That neither might be set at large,

And all their fury and revenge outwitted.

As jewels of high value are

Kept under locks with greater care

Than those of meaner rates,

So he was in stone walls, and chains, and iron

grates.

IX.

Thither came ladies from all parts,

To offer up close prisoners their hearts,

Which he receiv'd as tribute due,

And made them yield up love and honour too
But in more brave heroic ways

Than e'er were practis'd yet in plays:

For those two spiteful foes, who never meet
But full of hot contests and piques

About punctilioes and mere tricks,

Did all their quarrels to his doom submit,
And, far more generous and free,

In contemplation only of him did agree:
Both fully satisfy'd; the one

With those fresh laurels he had won,

And all the brave renowned feats

He had perform'd in arms;

The other with his person and his charms:

For, just as larks are catch'd in nets

By gazing on a piece of glass,

So while the ladies view'd his brighter eyes,

And smoother polish'd face,

Their gentle hearts, alas! were taken by surprise

X.

Never did bold knight, to relieve

Distressed dames, such dreadful feats achieve

As feeble damsels, for his sake,

Would have been proud to undertake;
And, bravely ambitious to redeem

The world's loss and their own,

Strove who should have the honour to lay down

And change a life with him;

But, finding all their hopes in vain

To move his fixt determin'd fate,
Their life itself began to hate,
As if it were an infamy

To live when he was doom'd to die;
Made loud appeals and moans,

To less hard-hearted grates and stones;
Came, swell'd with sighs, and drown'd in tears,
To yield themselves his fellow-sufferers,
And follow'd him, like prisoners of war,

Chain'd to the lofty wheels of his triumphal car.

A BALLAD

UPON THE PARLIAMENT, WHICH DELIBERATED ABOUT MAKING OLIVER KING.*

As close as a goose

Sat the Parliament-house

To hatch the royal gull;

After much fiddle-faddle,

The egg proved addle,

And Oliver came forth Nol.

Yet old Queen Madge,

Though things do not fadge,

Will serve to be queen of a May-pole ;

Two princes of Wales,

For Whitsun-ales,

And her Grace Maid-Marion Clay-pole.

In a robe of cow-hide

Sat yesty Pride,

With his dagger and his sling;

*This Ballad refers to the Parliament, as it was called, which deliberated about making Oliver king, and petitioned him to accept the title; which he, out of fear of some republican zealots in his party, refused to accept, and contented himself with the power, under the name of 'Protector.'

He was the pertinent'st peer
Of all that were there,

T'advise with such a king.

A great philosopher

Had a goose for his lover,

That follow'd him day and night:

If it be a true story

Or but an allegory,

It may be both ways right.

Strickland and his son,

Both cast into one,

Were meant for a single baron;

But when they came to sit,

There was not wit

Enough in them both to serve for one.

Wherefore 'twas thought good

To add Honeywood;

But when they came to trial,

Each one prov❜d a fool,

Yet three knaves in the whole,

And that made up a Pair-royal.

A BALLAD,

IN TWO PARTS, CONJECTURED TO BE ON OLIVER CROMWELL.*

PART I.

DRAW near, good people all, draw near,

And hearken to my ditty;

A stranger thing

Than this I sing

Came never to this city.

*To this humorous ballad Butler had prefixed this title — 'The Privileges of Pimping' — but afterwards crossed it out, for which reason it is not inserted here.