64
SATYR.
Advance Men in the Church and State
For being of the meanest Rate,
Rais'd for their double-guil'd deserts,
140 Before Integrity and Parts;[1]
Produce more grievious Complaints
For Plenty, than before for Wants,
And make a rich and fruitful Year
A greater Grievance, than a dear;
145 Make Jests of greater Dangers far,
Than those they trembl'd at in War;
Till, unawares, they've laid a Train
To blow the Publick up again;
Rally with Horror, and in Sport
150 Rebellion and Destruction court,
And make Fanatics, in Despight
Of all their Madness, reason right,[2]
And vouch to all they have foreshown,
As other Monsters oft have done.
For being of the meanest Rate,
Rais'd for their double-guil'd deserts,
140 Before Integrity and Parts;[1]
Produce more grievious Complaints
For Plenty, than before for Wants,
And make a rich and fruitful Year
A greater Grievance, than a dear;
145 Make Jests of greater Dangers far,
Than those they trembl'd at in War;
Till, unawares, they've laid a Train
To blow the Publick up again;
Rally with Horror, and in Sport
150 Rebellion and Destruction court,
And make Fanatics, in Despight
Of all their Madness, reason right,[2]
And vouch to all they have foreshown,
As other Monsters oft have done.
- ↑ 139. Rais'd for their double-guil'd Deserts—Before Integrity and Parts.] Alluding, I suppose, to that narrow-spirited Policy so commonly imputed to Charles II. of courting his Enemies, instead of rewarding his Friends. And perhaps the Poet might think himself included in the Injustice, which he censures. The Pun upon double guil'd for double-gilt is rather low, but is one of those Excrescencies, which naturally grow out of Genius's of Butler's Cast.
- ↑ 151, 152. And make Fanatics, in despight—Of all their Madness, reason right.] The Writings and Preachments of the Enthusiasts and Fanatics of this, and indeed of all Ages, are full of Denunciations of particular Judgments, which the Poet wittily observes, though vented at Random, might be seriously verified, without a Reformation of Manners.
