Who, after
this, can ever say of the 'Rehearsal' author, that his picture of our
poet was overcharged, or the national humour wrong described?"
[9] See vol. ix.
[10] See some extracts from this piece, vol. ix.
[11]
"How well this Hebrew name with sense doth sound,
_A fool's my brother_,[11a] though in wit profound!
Most wicked wits are the devil's chiefest tools,
Which, ever in the issue, God befools.
Can they compare, vile varlet, once hold true,
Of the loyal lord, and this disloyal Jew?
Was e'er our English earl under disgrace,
And, unconscionable; put out of place?
Hath he laid lurking in his country-house
To plot rebellions, as one factious?
Thy bog-trot bloodhounds hunted have this stag,
Yet cannot fasten their foul fangs,--they flag.
Why didst not _thou_ bring in thy evidence
With them, to rectify the brave jury's sense,
And so prevent the _ignoramus_?--nay,
Thou wast cock-sure he wou'd he damned for aye,
Without thy presence;--thou wast then employed
To brand him 'gainst he came to be destroyed:
Forehand preparing for the hangman's axe,
Had not the witnesses been found so lax."
[11a] _Achi_, my brother, and _tophel_, a fool.--_Orig. Note_.
[12] Vol. ix.
[13] He was the son of Dr. John Pordage, minister of Bradfield expelled
his charge for insufficiency in the year 1646. Among other charges
against him were the following, which, extraordinary as they are, he
does not seem to have denied:
"That he hath very frequent and familiar converse with angels.
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