10
LE LUTRIN
Canto i.
"But down it came, and for the better Grace,
"That Holy things might rest in Holy Place,
"We lodg'd it in the Vestry straight, and there
"'T has lyen despis'd in dust, these thirty year
"Fighting with Worms and Spiders, who therein
"Their curious Webbs do weave, and fine thred Spin;
"And thirty more might lie, for use of Preaching,
"Yet 'tis a Tool for this Rogues over-reaching.
"Now mark me Sir! no sooner shall the Night
"His sable Wings spread o're the vanquisht Light,
"But three out of our Number, without Ryot,
"Will Slip into the Church, while all is quiet,
"And under Covert of the darkness Strive
"Once more the Ruinous Pulpit's Mass Revive:
"And if next day the Chanter dares o'rethrow it,
"By twenty Actions thou shalt make him know it,
"What 'tis to rouze a sleeping Prelate! This
"The Proper Glory of a Prelate is,
"To Vindicate against Malignant People
"The Jus Divinum of his Ancient Steeple;
"To rescue from base Sacrilegious hands
"His Tithes, his Offerings, Perquisites, and Lands;
"This makes him Glorious to the present Age,
"This future Immortality Presage:
"What, wilt confine thy Glories to a Quire?
"To Preach and Pray did Heaven award thy Hire?
"Such Virtues might Adorn the dayes of Yore,
"When Prelates only Humble, Pious, Poor,
"Boasted in empty Epithetes; new Times
"Require new Manners, suited to our Crimes;
"Let Church-men now frequent the Barr and Plead,
"And Cook and Littleton, not Fathers read;
"The Law, the Law's thy work! then shall the Croud
"Pressing thy Throne, with Prayers implore aloud
"That Holy things might rest in Holy Place,
"We lodg'd it in the Vestry straight, and there
"'T has lyen despis'd in dust, these thirty year
"Fighting with Worms and Spiders, who therein
"Their curious Webbs do weave, and fine thred Spin;
"And thirty more might lie, for use of Preaching,
"Yet 'tis a Tool for this Rogues over-reaching.
"Now mark me Sir! no sooner shall the Night
"His sable Wings spread o're the vanquisht Light,
"But three out of our Number, without Ryot,
"Will Slip into the Church, while all is quiet,
"And under Covert of the darkness Strive
"Once more the Ruinous Pulpit's Mass Revive:
"And if next day the Chanter dares o'rethrow it,
"By twenty Actions thou shalt make him know it,
"What 'tis to rouze a sleeping Prelate! This
"The Proper Glory of a Prelate is,
"To Vindicate against Malignant People
"The Jus Divinum of his Ancient Steeple;
"To rescue from base Sacrilegious hands
"His Tithes, his Offerings, Perquisites, and Lands;
"This makes him Glorious to the present Age,
"This future Immortality Presage:
"What, wilt confine thy Glories to a Quire?
"To Preach and Pray did Heaven award thy Hire?
"Such Virtues might Adorn the dayes of Yore,
"When Prelates only Humble, Pious, Poor,
"Boasted in empty Epithetes; new Times
"Require new Manners, suited to our Crimes;
"Let Church-men now frequent the Barr and Plead,
"And Cook and Littleton, not Fathers read;
"The Law, the Law's thy work! then shall the Croud
"Pressing thy Throne, with Prayers implore aloud
Thy
