Page:The Works of Abraham Cowley - volume 1 (ed. Aikin) (1806).djvu/29

being no longer useful at Paris, was in 1656 sent back into England, that, "under pretence of privacy and retirement, he might take occasion of giving notice of the posture of things in this nation."

Soon after his return to London, he was seized by some messengers of the usurping powers, who were sent out in quest of another man; and, being examined, was put into confinement, from which he was not dismissed without the security of a thousand pounds given by Dr. Scarborough.

This year he published his poems, with a preface, in which he seems to have inserted some-

That boiling blood would carry thee too far,
O curst essay of arms, disastrous doom,
Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come;
Hard elements of unauspicious war,
Dryden.Vain vows to Heaven, and unavailing care.


Hoffman, in his Lexicon, gives a very satisfactory account of this practice of seeking fates in books; and says, that it was used by the Pagans, the Jewish Rabbins, and even the early Christians; the latter taking the New Testament for their oracle.