Of battles fought at fea, and fhips

175

Sunk two years hence, the last eclipse?

A total o'erthrow given the King

In Cornwall, horfe and foot, next spring?
And has not he point-blank foretold

Whatfoe'er the Clofe Committee would?
Made Mars and Saturn for the Caufe,
The Moon for fundamental laws?

180

The Ram, the Bull, and Goat, declare
Against the Book of Common-Prayer?
The Scorpion take the Protestation,
And Bear engage for Reformation?
Made all the Royal stars recant,
Compound, and take the Covenant ?
Quoth Hudibras, The cafe is clear
The Saints may' employ a conjurer,
As thou haft prov'd it by their practice;
No argument like matter of fact is :
And we are beft of all led to
Men's principles by what they do.
Then let us strait advance in quest
Of this profound gymnofophift,
And, as the Fates and he advise,
Purfue or wave this enterprise.

This faid, he turn'd about his steed,
And eftfoons on th' adventure rid;
Where leave we him and Ralph awhile,
And to the conjurer turn our ftyle,
To let our reader underftand

What's useful of him before-hand.

185

190

195

200

He

He had been long towards mathematics,

Optics, philofophy, and statics,

Magic, horofcopy, aftrology,

205

And was old dog at phyfiology ;'

But as a dog that turns the spit
Beftirs himself, and plies his feet
To climb the wheel, but all in vain,'
His own weight brings him down again,
And still he 's in the felf-fame place
Where at his setting out he was;
So in the circle of the arts
Did he advance his natural parts,
Till falling back still, for retreat,
He fell to juggle, cant, and chëat :
For as thofe fowls that live in water
Are never wet, he did but fmatter;
Whate'er he labour'd to appear,
His understanding ftill was clear;
Yet none a deeper knowledge boasted,

210

215

220

Since old Hodge Bacon, and Bob Grosted.

Thi

Ver. 224.] Roger Bacon, commonly called Friar Bacon, lived in the reign of our Edward I. and for fome little skill he had in the mathematicks, was by the rabble accounted a conjurer, and had the fottifh story of the Brazen Head fathered upon him by the ignorant Monks of those days.

Ibid.] Bishop Grosted was Bishop of Lincoln, 20th Henry III. A. D. 1235. "He was fufpected by the " clergy to be a conjurer; for which crime he was de"prived by Pope Innocent IV. and fummoned to ap

Q4

"pear

Th' intelligible world he knew,
And all men dream on 't to be true,
That in this world there's not a wart
That has not there a counterpart ;
Nor can there on the face of ground
An individual beard be found

That has not, in that foreign nation,
A fellow of the felf-fame fashion;
So cut, fo colour'd, and fo curl'd,
As thofe are in th' inferior world.
He 'ad read Dee's prefaces before,

The Devil, and Euclid, o'er and o'er;

And all th' intrigues 'twixt him and Kelly,
Lefcus and th' Emperor, would tell ye :

But with the moon was more familiar
Than e'er was almanac well-willer;
Her fecrets understood fo clear,

225

230

235

240

That fome believ'd he had been there;

Knew

pear at Rome." But this is a mistake; for the Pope's antipathy to him was occafioned by his frankly expoftulating with him (both perfonally and by letter) on his encroachments upon the English church and monarchy. He was perfecuted by Pope Innocent, but it is not certain that he was deprived, though Bale thinks he was.

Ver. 235.] Dee was a Welshman, and educated at Oxford, where he commenced Doctor, and afterwards travelled into foreign parts, in queft of chemistry, &c.

Ver. 238.] Albertus Lafcus, Lasky, or Alasco, Prince Palatine of Poland, concerned with Dee and Kelly.

Knew when he was in fittest mood
For cutting corns, or letting blood;
When for anointing scabs or itches,
Or to the bum applying leeches;

When fows and bitches may be spay'd,
And in what fign beft cyder 's made;
Whether the wane be, or increase,

245

Beft to fet garlic, or fow peafe;

250

Who first found out the man i' th' moon,

That to the Ancients was unknown;

How many dukes, and earls, and peers,

Are in the planetary spheres ;

Their airy empire and command,

255

Their feveral ftrengths by fea and land;

What factions they 'ave, and what they drive at

In public vogue, or what in private :

With what defigns and interests

Each party manages contests.

He made an inftrument to know

260

If the moon fhine at full or no;

That would, as soon as e'er she shone, straight
Whether 'twere day or night demonstrate;

Tell what her diameter to an inch is,

And

265

green

cheese.

that the 's not made of prove It would demonftrate, that the man in The moon 's a fea Mediterranean;

How many German leagues by th' scale
Cape Snout 's from Promontory Tail.

He made a planétary gin,

Which rats would run their own heads in,
And come on purpose to be taken,
Without th' expence of cheese or bacon.
With lute-ftrings he would counterfeit
Maggots that crawl on dish of meat;
Quote moles and spots on any place
O' th' body, by the index face;
Detect loft maidenheads by fneezing,

Or breaking wind of dames, or piffing ;
Cure warts and corns, with application
Of medicines to th' imagination;
Fright agues into dogs, and scare,

With rhymes, the tooth-ach and catarrh ;
Chace evil spirits away by dint
Of fickle, horse-shoe, hollow-flint ;
Spit fire out of a walnut-fhell,
Which made the Roman flaves rebel;
And fire a mine in China here,

With fympathetic gun-powder.

He knew whatsoever's to be known,

275

280

285

29

But much more than he knew would own.

What medicine 'twas that Paracelfus

Could make a man with, as he tells us ;

34

What figur'd flates are beft to make,

On watery furface, duck or drake *