Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

The Rackett
~ or ~
A Glass for their Satyr.
The Prologue Spoke by
Virginia

     Wo! to y^e Direfull Day
Our Mournfull Land of late was heard to say
     When first rebellious men
Against Good Barklett drew their Angry pen
     And cruel Swoard unsheath'd
And nought but Blood & Desolation breath'd

     No wars had I till then
But with ye slow pac'd [Matchcole] Indian
     In Peace and Wealth each one
Enjoy'd his ease in his Pavilion

     Bliss did on Blessing [shove]
All Good things common, in y^t mutual Love
     Whitehall ne'er heard of me
But by complaints from other shores, did see
     And did me happie call,
And in my silence heard me blest of all

     But since y^t woeful wight
(I lothe his name) by crawling vermin dy'd
     With his foull brood Enthraul'd
And in his Growing Blood by furys haul'd
     (His Evill Blood entail'd
And damn'd, & in too many now bewail'd)

     And into [factions] tore
What 'erst I was, I'm happie now no more
     Lampoon & Satyr now
Those Cuckled birds of night do me pursue ^{My Ld B[illegible] in his Essays}
     And haunt my troubled shores.
Much y^e Sagacious States man this deplores
     And with much Griefe [repeats]
As y^e sad Lackeys of dissolving states.

1

     Begon you Lampoon
     And Saytr the frown
Of weaklings & malecontented
     We boldy may Laugh
     Sing, challenge & scoff
Their [Malice] y^t vainly did vent it.

2

     Three Scotts, one a Fox,
     One French with a Pox
Did swear down on English Dominion
     One born in y^e Lann
     With an English man
Of Foxes own [Hue] & opinion.

3

     To help them in Evill
     There wanted no Devill
But B. for a pretty Invention
     He should like y^e Jew
     For a factious Crew
Whose envy might serve for their Pension.

4

     His Enigmatick Oath
     And Reservative both
Were such as their wonder did [scan] on
     How y^e youth were Employ'd
     In their Barring out [illegible]
How two were full forty [illegible]ys canon

5

     So they cringe to [him bair]
     And in swearing compare
Themselves but y^e Stream, him y^e Fountain
     While his Oath by Obreption
     Of cheated Conception
Swells Molehill up vast to a Mountain

6

     So did y^e French Priest
     And the [Presbyter] Theist
His Bigamy Captain Sea monster
     But who cou'd have spy'd
     That y^e priest wou'd have ly'd
While the Atheist cry'd shame out upont [illegible].

7

     So Pollux y^e Rooke
     And Castor y^t tooke
their measures from troublesome [Jemmey]
     Yet gallantly brave it
     Their hue Affidavit
They never were faithfull to any.

8

     But first came ye Plaint
     I'll dictate, worse meant
To [Vulpene] by [petticole] ne-swell
     From two never good
     Two ever [purse] proud
And one y^e Disgrace of y^e Council

9

     So formally Grave
     And Bigg they behave
Their mein is more wise than their foreheads
     That when they began
     To write & complain
Their wits bid their Hon^r yett more heads.

10

     Yet like to y^t Thief
     Of Bacon & Bief
With his Grandure in Taphole to Jilt her
     If we mind not our hits 'oer
     They'll steal on our witts for
Kind stork, a rapacious Vultur.

11

     Or as he y^t did yeild
     To kid his own child
Into hell, they'd us all to Rebellion.
     Which ever begins
     By resisting of Kings
Through y^e screen of a [trusty Parelion]

12

     Embroiling the State
     In factions & heat
The Church too by Deprivation
     To win y^e small people
     And ride on y^e steeple
Of every high knaves approbation.

13

     Checkmating his Maker
     By palming kidnaper
On Councill, on Colledg the other
     Giveing Clergy to Death
     For on Councellours breath
And courting the Horns for another

14

     Such Partys & [Pars]
     And stomachfull wars
Virginia of late have shaken
     That farewell all peace,
     We might swear & good case,
In B. is so many a Bacon.

15

     Then London if wise,
     Beware & advise
Look Westminster well to his Clergie
     Wherever he steers
     He sets all by the ears
And all in a rage will engage y^e .

16

     But our Governour hy'd
     Long since, hath defy'd
Both such, & their [tricks] hath decided
     With Punishm^t Due
     To a Pestilent Crew
Nor 'ere was he better provided.

The
Epilogue

     This Glass for your Satyr
     Be-poyson'd with Water,
I've pledged in moderate clarret:
     Another in place
     I have for his face
Will shew him y^e shapes of a [Blarite]

     That as by delight in
     Tarantula's biting
The Brain sick, by Musick are cured;
     Our madmen y^t dance
     With delight in ill chance
May recruit by this role, if they use it.

     God. prosper our Queen,
     Prolonging her Reign
With Danube on Danube repeated
     May Virginy recover
     Her Peace no more ever
By Growling sedition o're heated.