggles, like a snail;
999:01,064[A  ]| Touch but his horns, he shrinks into his shell.
999:01,065[A  ]| Rolled like a hedgehog up, he shows his snout,
999:01,066[A  ]| And at the council table makes a rout;
999:01,067[A  ]| 'Gainst Charles and the Succession domineers:
999:01,068[A  ]| If ought oppose him, he has forks and spears.
999:01,069[A  ]| Like a vile sculler, he abjures the realm,
999:01,070[A  ]| And sinks the bark, 'cause he's not chief at helm;   <70>
999:01,071[A  ]| Then cries, 
999:01,071@y   |  "All bands to pump, a leak i'th' keel!"
999:01,072[A  ]| And stops it up with Julian's conger-eel.
999:01,073[A  ]| That when a ball pierced the broadside, even then,
999:01,074[A  ]| Clapped in the hole, and saved Sir Edward's men.
999:01,075[A  ]| The way's to keep him there; if he get through,
999:01,076[A  ]| Secure himself, he drowns the ship and crew.
999:01,077[A  ]| If to the ocean back again he's bent,
999:01,078[A  ]| The rabble, he's in his own element.
999:01,079[A  ]| There let him plot, and ne'er behold the sun,
999:01,080[A  ]| Till he has through all seas of folly run,   <80>
999:01,081[A  ]| Under pretext of wit, to be undone.
999:01,082[A  ]| Like the late duke, who, from a glorious bully,
999:01,083[A  ]| Retired from court, to be the city's cully;
999:01,084[A  ]| The city's minion; now, their scorn and sport,
999:01,085[A  ]| There more despised, than once adored at court:
999:01,086[A  ]| Who did his fall so wittily contrive,
999:01,087[A  ]| In quaint disguise to riot, rant, and swive;
999:01,088[A  ]| And, when h' has lost himself in infamy,
999:01,089[A  ]| Revile the state, and rail at monarchy!
999:01,090[A  ]| The only means true glory to pursue,   <90>
999:01,091[A  ]| And must be the best way, because 'tis new.
999:01,092[A  ]| Would any Hewson from the court retreat
999:01,093[A  ]| To th' stall, under disguise of being great,
999:01,094[A  ]| And only for to merit vulgar praise;
999:01,095[A  ]| Rather than not be popular, be base?
999:01,096[A  ]| So once an emperor, as stories say,
999:01,097[A  ]| Exchanged his sceptre for a ferula,
999:01,098[A  ]| And, only proud to prove himself a fool,
999:01,099[A  ]| Did quit the throne, to keep a petty school;
999:01,100[A  ]| Yet this was great! while only for the noise   <100>
999:01,101[A  ]| Of sovereign power, he lords it o'er the boys:
999:01,102[A  ]| Look to it, York; the nation first shall bleed,
999:01,103[A  ]| Ere the two kings of Brainford shall succeed.
999:01,104[A  ]| Put him aside, ~~ as he has done, I'll lay;
999:01,105[A  ]| For should I more upon this subject say, 
999:01,106[A  ]| It were, like his estate, but thrown away.
999:01,107[A  ]| Shall Perkin 'scape, whose early offering
999:01,108[A  ]| Invoked the Club, ere he attoned the king?
999:01,109[A  ]| What though he's banished? Yet the Rump may plead
999:01,110[A  ]| Old Magna Charta, though the House be fled.   <110>
999:01,111[A  ]| And though you will not make him king, yet he
999:01,112[A  ]| May justly claim a subject's liberty:
999:01,113[A  ]| But this secures him from our sharpest shot,
999:01,114[A  ]| He was not Oates enough to make a plot;
999:01,115[A  ]| And satire upon him is even almost,
999:01,116[A  ]| As well as preaching unto Armstrong, lost.
999:01,117[A  ]| Hallifax for empire has as great an itch,
999:01,118[A  ]| As ever dog had for his salt-swollen bitch;
999:01,119[A  ]| His plumes imped with ambition, up he flies,
999:01,120[A  ]| And, to be something, melts even in the skies,   <120>
999:01,121[A  ]| While th' humble wretch at home lies prostrate down
999:01,122[A  ]| To all the barking beagles of the town.
999:01,123[A  ]| Young Devon too does in the Club intrude,
999:01,124[A  ]| To be applauded by the multitude:
999:01,125[A  ]| With zeal to king and country he abounds;
999:01,126[A  ]| Keep with the hare, and open with the hounds:
999:01,127[A  ]| Now of the court, now of the city free;
999:01,128[A  ]| Mistakes prerogative for liberty.
999:01,129[A  ]| How well a regiment would him become,
999:01,130[A  ]| If the loud Commons did but beat the drum!   <130>
999:01,131[A  ]| "My masters, vote it, sirs; a prohibition:
999:01,132[A  ]| I can't in conscience brook the new commissions:
999:01,133[A  ]| To levy forces, and assign commanders,
999:01,134[A  ]| Is treason in the king 'gainst France or Flanders;
999:01,135[A  ]| But if the House command me, though I starve,
999:01,136[A  ]| I'll quit wine, whores, allegiance, to serve."
999:01,137[A  ]| Gray, better far might slight his soveraign's bounty,
999:01,138[A  ]| He had a regiment within his county,
999:01,139[A  ]| And power enough beside to back his cause,
999:01,140[A  ]| Would Rowley venture but a broken nose.   <140>
999:01,141[A  ]| Appease this mouthing Cerberus with a bone,
999:01,142[A  ]| Honour's a dainty crust to pick upon:
999:01,143[A  ]| (While his dear Doxy makes a shift to rub
999:01,144[A  ]| The business out with Monmouth), at the Club:
999:01,145[A  ]| And Rowlstone leads the van, while they combine,
999:01,146[A  ]| And humbly beg their sovereign to resign.
999:01,147[A  ]| How faction, and the quenchless thirst of rule,
999:01,148[A  ]| Hurries to ruin the ambitious fool;
999:01,149[A  ]| Whose busy soul, puffed up with popular sway,
999:01,150[A  ]| Will scarce be ever humbled to obey!   <150>
999:01,151[A  ]| The earl, whose spouse had such a spacious poop,
999:01,152[A  ]| As swallowed up Ned Brab'zon and his troop,
999:01,153[A  ]| Who was lately Lord Lieutenant of the realm,
999:01,154[A  ]| Seemed a good pilot while he sat at helm;
999:01,155[A  ]| But when he was deposed, he overthrew
999:01,156[A  ]| His master's cause, and sided with the crew.
999:01,157[A  ]| Now Bedford found he had the worst o'th' lay,
999:01,158[A  ]| Having more wit or honesty than they, 
999:01,159[A  ]| Sneaked off, and left the Club, his game to play.
999:01,160[A  ]| When he had also led 'em to the perch,   <160>
999:01,161[A  ]| Like Buckingham, he left 'em in the lurch,
999:01,162[A  ]| At such a juncture of a time, and oddly,
999:01,163[A  ]| As Peyton for his highness left the godly;
999:01,164[A  ]| Or Escrick Howard, to become a bawler,
999:01,165[A  ]| Withdrew from court to cry up busy Waller.
999:01,166[A  ]| These are the men that all the bustle make,
999:01,167[A  ]| And empire check merely for empire's sake.
999:01,168[A  ]| They lay their stamp on the revolting darling,
999:01,169[A  ]| And in that Club make treason pass for sterling.
999:01,170[A  ]| There are some other beagles of the pack,   <170>
999:01,171[A  ]| That make a noise the royal chase to back:
999:01,172[A  ]| As when a mastiff opens in the dark,
999:01,173[A  ]| The little dogs will shake their tails and bark;
999:01,174[A  ]| And though the foremost hound but start the hare,
999:01,175[A  ]| The rest will mouth it as they claimed a share:
999:01,176[A  ]| Who follow by the scent, and scarce have sense
999:01,177[A  ]| To judge 'twixt treason and allegiance.
999:01,178[A  ]| As fops meet in the pit, to damn a play,
999:01,179[A  ]| Not what they know, but by what others say:
999:01,180[A  ]| Unmeaning fools, who, something to be at,   <180>
999:01,181[A  ]| Follow the leading cuckoo, like the bat,
999:01,182[A  ]| And justly merit, as they are despised,
999:01,183[A  ]| Rather to be rejected than chastised.
999:01,184[A  ]| So bawling Huntingdon, and Kent the mute,
999:01,185[A  ]| With noise and nonsense fill up the dispute:
999:01,186[A  ]| And while the Club proclaims the lawless strife,
999:01,187[A  ]| One is the drum, and th' other is the fife.
999:01,188[A  ]| What shall we say of Falconbridge, Bridgewater?
999:01,189[A  ]| Or Cherbury, or dull Denbigh shall I flatter?
999:01,190[A  ]| Who in the synod drudge like galley slaves,   <190>
999:01,191[A  ]| And buy the stock, to make a gleek of knaves:
999:01,192[A  ]| Like beasts, insensible of wrong, they stray,
999:01,193[A  ]| And find a pound, quitting the king's highway.
999:01,194[A  ]| And last, behold in triumph to their follies,
999:01,195[A  ]| In Nol's own coach of state, comes loyal Hollis,
999:01,196[A  ]| Who sold the father by an old commission,
999:01,197[A  ]| And purchases the son with a petition.
999:01,198[A  ]| Now whether has the better on't: the Club,
999:01,199[A  ]| Or the five members did the royal job?
999:01,200[A  ]| This is the baker's dozen makes the Rump,   <200>
999:01,201[A  ]| And little Waller's leaven to the lump.
999:01,202[A  ]| When Bedford civilly had made his leg,
999:01,203[A  ]| The Club engendered, and brought forth an egg;
999:01,204[A  ]| Which, like Grand Cairo, for a quick despatch,
999:01,205[A  ]| Hot Monsieur Parliament must sit and hatch.
999:01,206[A  ]| Rowley began to puff, and shake his noddle,
999:01,207[A  ]| And told 'em in plain terms their brood was addle;
999:01,208[A  ]| That to a Rump he never more would give
999:01,209[A  ]| Away his birthright, or prerogative.
999:01,210[A  ]| Then, like a god which from his voice did leap,   <210>
999:01,211[A  ]| Dissolved that chaos and confused heap.
999:01,212[A  ]| Bravely he spake, and wisely he performed,
999:01,213[A  ]| While still the Club against the council stormed:
999:01,214[A  ]| Who, rather than from faction would be free,
999:01,215[A  ]| Or touch no more of the Forbidden Tree, 
999:01,216[A  ]| Would damn themselves, and their posterity.
999:01,200[A  ]| <extra lines in 1697 reprint:>
999:01,217[A  ]| <How vile a thing is Man! how sudden Fate>
999:01,218[A  ]| <Attends his frailty in the best estate!>
999:01,219[A  ]| <When armed with Innocence and Virtue, all>
999:01,220[A  ]| <That makes him blessed is subject then to fall.   220>
999:01,221[A  ]| <The great first bold offender oft I chid,>
999:01,222[A  ]| <When I my self agreed to what he did:>
999:01,223[A  ]| <Had I been there, perhaps I had done worse,>
999:01,224[A  ]| <And on my race entailed a double curse:>
999:01,225[A  ]| <Even I who all this while exclaimed at Vice,>
999:01,226[A  ]| <And made to Loyalty a sacrifice,>
999:01,227[A  ]| <May be deemed saucy, insolent and rude,>
999:01,228[A  ]| <And thought as guilty by the multitude.>
999:01,229[A  ]| <This balm I'll save against the deepest wounds,>
999:01,230[A  ]| <To keep my sharper pen within its bounds;   230>
999:01,231[A  ]| <And lest my soaring muse too meanly fall,>
999:01,232[A  ]| <Learn to write mannerly, or not at all.>