Dem. Spare some, to fling
Where they may sting
The breast of Albion's king.
Zel. Let jealousies so well be mixed,
That great Albanius be unfixed.
Plu. Forbear your vain attempts, forbear:
Hell can have no admittance there;
The people's fear will serve as well,
Make him suspected, them rebel.
Zel. You've all forgot
To forge a plot,
In seeming care of Albion's life;
Inspire the crowd
With clamours loud,
To involve his brother and his wife.
Alec. Take, of a thousand souls at thy command,
The basest, blackest of the Stygian band,
246 One, that will swear to all they can invent,
So thoroughly damned, that he can ne'er repent:
One, often sent to earth,
And still at every birth
He took a deeper stain:
One, that in Adam's time was Cain;
One, that was burnt in Sodom's flame,
For crimes even here too black to name:
One, who through every form of ill has run:
One, who in Naboth's days was Belial's son;
One, who has gained a body fit for sin;
Where all his crimes
Of former times
Lie crowded in a skin[2].
Plu. Take him,
Make him
What you please;
For he can be
A rogue with ease.
One for mighty mischief born;
He can swear, and be forsworn.
Plu. and Alect. Take him, make him what you please;
For he can be a rogue with ease.
Plu. Let us laugh, let us laugh, let us laugh at our woes,
The wretch that is damned has nothing to lose.—
Ye furies, advance
With the ghosts in a dance.
'Tis a jubilee when the world is in trouble;
247 When people rebel,
We frolic in hell;
But when the king falls, the pleasure is double.
[A single entry of a Devil, followed by an entry of twelve Devils.
Chorus. Let us laugh, let us laugh, let us laugh at our woes,
The wretch that is damned hath nothing to lose.
The Scene changes to a Prospect taken from the middle of the Thames; one side of it begins at York-Stairs, thence to White-Hall, and the Mill-bank, &c. The other from the Saw-mill, thence to the Bishop's Palace, and on as far as can be seen in a clear day.