A SONG UPON INFORMATION.
To the Tune of,
Conventiclers are grown so Brief.
I.
INforming of late's a Notable Trade;
For he that his Neighbor intends to invade,
May pack
him to
Tyburn (no more's to be said)
Such Power hath
Information:
Be Good, & be Just, & Fight for your
King,
Or stand for your Country's Honour;
You'r sure, by precise
Information, to swing;
Such Spells she hath got upon Her.
II.
To
Six Hundred and Sixty, from
Forty One,
She left not a Bishop, nor Clergy - Man;
But compell'd both Church and State to run,
By the Strength of the
Non-Conformist:
The
Dean and
Chapter, Scepter and
Crown,
(The
Lords and
Commons snarling)
By blest
Information, came tumbling down;
Fair Fruits of an over-long Parling.
III.
'Twas This that summon'd the Bodkins all,
The Thimbles, and Spoons, to the
City - Hall;
When St.
Hugh to the
Babes of Grace did call,
To prop up the Cause that was sinking:
This made the
Coblar take the Sword,
The
Pedlar, and the
Weaver,
By the Power of the
Spirit, and not by the
Word,
Made the
Tinker wear Cloak and Beaver.
IV.
'Tis
Information from
Valle-do-Leed,
Makes
Jesaits, Fryars, and
Monks to Bleed,
Decapitates
Lords, and what not indeed,
Doth such Damnable
Information.
It Cities Burns, and sticks not to boast,
Without any Mincing or Scruple;
Of Forty Thousand Black Bills by the Post,
Brought in with the
Devil's Pupil.
V.
This Imp with her Jealousies and Fears,
Puts all Men together by the Ears,
Strikes at Religion, and Kingdoms tears,
By Voting against the Brother.
This makes
Abhorrers, makes
Lords Protest,
They know not why, nor wherefore:
This strikes at Succesūon, but aims at the Rest;
Pray look about you therefore.
VI.
This raiseth Armies in the Air,
Imagining more than you need have to fear;
Keeps Horse under Ground, and Arms to tear
The Cities and Towns in sunder.
'Tis this made the
Knight to
Newark run,
With his
Fidus Acates behind him;
Who brought for the Father, one more like the Son,
The
Devil and
Zeal did so blind him.
VII.
It Whips, it Strips, it Hangs, and Draws,
It Pillories also without any Cause,
By Falsly
Informing the Judges and Laws,
With a Trick from
Salamanca:
This Hurly-Burly's all the Town,
Makes
Smith and
Harris prattle;
Who spare neither Cassock, Cloak, nor▪ Gown,
In their Paltry Tittle Tattle.
VIII.
'Tis
Information Affrights us all;
By
Information, we Rise and Fall;
Without
Information, there's no Plot at all:
And all is but
Information.
That
Pickering stood in the
Park with a Gun,
And
Godfrey, by
Berry, was Strangled;
'Twas from
Information such Stories begun,
Which the Nation so much have Entangled.
FINIS.
LONDON, Printed for M. R. in the YEAR, 1681.