3,3^ Anne BradJireeVs Works.
I then believ'd not, now I feel and fee,
The plague of ftubborn incredulity/
Some loft their livings, fome in prifon pent.
Some fin'd, from houfe & friends to exile went.
Their Iilent tongues to heaven did vengeance cry, [197]
Who faw their wrongs, & hath judg'd righteoufly "
And will repay it feven-fold in my lap:
This is fore-runner of my Afterclap.
Nor took I warning by my neighbours falls,
I faw fad Ger7nanyes difmantled walls,
I faw her people famifh'd. Nobles flain.
Her fruitfull land, a barren Heath remain.
I faw unmov'd, her Armyes foil'd and fled.
Wives forced, babes tofs'd, her houfes calcined.
I faw ftrong Rochel y\^\^^di to her Foe,
Thoufands of ftarved Chriftians there alfo.
I faw poor Ireland bleeding out her laft.
Such crueltyes '" as all reports have paft;*
Mine heart obdurate ftood not yet agaft.
s Instead of this and the preceding line, the first edition has, — Thefe Prophets mouthes (alas the while) was ftopt. Unworthily, fome backs whipt, and eares cropt; Their reverent cheeks did beare the glorious markes Of ftinking, ftigmatizing, Romilh Clerkes;
referring probably to the persecutions of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton.
Prynne himself says of the letters " S. L." branded on his cheeks, —
"Bearing Lavd's Stamps on my cheeks, I retire, Triumphing, God's sweet Sacrifice, by Fire."
t Some groffely fin'd, from.
« Who heard their caufe, and wrongs judg'd righteoufly, ■V yielding. -^ cruelty. * See page 164 and note.
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