Alas! poore prelate!
Some say he was in hope
To bring England againe to th’ pope;
But now he is in danger of an axe or a rope.
Farewell, old Canterbury.
Alas! poore Canterbury!
Wren, bishop of Ely, was another of the more obnoxious of the prelates, and there was hardly less joy among the popular party when he was committed to the Tower in the course of the year 1641. Another song, in verse similar to the last, contains a general review of the demerits of the members of the prelacy, under the title of “The Bishops Last Good-night.” At the head of the broadside on which it is printed stand two satirical woodcuts, but it must be confessed that the words of the song are better than the engraving. The bishop of Ely, we are told, had just gone to join his friend Laud in the Tower—
Ely, thou hast alway to thy power
Left the church naked in a storme and showre,
And now for ’t thou must to thy old friend i’ th’ Tower.