The Dream.
WEary'd with Business, and with Cares opprest,
My Faculties were Doz'd and fond of rest,
An unusual heaviness did on me creep,
My Soul Indulg'd it: yet I could not sleep,
Dreams short and frightful vext me all the Night,
I found I was betray'd and long'd for Light;
The first such Wonders brought within my view,
And when I wak'd I almost thought 'em true:
Me thought I saw great Julius sadly lie
Bleeding from all his Wounds, and Brutus by,
The ungrateful Brutus which he dot'd on,
With Meager Cassius pleas'd with what he had done
Crying the World and Brutus are my own;
I nearer drew to view the Gastly Trunk,
But oh! the Scene was chang'd, Caesar was sunk,
'Twas Charles the Second, which lay mangl'd there,
The Sacrificing-Tribe too did appear,
Brutus and Cassius, Y—k and Petre were;
Charles Weeping grasp'd his Brother by the hand:
I heard him sighing say, within my Land
A faithful Pious Mother thou wilt command,
Who in the utmost of Extremity,
When all but her and much Ubraided, I
Wou'd from the Crown have quite Excluded thee,
[Page 2] Preach'd up thy forfeit Title by our Laws,
And in thy Banishment maintain thy Cause,
Passive Obedience thee hast much in store,
But do not Urge it to thy utmost Power:
James to preserve Her most devoutly Swore;
Charles Dy,d, and James discharg'd his Oath next hour,
I saw the Priests flock in: the Bishops out,
Saw Peters cram the Wafers down his Throat
Tho' Dead it sav'd the Heretick no doubt,
I saw him poorly Bury'd in the Night,
A wretched Train, and a more wretched Sight,
To me it seem'd a Funeral in Disguise,
For fear his Creditors shou [...]d his Body Seize,
I saw him shewn for two pence in a Chest,
Like Monk. Old Harry, Mary and the rest,
And if the Figure answer'd it's intent,
In Ten years time 'twould buy a Monument:
My Fancy brought me back again to Court
Where only Fools Advise, and Knaves Resort,
Our Kingdoms Curse and other Nations Sport:
I heard the Jesuits in a grand Cabal
Resolve to Root out Heresie or fall,
Each his particular Opinion gave,
They cry'd an oppertunity we have
To Fetter Her who kept us long Her Slave;
Immediately they pitch'd upon a Rule,
How to suppress it by a forward Fool,
A Bawling blund'ring senseless Tool,
Whose Mouthing at White-Chappel first began,
Who regularly to his Greatness ran
Thro' all the vile degrees of Treachery,
And now Usurps the Court of Equity?
He said, if you wou'd bring the Clergy down,
Erect a Court-Commission from the Crown,
[Page 3] And for Dispencing Law let me alone,
They hug'd their Buble, and the Deed was done;
Petre grew Fat, and with Mandamus's
Cancker'd the Worthy Ʋniversities,
The Seats of Learning Black-heads might command,
Yet the Kings Promise to the Church doth stand;
Next Liberty of Conscience was Ordain'd;
The Bishops for Contempt were then Arraign'd;
The Nobles and the Commons Closetted,
The Penal-Laws must be Abolished,
If you refuse, your Principles are base,
Disloyal, and you lose our Royal Grace,
And each that has Dependancies his place;
Rochester fell, the Loyal Herbert starv'd,
Each that forsook his God his Monarch serv'd,
Somerset lost his Troops, and Shrowsbury,
Oxford was strip'd to Scarsdal Lumbley,
And many more too tedious to relate,
By whom in safety James thou now dost sit,
When thou perceiv'dst no Comfort from this Wild,
Thy Dame immediately was quick with Child,
The Princess at the Bath when it was Born,
The Bishops in the Tower, yet had he Sworn
The Church of England never should be wrong'd,
Upon this News the Hot-brain'd Papists Throng'd;
I Wak'd, and as I on my Dream Reflected,
My reasonable Notions thus projected,
O King, I cry'd, thy Measures run too fast,
And thou wilt find the Curse of it at last,
Why dost thou wrong thy Country, shame thy Life:
To please false Priests, and an ungrateful Wife,
A Wife whose Character has always been▪
A Fawning Dutchess, and a Sawcy Queen:
How canst thou suffer Petre's Insolence,
Who only makes a harvest of his Prince,
[Page 4] A Slave to Rule Three Kingdoms Govern thee,
Yet ne're was Master of a Family;
This Serpent envying thy Happiness,
Has crept into thy Eve whose willfulness
Has certainly betray'd thy Paradise,
Descerning Hallifax thy fall fore saw.
And early did his slighted Faith withdraw,
He needs no pardon for the advice he gave,
Which shews him Honester than some that have,
Under the Rose Men use their mind to tell;
But now Myne-Heir 'tis under the broad Seal;
O Nassaw with thy promis'd Succours come,
And be to us like Anthony to Rome,
Thy Wife shall young Octavia's place supply,
And those that have betray'd our Country fly,
Unless the King to prove the Prince his own,
Shall to the Lyons-Den present his Son,
And if the Royal Brute do not destroy,
The Infant by Christ 'tis his none Joy.
FINIS,