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Help us to fave free confcience from the paw

Of hireling wolves, whofe gospel is their maw.

XVII.

*To Sir HENRY VANE the younger.

Vane, young in years, but in fage counsel old,
Than whom a better fenator ne'er held

The helm of Rome, when gowns not arms repell'd

The fierce Epirot and the African bold,

No lefs renown'd than war:] In the printed copies it is

peace

has her victories

No less than thofe of war:

Whether

I. but in fage counsel old, This is much better than the print ed copies

in fage councils old,

7. Then to advife &c] In the

and afterwards in fecular chains for Manufcript there was at first And with fecular chains.

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inftead of Then: but afterwards it was corrected as it ftands in the printed copies. But in the remainder of these two verfes, as they ftand in the printed copies, the meter is fpoil'd in one, and the fenfe in the other."

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Then to advise how war may be best upheld,

Mann'd by her two main nerves, iron and gold.

Move by was at firft in the Manufcript Move on her two main c. 9.- befides

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Whether to settle peace, or to unfold
The drift of hollow ftates hard to be spell'd,
Then to advise how war may best upheld
Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold,
n all her equipage: befides to know

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Both spiritual pow'r and civil, what each means, What fevers each, thou haft learn'd, which few have done:

The bounds of either fword to thee we owe:
Therefore on thy firm hand religion leans
In peace, and reckons thee her eldest fon.

9. befides to know &c] In the printed editions this third ftanza wants one whole line, and gives us another line fo much corrupted as to be utter nonsense:

befides to know What ferves each, thou haft learn'd,

which few have done.

The Manufcript fupplies the one, and corrects the other. In the Manufcript it was originally thus,

befides to know What pow'r the Church, and what the Civil means,

Thou teacheft beft, which few have ever done.

Afterwards thus

befides to know

On

Both fpiritual pow'r and civil, what each means

Thou haft learn'd well, a praise which few have won.

At laft it was corrected, as we have caused it to be printed.

13. Therefore on thy firm hand better in the Manuscript than in &c] Thefe two lines are infinitely the printed editions;

Therefore on thy right hand religion leans,

And reckons thee in chief her eldest fon.

It was at firft in the Manuscript right hand, but alter'd to firm hand.

Among

XVIII.

*On the late maffacre in Piemont.

Avenge, O Lord, thy flaughter'd faints, whofe bones

Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold;

of old,

Ev'n them who kept thy truth fo pure When all our fathers worshipt stocks and ftones, Forget not: in thy book record their groans

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Among our author's ftate-let" they apply'd themselves to your ters there are feveral in Cromwell's "Royal Highness in a moft fupname addrefs'd to the Duke of "pliant manner, imploring a reSavoy, and other potentates and "vocation of the said edict, and ftates, complaining of this perfe- " that being receiv'd into priftin cution of the proteftants. His let-"favor, they might be restored to ter to the Duke of Savoy begins "the liberty granted them by your thus. "Redditæ funt nobis Ge- " predeceffors, a part of your army "nevâ &c. Letters have been "fell upon them, most cruelly flew fent us from Geneva, as alfo "feveral, put others in chains, and from the Dauphinate, and many compell'd the reft to fly into "other places bordering upon "defert places and to the moun"tains cover'd with fnow, where "your territories, wherein we are "fome hundreds of families are "given to understand, that fuch "reduced to fuch diftrefs, that it " is greatly to be feared, they will "in a fhort time all miferably pe"rish, thro' cold and hunger, &c." These letters are dated in May 1655, and about the fame time it is probable this fonnet was compos'd, which was added in the edition of 1673.

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of your Royal Highness's fubjects as profefs the reform'd re"ligion, are commanded by your edict and by your authority, within three days after the promulgation of your edict, to depart their native feats and habi"tations, upon pain of capital pu"nishment, and forfeiture of all "their fortunes and eftates, unless "they will give fecurity to relin

quith their religion within 20 * days, and embrace the Roman catholic faith. And that when

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Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold Slain by the bloody Piemontese that roll'd Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans he vales redoubled to the hills, and they i 9 To Heav'n. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow O'er all th' Italian fields, where ftill doth fway The triple Tyrant; that from these may grow

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3. Ev'n them who kept thy truth

imfelf in their favor, and his be- "merly enjoy'd. So great was aviour in this whole tranfaction is "the terror of his name; nothing greatly to his honor, even as it is "being more ufual than his fayelated by an hiftorian, who was ing, that his fhips in the Mediterjar from being partial to his me. ranean fhould vifit Civita Vecchia, nory. "Nor would the Protector" and the found of his cannon fhould be backward in fuch a work," be heard in Rome." See Echard * which might give the world a Vol. 2. particular opinion of his piety and zeal for the proteftant religion; but he proclam'd a folemn fast, and caufed large contributions to be gather'd for them "throughout the kingdom of Eng"land and Wales. Nor did he "reft here, but sent his agents to "the Duke of Savoy, a prince "with whom he had no correfpondence or commerce, and "the next year fo engag'd the "Cardinal of France, and even terrify'd the Pope himself, with"out fo much as doing any favor "to the English Roman catholics, "that that Duke thought it necef"fary to restore all that he had ta"ken from them, and renew'd all "those privileges they had forVp L. II.

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fo pure of old, &c] And fo in his letter to the States of the United Provinces he calls them Alpinos incolas orthodoxam religionem antiquitus profitentes, the inhabitants at the feet of the Alps, ancient profeffors of the orthodox faith; and afterwards in the fame letter, opud quos noftra religio vel ab ipfis Evangelii primis doctoribus tradita per manus incorrupte fervata, vil multo ante quam apud cateras gentes finciritati priftinæ reftituta eft, among whom our religion was either diff minated by the firft doctors of the Gofpel, and preferv'd from the defilement of fuperftition, or else reftor'd to its priftin fincerity long

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before

A hundred fold, who having learn'd thy way
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

XIX.

On his blindness.

When I confider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodg'd with me useless, though my foul more bent
To ferve therewith my Maker, and prefent

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My true account, left he returning chide; Doth God exact day-labor, light deny'd, I fondly afk: But patience to prevent That murmur, foon replies, God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts; who beft 10 Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best: his state Is kingly; thoufands at his bidding speed,

before other nations obtain'd that felicity.

14. the Babylonian woe.] The woes denounced against Rome, under the name of Babylon, in Scripture.

3. And that one talent which is death to hide,] He fpeaks here with allufion to the parable of the

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talents, Mat. XXV. and he speaks with great modefty of himself, as if he had not five, or two, but only one talent.

*This Mr. Lawrence was the fon of the Prefident of Cromwell's council: and this fonnet was also in the edition of 1673.

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