The Cavalier Songs and Ballads of England from 1642 to 1684 · Chapter 42An Old Song on Oliver’s Court
This chapter is not translated yet. You are reading the original.
Written in the year 1654, by Samuel Butler.
He that would a new courtier be And of the late coyn’d gentry; A brother of the prick-eared crew, Half a presbyter, half a Jew, When he is dipp’d in Jordan’s flood, And wash’d his hands in royal blood, Let him to our court repair, Where all trades and religions are.
If he can devoutly pray, Feast upon a fasting day, Be longer blessing a warm bit Than the cook was dressing it; With covenants and oaths dispense, Betray his lord for forty pence, Let him, etc.
If he be one of the eating tribe, Both a Pharisee and a Scribe, And hath learn’d the snivelling tone Of a flux’d devotion; Cursing from his sweating tub The Cavaliers to Beelzebub, Let him, etc.
Who sickler than the city ruff, Can change his brewer’s coat to buff, His dray-cart to a coach, the beast Into Flanders mares at least; Nay, hath the art to murder kings, Like David, only with his slings, Let him, etc.
If he can invert the word, Turning his ploughshare to a sword, His cassock to a coat of mail; ’Gainst bishops and the clergy rail; Convert Paul’s church into the mews; Make a new colonel of old shoes, Let him, etc.
Who hath commission to convey Both sexes to Jamaica, There to beget new babes of grace On wenches hotter than the place, Who carry in their tails a fire Will rather scorch than quench desire, Let him, etc.