Verses to be Placed under the Picture of England's Arch-Poet (Sir Richard Blackmore)

See who ne'er was or will be half read:
Who first sung Arthur then sung Alfred;
Praised great Eliza in God's anger,
Till all true Englishmen cried 'Hang her!'
Made William's virtue wipe the bare a —
And hang'd up Marlborough in arras;
Then hiss'd from earth grew heav'nly quite;
Made ev'ry reader curse the light;
Maul'd human wit in one thick satire,
Next in three books, sunk human nature;
Undid creation at a jerk,
And of redemption made damn'd work.
Then took his muse at once and dipt her
Full in the middle of the Scripture.
What wonders there the man grown old, did!
Sternhold himself he out-Sternholded,
Made David seem so mad and freakish,
All thought him just what thought king Achiz,
No mortal read his Solomon,
But judged Re'boam his own son.
Moses he served as Moses Pharaoh,
And Deborah, as she Sise-rah:
Made Jeremy full sore to cry,
And Job himself curse God and die.
What punishment all this must follow
Shall Arthur use him like king Tollo?
Shall David as Uriah slay him?
Or dex'trous Deb'rah Sisera-him?
Or shall Eliza lay a plot,
To treat him like her sister Scot?
Shall William dub his better end
Or Marlborough serve him like a friend?
No! — none of these! — Heav'n spare his life!
But send him, honest Job, thy wife!