Responsive Tory Litany, against Geneva. 197 From his Black-Bills, and Pilgrims with Sticks in their hands, That came to make up a Religious Band, Then ravish our Wives and inhabit our Land; Libera nos, Domine! From the Mouth of the City,' that never gives o're Libera nos, Domine! 2 From the Cent per Cent Scrivener, and ev'ry State trick, Libera nos, Domine ! From the force and the fire of the insolent Rabble, Libera nos, Domine! From the Elder in New-street, that does goggle and cant, And at the same time plays Devil and Saint; 4 Libera nos, Domine ! From Jenkins's Homilies, drawn through the Nose; Libera nos, Domine ! From a Surfeit occasion'd by Protestant Feasts, Libera nos, Domine! From the Conscience of Cits, resembling their Dame, From the blind zeal of all Democratical Tools; Devised by Knaves, and Imposed by Fools ; Libera nos, Domine! From the late Times Reviv'd, when Religion was gain, Since practic'd by Searching Sir William again: Libera nos, Domine! 4 16 24 32 40 48 1 Sir T. Player. 2 Sir R. Clayton. 3 Bethel, p. 165. Wm. J., p. 231. 5 Waller. 198 Slingsby Bethel, the Ignoramus Whig Sheriff. From such Reformation where Zealots begun From Parliamentarians, that "out of their love From sawcy Petitions, that serve to inflame us, 56 From the Devil, the Doctor, and the Ришер IGNORAMUS : 64 London, Printed for the Use of all true Blue Brimighams, 1682. [White-letter. No woodcut or printer's name. Date, soon after May 4, 1682.] It may be well here to add a few words more regarding Slingsby Bethel, who is so often mentioned in our pages, and who seems to be especially marked out as the subject of the Iter Boreale of our p. 207. Slingsby Bethel and Henry Cornish, being the Sheriffs in Dec. 1680, when Wm. Viscount Stafford was condemned to death, remonstrated against a commutation of the hanging into beheading, and had to yield when told by the Lords that the cavil might cause a total remission of the capital punishment. This alone quieted them, so anxious were they to secure his death. Even at his last hour, when Stafford asked that the rabble might be silenced to allow him to die in peace, Slingsby Bethel answered brutally, "We have orders to stop no one's breath but your's!" (Lord Somers's Tracts, viii. 317, Note.) We find on p. 178 a reference to the decay of Trade in England. In connection with which, and as giving a favourable specimen of Slingsby Bethel's style of writing, one year later, when he was inclined to Trim between his Republican Independentism and Court policy, here are his opinions given at conclusion of his tract, The World's Mistake in Oliver Cromwell, 1668 (p. 20): : "I am wholly ignorant of any one action, in all his four years and nine months' time, done either wisely, virtuously or for the interest of this Kingdom, and therefore that I am none of his Admirers, I ought to be pardoned by my readers. Much more might be said upon this subject, but this may suffice to shew, that if [Cardinal] Mazarine (at the hearing of Oliver's death) thought he had then reason for calling him a Fortunate Fool, if he were now living he would find more cause for it: Cromwell's lot, as to Reputation, having been exceedingly much greater since his death than whilst he was in the world. And that from forgetfulness of his impolitick Government (from whose Entrance we may date the commencement of our Trade's decay). And, through want of memory, in men's giving to him the [report of being] the Cause of our former wealth and prosperity, which truly belongeth to others. But what opinion soever Mazarine may have had of Oliver, he was without all peradventure a person of more than ordinary wit, and no otherwise a Fool than as he wanted Honesty, no Man being wise but an Honest Man." Thus Slingsby Bethel ends it. Did he reck of his own rede in after-years? IN A New Ignoramus. "Lay by your pleading, Law lies a bleeding, Burn all your studies down, and throw away your reading; Not half so many privileges as the Sword has: It fosters Impostors, it plaisters disasters, And makes your servants quickly greater than their Masters ; And makes a 'Prentice free in spight of his Indentures." -Cavalier Song: The Power of the Sword. 1656. N the present Editor's Boston reprint of the 1670 Merry Drollery, p. 191, he gave the words of the rare and spirited song of "Love lies a Bleeding": ten verses, the first of which is this: Lay by your pleading, Love lies a bleeding, Burn all your Poetry, and throw away your Reading. Love is a reprobate, and Schism now is Sainted; It was not thus, I wis, when Betty rul'd in Britain : In 1681 the tune regained popularity, and was used anew for a Loyal Song, known (from the last word in its burden) as Ignoramus. It refers, of course, to the trick too often used by the Whig Sheriffs, who packed Juries with their own creatures, often unqualified by law to serve, and thus prepared the condemnation of any Tory who might be on his trial, while they secured the virtual acquittal of any Whig criminal by refusing to find a Billa Vera; throwing it out with "Ignoramus" written on the back. Thus John Rouse escaped punishment; and so would Stephen College also, had it not been that, some of his offences having been perpetrated at Oxford, he was removed thither, tried, condemned, and executed, after having obtained the Ignoramus of the London Grand Jury. Lord Shaftesbury's case was the most important of all thus decided. After some sharp practices, employed to defeat equal unjust straining of the law, "the whirligig of Time brought about its revenges." A Tory Lord-Mayor favoured the election of Tory Sheriffs. Tory Sheriffs followed the evil precedent set by their political foes, and, as they were expected, carefully packed the Jury-box with unhesitating partisans, who gave verdicts in accordance with their bias. A fresh song signalized the triumph, and this is "The New Ignoramus: being the Second New Song to the same old Tune of Law lies a Bleeding." Before giving it here, we revive the original Tory "Ignoramus" ditty of 1681. Against their Furies, there no such cure is They sham us, and flam us, and ram us, and uwvp us, And taught the multitude Rebellion was but reason. With Royal Blood again to glut the thirsty Leeches, They sham us, and flam us, and ram us, etc. 16 They shamed and blamed, at Loyalists aim'd, But when a Whig 's repriev'd the Town with Beacons flam'd. 24 This Ignoramus, with which they Sham us, Wou'd find against a York, to raise a Monmouth a'mus;, [=animus. Who clears a Traytor, and a King-hater, Against a lawful Prince wou'd find sufficient matter; They sought it, and wrought it, like Rebels they fought it, And with the price of Royal Martyr's Blood they bought it. At the Old Bailey, where Rogues flock daily, A greater Traytor far than Coleman, White, or Staley : But Tony he was set free; so the King was righted! "But 'gainst Tony there's no truth in Evidences !" They sham us, and flam us, Etcetera. 40 But wot you what, Sir! They found it not, Sir; 'Twas ev'ry Juror's case, and there lay all the Plot, Sir. For at this season, shou'd they do reason, Which of themselves wou'd 'scape, if they found it Treason? 'Las, what is Conscience, in Baxter's own sense? When Int'rest lies at stake, an Oath and Law is Nonsense! To find ["guilty"] a Royalist, and clear a Covenanter. They'l wrangle and brangle, the Soul entangle, To save the Traytor's Neck from the old Triangle. 8 Loyal Songs, to the tune of "Lay by your pleading." 201 Alas! for pity of this good City, What will the Tories say in their drunken Ditty? When all Abettors, and Monarch-haters, The Brethren, p,uwep their Souls to save Malicious Traytors. But mind it, long-winded, with prejudice blinded, Lest what you now reject, another Jury find it. Then sham us, and flam us, and ram us, and cram us, LONDON: Printed in the Year MDCLXXXI. 64 [White-letter. No cut or printer's name, but from Nathanael Thompson.] We have already commented on the subjects here incidentally mentioned, such as the "Brimighams," impostors, properly basecoin; the "Mobile or Rabble, hence called "Mob;" the "Good Old Cause" of a rebellious commonwealth. Also, in previous volume, IV., on Coleman with his letters to Père la Chaise; on White the Jesuit, and on William Staley (see pp. 132, 203). Richard Baxter is mentioned in line forty-ninth. He did not find a Saint's everlasting Rest, for his polemical tendencies embroiled him in pamphlet warfare, and he was yelled at and bullied from the Bench as "an old knave." One Loyal Song arranges its programme with "Let Baxter preach sedition." Shaftesbury (p. 230) bequeaths to him his venomed teeth, quite unnecessarily, since Richard was not fangless. Two other Loyal Songs to the same tune are of later date; one, "The Loyal Conquest; or, Destruction of Treason," belonging to the summer of 1683, after the Rye-House Plot was discovered: it begins, "Now loyal Tories may triumph in Glories:" seven verses. It was printed for J. Dean, Bookseller in Cranbourn Street, near Newport House. Another is after the beginning of August, 1684, and entitled, "The Newcastle Associators; or, the Trimmers' Loyalty." It begins, "Lay by your Reason, Truth's out of Season, Since Treason's Loyalty, and Loyalty is Treason." These will follow. But of earlier date, and extremely rare, is the second song of the series (the first being "Since Reformation with Whig 's in fashion"): "A New Ignoramus," beginning, "Since Popish Plotters join'd with Bog-Trotters." It is a Whiggish Answer to the Tory Song of "Ignoramus" which we have given on previous page. The aforesaid Bog-Trotters are the Irish "Evidences or professional suborned-witnesses, who had ensured the condemnation of Archbishop Plunket, and afterwards turned upon their employers, swearing against Shaftesbury. We gave a list of these "Knights of the Post," on p. 77, exclusive of Eustace Comyns. Let it here be added, that the libellers mentioned on p. 197, in line 34 of A Litany from Geneva, were duly considered on our pp. 181, 182, viz. Langley Curtis, "seditious Dick" Janeway, and Richard Baldwin. Elkanah Settle's Absalom Senior; or, Achitophel Transprosed, is alluded to in next line. Thus Dryden writes of Settle, "For to write verse with him is to transprose!" |