XXIV.

Lust in strange nests this cuckoo egg conceiv'd;
Which nurs'd with surfeits, dress'd with fond disguises,
In fancy's school his breeding first receiv'd:

So this brave spark to wilder flame arises;

And now to court preferr'd, high bloods he fires, There blows up pride, vain mirth, and loose desires ;` And heav'nly souls (oh grief!) with hellish flame inspires, XXV.

There oft to rivals lends the gentle Dor *,

Oft take (his mistress by) the bitter bob† :

There learns her each day's change of Gules, Verd, Or,
(His sampler); if she pouts, her slave must sob:
Her face his sphere, her hair his circling sky;
Her love his Heav'n, her sight eternity:

Of her he dreams, with her he lives, for her he'll die.
XXVI.

Upon his arm a tinsel scarf he wore,

Forsooth his madam's favour, spangled fair:

Light as himself, a fan his helmet bore,

With ribbons dress'd, begg'd from his mistress' hair : On's shield a winged boy all naked shin'd;

His folded eyes, willing and wilful blind :

The word was wrought with gold,' Such is a lover's mind.' XXVII.

These four, Anagnus and foul Caro's sons,

Who led a diff'rent and disorder'd rout;

Fancy, a lad that all in feathers ‡ wons,

And loose Desire, and Danger link'd with Doubt;
And thousand wanton thoughts still budding new:
But lazy Ease usher'd the idle crew;

And lame Disease shuts up their troops with torments due.

* A term used for leave to sleep awhile.

+ A taunt

‡ i. e. Dwells.

XXVIII.

Next band, by Asebie was boldly led,
And his four sons begot in Stygian night :
First Idololatros, whose monstrous head
Was like an ugly fiend, his flaming sight
Like blazing stars; the rest all different:
For to his shape some part each creature lent;
But to the great Creator all adversely bent.
XXIX.

Upon his breast a bloody cross he scor'd,

Which oft he worshipp'd; but the Christ that died Thereon, he seldom but in paint ador'd ;

Yet wood, stone, beasts, wealth, lust, fiends, deified:
He makes merc pageant of the saving† rock,
Puppet-like trimming his almighty stock:

Which then, his god, or he, which is the verier block ?
XXX.

Of giant shape, and strength thereto agreeing,

Wherewith he whilome all the world oppress'd; And yet the greater part (his vassals being)

Slumb'ring in ignorance, securely rest ;

A golden calf (himself more beast) he bore,

Which brutes with dancings, gifts, and songs adore,

• Idols are laymen's books,' he round all wrote in ore.

XXXI.

Next Pharmakeus, of ghastly, wild aspect;
Whom hell with seeming fear, and fiends obey;

Full eas❜ly would he know each past effect,

And things to come with double guess foresay,

* Idolatry, either by worshipping the true God by false worship, as by images, against the second commandment: or giving away his worship to that which is not God against the first.

+ Psalm Ixii. 7.

Witchcraft, and magical arts.

By slain beasts' entrails, and fowls' marked flight:

Thereto he tempests rais'd by many a spright,

And charm'd the Sun and Moon, and chang'd the day and

night.

XXXII.

So when the south (dipping his sablest wings

In humid ocean) sweeps with's dropping beard,
Th' air, earth, and seas; his lips' loud thunderings,
And flashing eyes make all the world afraid :

Light with dark clouds, waters with fires are met;
The Sun but now is rising, now is set,

And finds west shades in east, and seas in airs wet.
XXXIII.

By birth and hand, he juggling fortunes tells;

Oft brings from shades his grandsire's damned ghost;
Oft stolen goods forces out by wicked spells :
His frightful shield with thousand fiends embost,
Which seem'd without a circle's ring to play:
In midst himself dampens the smiling day,

And prints sad characters, which none may write or say.
XXXIV.

The third *Hæreticus, a wrangling carl,
Who in the way to Heav'n would wilful err;
And oft convicted, still would snatch and snarl :
His Crambe oft repeats ;-all tongue, no ear;
Him Obstinacy, Pride, and Scorn attended :
On's shield, with truth error disguis'd contended :
His motto this, Rather thus err, than be amended.'
XXXV.

Last march'd Hypocrisy, false form of grace,
That vaunts the shew of all, has truth of none:

*Heresy.

A rotten heart he masks with painted face;

Among the beasts, a mule, 'mongst bees, a drone,

'Mongst stars, a meteor :—all the world neglects him ; Nor good, nor bad, nor Heav'n, nor Earth affects him : The Earth, for glaring forms, for bare forms Heav'n rejects him.

XXXVI.

His wanton heart he veils with dewy eyes,

So oft the world, and oft himself deceives:

His tongue his heart, his hands his tongue belies:
In's path (as snails) silver, but slime he leaves :
He Babel's glory is, but Sion's taint;
Religion's blot, but irreligion's paint:

A saint abroad, at home a fiend; and worst, a saint.
XXXVII.

So tallow lights live glitt'ring, stinking die ;

Their gleams aggrate the sight, steams wound the smell: So Sodom apples please the ravish'd eye,

But sulphur taste proclaim their root's in hell:

So airy flames to heav'nly seem allied,

But when their oil is spent, they swiftly glide,
And into gelly'd mire melt all their gilded pride.
XXXVIII.

So rushes green, smooth, full, are spûngy light;
So their ragg'd stones in velvet peaches grown;

So rotten sticks seem stars in cheating night;

So quagmires false, their mire with em'ralds crown:
Such is Hypocrisy's deceitful frame;

A stinking light, a sulphur fruit, false flame;

Smooth rush, peach stone, sere wood, false mire, a voice, a

name.

XXXIX.

Such were his arms, false gold, true alchymy;

Glitt'ring with glossy stones, and fine deceit :

His sword a flatt'ring steel, which gull'd the eye,
And pierc'd the heart with pride and self-conceit :

On's shield a tomb, where death had dress'd his bed With curious art, and crown'd his loathsome head, With gold, and gems:-his word, 'More gorgeous when dead.'

XL.

Before them went their nurse, bold Ignorance;

A loathsome monster, light, sight, 'mendment scorning; Born deaf and blind, fitter to lead the dance

To such a rout; her silver head adorning,

(Her dotage index) much she bragg'd, yet feign'd : For by false tallies many years she gain'd.

Wise youth is honour'd age;-age's with dotage stain'd. XLI.

Her failing legs with erring footsteps reel'd;

(Lame guide to bliss!) her daughters on each side
Much pain'd themselves, her stumbling feet to wield;
Both like their mother, dull and beetle ey'd :
The first was Error false, who multiplies
Her num'rous race in endless progenies :

For but one truth there is, ten thousand thousand lies.
XLII.

Her brood o'erspread her round with sin and blood,
With envy, malice, mischiefs infinite ;

Whilst she to see herself, amazed stood,

So often got with child and big with spite:

Her offspring fly about, and spread their seed; Straight hate, pride, schism, wars, seditions breed, Get up, grow ripe.-How soon prospers the vicious weed! XLIII.

The other owl-ey'd Superstition,

Deform'd, distorted, blind in shining light;