A LITANY FOR THE FAST.
FROM Merit unweildy, and overgrown Worth;
From such Honours and Loyalty, Faith and so forth,
As three Princes betray'd, and now bullies the Fourth,
Libera nos, Domine.
From Duty that is such a Rarity thought,
That while Honour and Conscience, not worth a Groat,
This at the Price of a House and Crown-Lands must be bought,
Libera Nos, &c.
From who keeps the Vacant Commissions six Months
Of Colonels and Captains, Premiers and Seconds;
And oh! Terrible thus is an Army at once,
Libera Nos, &c.
From a Peace to be manag'd by such Plenipoes
As thereby Forty Thousand
per annum must lose,
And who has no Passion for Money, God knows,
Libera Nos, &c.
From the Cause of a Court, and the Spawn of a Bawd,
From Malice and Faction, Pride Envy and Fraud;
From a Cloven-Foot veil'd with a Petticoat Lord,
Libera Nos, &c.
From the Pest of a State, a Club-ridden Knave,
VVho a Nation does with their own money enslave,
And has damn'd more than Thou in thy Justice can save,
Libera Nos, &c.
From Tremendous Cabals that do Fatally rise,
From an Elightning Custard and Hot
Mutton-Pycs,
To bubble the
State, and bully the
Skies,
Libera Nos, &c.
From such Civil Law as insults Holy VVrit,
From the Number where Faction contracted does sit
Into Five; that's Two Fools, Two Knaves and a VVit,
Libera Nos, &c.
From a People too good to be told of their Faults,
From an Head of a City, whose
Word goes for nought,
VVho'll endeavour to save
St. Paul's-work, 'tis thought,
Libera Nos, &c.