Farther Instructions to a Painter.

Painter, once more thy pencil reassume,
And draw me, in one scene, London and Rome:
Here holy Charles, there good Aurelius sat,
Weeping to see their sons degenerate;
His Romans taking up the teemer's trade,
The Britons jigging it in masquerade;
Whilst the brave youths, tired with the toil of state,
Their weary minds and limbs to recreate,
Do to their more beloved delights repair,
One to his whore, the other to his player.
Then change the scene, and let the next present
A landscape of our motley Parliament;
And place, hard by the bar, on the left hand,
Circean Clifford with his charming wand;
Our pig-eyed on his — fashion,
Set by the worst attorney of our nation,
This great triumvirate that can divide
The spoils of England; and along that side
Place Falstaff's regiment of threadbare coats,
All looking this way, how to give their votes;
And of his dear reward let none despair,
For money comes when Seymour leaves the chair.
Change once again, and let the next afford
The figure of a motley council-board
At Arlington's, and round about it set
Our mighty masters in a warm debate.
Full bowls of lusty wine make them repeat,
To make the other council-board forget
That while the King of France with powerful arms
Gives all his fearful neighbours strange alarms,
We in our glorious bacchanals dispose
The humbled fate of a plebeian nose;
Which to effect, when thus it was decreed,
Draw me a champion mounted on a steed;
And after him a brave brigade of horse,
Armed at all points, ready to re-enforce
Him, in's assault upon a single man.
'Tis this must make O'Bryan great in story,
And add more beams to Sandy's former glory.
Draw our Olympia next, in council set
With Cupid, S[eymou]r, and the tool of state:
Two of the first recanters of the house,
That aim at mountains, and bring forth a mouse;
Who make it, by their mean retreat, appear
Five members need not be demanded here.
These must assist her in her countermines,
To overthrow the Derby House designs;
Whilst Positive walks, like woodcock in the park,
Contriving projects with a brewer's clerk;
Thus all employ themselves, and, without pity,
Leave Temple singly to be beat in the city.