An Elegy on the Lord Viscount Stafford beheaded this 29th day of December, 1680, on Tower-Hill.

An Elegy on the Lord Viscount Stafford beheaded this 29th day of December, 1680, on Tower-Hill.

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AN ELEGY ON THE Lord Viscount STAFFORD, BEHEADED this 29th. Day of December, 1680. ON TOWER-HILL.

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AN ELEGY ON THE Lord Viscount STAFFORD, BEHEADED this 29th. Day of December, 1680. ON TOWER-HILL.

A piller of the fatal Building's down,

Which Sampson Death at last has overthrown;

And now the whole fatal pyle begins to shake,

And the Phylistian-Lords stout Hearts to ake:

Dagon's great House, their fell Conspiracy

To totter and to shake they now do see;

And every Plotter, Truth and Justice dreads,

Now Ruine's tumbling on their Impious Heads.

Long with vain Hopes, they did themselves support,

And with the Gyant Death, they made but sport;

Their dear delightful plot they still did mind,

And thought both Death, and Justice still were blind;

Yes, they are blind, for they impartial are,

They see not Bribes, and no Man will they spare:

No more regard the Greatest than the Least,

Cut down the Guilty Lord, as well as Priest,

Thus Stafford sell, a piller of the plot,

Whose Name must now as in a Dunghill rot,

And blotted be with Infamy and Shame,

Once in the English Anuals of great Fame,

Joyn'd with the title of Great Buckingham.

Tho' great he was in Glory, and in pride.

He lost his Head, and on a Scaffold dy'd;

Stafford of Southwick too, no better sped,

Who at Bridgwater also lost his Head.

But something may be said in their Applause,

For both of them dy'd in a better Cause:

The First, by th' bloody Tyrant Richard fell,

The last, by th' Hands of such who did Rebell:

But our Staffoed, 'gainst whom Justice crys,

For Treason 'gainst his King, and Country dyes.

Sad is the Exit, I confess for Him

Whose Birth, and Greatness do enhaunce his crime:

When He, whose Honour, Peerage, and Renown,

Should be Supporters to uphold the Crown.

Forgetting Honour, Oaths, Obliegements too,

With traiterous Heart, Rebellion did pursue.

O! could Religion to such Crimes perswade!

And all the Rights of Honour, thus invade!

What frantick Spell on Conscience could intrude?

What Words of Priests, could Honour thus delude?

Twas Hell it self, that blinded thus their eyes,

With Sorceries, in Jesuits disguise,

Who did perswade it was a Glorious thing,

To cut the Throat of an Heretick King.

O let it be into Oblivion Hurl'd,

And Banish'd ever from the Christian World;

Let that damn'd Doctrine down to Hell descend,

With every one that dares it to defend.

O! poor deluded Stafford, that was brought

By jugling Priests, to have so damn'd a thought;

Who thought by Horrid Crimes to gain Applause,

Advanceing what he judg'd a Glorious Cause;

For which he durst commit so strange a sin,

To Kill his King, to bring's Religion in.

But God who Kings infoldeth in his Arms,

Kept ours safe from all their Spells and Charms,

And may his Eyes be open now to see

The horrid depth of all their Treachery:

For Stafford now himself could do no less,

Than th' horrid Plot (so long deny'd) Confess;

So plain his Guilt did to his Peers appear,

That fill'd him with Confusion, Shame, and Fear;

That he could not like a bold Jesuit dye,

Nor with their Impudence the Truth deny,

And leave the VVorld with a notorious Lye.

If pitty could be unto Traytors due,

The VVorld would give it to your Age and You.

But Justice for Example must be done,

And Law like living streams, its course must run,

For where 'tis stop'd, it swells beyond its bounds,

And Kingdoms soon with its undation drowns.

We hope that Stafford may his Crimes repent,

And tho' not Here, else where be Innocent:

When all his Earthly Crimes are purg'd away,

And he has better learn'd how to obey.

We'l leave his Soul to God, but may he be

Set for Example of foul Treachery:

That Traytors by him, their Reward may Read,

Who still for Murther, and for Treason Bleed.

FINIS.

§

§

LONDON, Printed for T. Benskin, in Green's Rents, near Fleet-Bridge.

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Title statement

An Elegy on the Lord Viscount Stafford beheaded this 29th day of December, 1680, on Tower-Hill.

Edition statement

1680

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A39145

ID [STC]

Wing E421

ID [STC]

ESTC R36138

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

15609949

ID [OCLC]

ocm 15609949

ID [VID]

104109

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Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A39145)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 104109)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1591:25)

Source

— An Elegy on the Lord Viscount Stafford beheaded this 29th day of December, 1680, on Tower-Hill.,

Extent

1 broadside.

Printed for T. Benskin ...,. London :: [1680]. (In verse.) (Date of publication suggested by Wing.) (Reproduction of original in the Harvard University Library.)

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