Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/420

282 THE POEMS OP ANNE �And would have urg'd it, loudly to the croud, That his proceedings were tyrannical. �Riv. Yes, to have bred their sport 230 �When Captain puff, had stopt your tongue, And haled ye to confinement. No, no, revenge shall take a surer course, And when my thunder darts, with full comission, It shall not leave, to this aspiring Cedar, One lofty branch, to kisse the passe [sic] clouds, Or tell the world that once itt rul'd the grove. �Vil. If 'tis his life you mean, when thus you threat'n, Th' attempting that, perhaps may cost our own. �Riv. It might indeed. 240 �Think therefore, how t' would please ye, to destroy What more then life, he euer has esteem'd, And yett be safe, to see, and to rejoyce in 't. �Lin. How itt wou'd please, is sure, not to be told; But he's so fenc'd about with fame, and freinds, With fortune, and the fawning of the world, That, to my eye, no part appears unguarded, Where we may fix a wound that wou'd be fatal. �Riv. To shew you that, must be my part, my freinds, But this is not a time, or place for secrets. 250 �Only thus much, think how 'twill feed revenge, To see this Saint, this praying fighting Saint, This child of Fame, this cloud of holy Incence, Expos'd a profligate, and secret sinner, And like an orespent taper, stink, and vanish. �Lin. Oh! 'twill be rare, but tell me, is he thus? For though I wish itt, I can scarce beleive itt. �Riv. You shall beleive, and both be actors in itt, For shou'd I undertake the task alone, �It might appeare, season' d with too much malice, 260 �For, since he from the Treasury, thrust me out, ��� �