Jew; when, in the midst of his exultation, in stalked Lawyer Prynne, who, well skilled in ancient lore, was a buyer of scarce books. Old Watkin Waller, as before related, had become a royalist; so, thinking to have a sly wipe at the precisian, who was one of the righteous who had so piously voted for the abolition of the book of common prayer, he handed him a quarto copy, saying, "I've just made a notable bargain this morning, good master Prynne," chuckling and rubbing his hands-" a few copies of the interdicted book." "What book?" said Prynne. "And be it thy pleasure thou mayest look," said Waller, eyeing the querulous barrister with the cunning of a fox. Prynne carelessly glanced at the title page, and turned over a few leaves, when looking contemptuously at the bookseller, "Why, thou illiterate ass," said he, "these are

Popish prayer books!"

"The devil! thou dost not say so, master Prynne. Curse the rogue' then he has taken me in. The Jew rascal! I'll trounce the blasphemous miscreant, if I do not plague take me. Od-zounds, and so they be; curse and confound the rogue-the thief-the villain!"

"Swear not, curse not, weak old man. Cursed be he that curseth another,' saith the word. What! thou hast been outwitted by that Mordecai, who hath been taking in all the town with papistical prayer books, with false titles, printed on purpose to deceive. This is another manifestation of the judgments of the Most High upon this sinful city. Yea, fraud is going to and fro, seeking whom it may devour. Thou art a rapacious worldly wight in all thy dealings, notoriously so, Master Waller, and my inward spirit rejoiceth that the biter is bit;" when, shutting the book, and gravely fastening the clasps, he laid it upon the counter, took up his gloves, and with his wonted solemn stiffness departed forth from the shop with a groan.

Old Waller stood astounded, and groaned too. To be tricked of his nineteen Oliver's crowns was misery enough, but to be outwitted in a bargain, to be thus over-reached by an itinerant Jew, with whom all barter with caution, was an aggravation beyond bearing; so meeting his old spinster sister, and co-partner in the business, who heard all that had passed, in the little passage at the foot of the stairs, and open

ing his budget of calamity to his fellow-sufferer, instead of meeting the condolence he sought, the sarcastic Miss Abigail, who was a furious Independent, exclaimed, "Out upon thee! ac

*

So ere the storm of war broke out,
Religion spawn'd a various rout,
Of petulant capricious sects,

The maggots of corrupted texts.

This mischievous sect laboured incessantly, and with too much success, to undermine the church and destroy episcopacy. To effect which they wilfully perverted the Scripture, and mutilated texts to suit their own purposes: Hence learning, decorum, and unaffected piety, gave way to ignorance, presumption, and hypocrisy; and itinerant enthusiasts were sought, and encouraged to go to every part of the kingdom, to preach and expound the word. Oliver Cromwell, one of the sect, frequently mounted the conventicle pulpit-so did the officers and soldiers-they preached and prayed, and then they fought.

Oliver was notorious for misinterpreting of the word. He preached at Sir Peter Temple's, in Lincoln's-InnFields, and his sermon was printed, entitled, "Cromwell's Learned, Devout, and Conscientious Exercise, upon Romans xiii.;" wherein he began-" Dearly beloved brethren and sisters, it is true this text is a

cursed apostate; what possessed thee to barter This comes of with a Jew for that sort of ware?

malignant one; the wicked and ungodly have abused very much; but, thanks be to God, it was to their own ruin.

it

commoners.

"But now that I spoke of kings, the question is, whether by the higher powers are meant kings or *** Paul speaks in the plural number, higher powers: Now had he meant subjection to a king, he would have said, let every soul be subject to the higher power, if he had meant one man; but by this you see he meant more than one: He bids us be subject to the higher powers, that is, the Council of What State, the House of Commons, and the Army.” followed cannot surprise, when this wilful perversion of Scripture was taken for gospel.

"The Independents whose first station,
Was in the rear of Reformation,

A mongrel kind of church dragoons,
That serv'd for horse and foot at once;

And in the saddle of one steed,

The Saracen and Christian rid;

Were free of ev'ry spiritual order,

To preach and fight, and pray and murther."

Sir Roger L'Estrange, speaking of the saints of this age, observes, "That they did not set one step in the

thy loyalty, thou old scape-grace. "Tis a notable way of doing business, thou hound! Aye, 'tis high time to take down the sign of the Black Eagle, and hang up the sign of the Goose."

Mistress Abigail and he had led a continued cat-and-dog life together, ever since the death of Godfrey Waller, the father of the hopeful pair, who was one of the elders in the congre

whole tract of this iniquity, without seeking the Lord first, and going up to enquire of the Lord, which was no other than to make God the author of sin, and to impute the blackest practices of hell to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

"It was with this pretext of seeking the Lord in prayer, that Cromwell, Ireton, Harrison, and others of the Regicides, cajoled General Fairfax, who was determined to rescue the king from execution, giving orders to have it speedily done; and when they had notice that it was over, they persuaded the general that this was a full return of prayer, and God having so manifested his pleasure, they ought to acquiesce in it."

"So the late saints of blessed memory,
Cut throats in Godly pure sincerity;

So they with lifted hands and eyes devout,

Said grace, and carv'd a slaughter'd monarch out."
Oldham's Satyre.