A Collection of Loyal Songs Written Against the Rump Parliament/Volume 1
A
Collection
of
Loyal Songs
Written against the
Rump Parliament,
Between the Years of 1639 and 1661.
Containing,
A great Variety of Merry and Diverting Characters of the Chief Sectaries, who were the Principal Actors in that whole Scene of Affairs.
With an Historical Introduction to the Whole.
In Two Volumes. Vol. I.
London:
To All
True Lovers
of our
Constitution
Both in
Church and State,
Their most
Obedient Servant,
The Editor.
The
Introduction.
The Publick, we hope, will excuse the Delay, under which this Work (not so easy in Practice, as it seemed to be in Theory) has, this long while, laboured; since, in the Care and Accuracy of its Compilation, they will find an abundant Compensation made for the Exercise of their Patience.
For the Reader is to know, that those Songs were made in the Time of the Great Rebellion; when that Mad and Enthusiastick Spirit, which then reigned in this Nation, filled us with Murther and Bloodshed; destroyed the best of Kings, subverted our happy Constitution, and introduced a wild State of Anarchy and Confusion.
The Steps, whereby Matters were carried on to this desperate Issue, were finall in the Beginning, and, to common Observers, perhaps not visible: But Men of more Sagacity and Penetration, easily perceived the fatal Tendency of Sedition, even at its first setting out; and, as they perceived, with all, the Insufficiency of the Labours of the Pulpit, or any serious Treatises, to suppress the growing Hydra, so they employed the several Wits of the Age, Men famous for their Writings, as well as for their Loyalty, to expose its Deformity, as a proper Object both of Horror and Ridicule: And questionless, their Endeavours would have had their intended Effect, had not its Poison been a little too far radicated, for any Medicine whatsoever to expel.
At this Time, with this View, and by Persons of this Character, were the following Songs and Poems composed: And, as they arose from particular Incidents, which, however minute in themselves, gave Occasion, more or less, to the Grand Restoration, so, by a due Perusal of them; a Person may be let into the Prospect of some secret Springs and Movements, which have escaped the Observation of our larger Historians, and is a Branch of Knowledge, not unbecoming the Search of the Curious.
It may be some Entertainment to a Genius of this Nature likewise, now, that we live in an Age of Peace and Tranquility (like Mariners that have happily escaped a Storm) to take a Review of the angry Main, whereon our Forefathers were tossed; and to consider by what Blasts and Incitements the Sea came to Ferment, and its Billows to rise to such a prodigious Height at last.
Whether or no this Age is in any Danger of running into the like Confusion, it may be an invidious Thing to suggest: But sure I am, that no better Antidote can be prescribed to the good People of England, against any such contingent Evil, than what is offered in this little Book: For it is a received Observation, (founded upon the Experience of the Times we are now speaking of) that your Men of heavy and melancholick Complections are always most addicted to Sedition and Mutiny; such, as are of a gay and merry Disposition, are void of Gall and Discontent, and uncapable of harbouring the least malevolent Thought against any Government.
’Tis not of more private Advantage therefore, than it is of happy Emolument to the whole Kingdom, and to the Ease and Tranquility of our Governours both in Church and State, that his Majesty’s good Subjects are, by this Means, furnished with a Set of Songs, which represent, (in their proper and lively Colours,) the Madness and Horrors of the Great Rebellion; whereby they may be taught to sing themselves insensibly into a settled Loyalty, and (if possible) to make those, who are of a contrary Opinion, ashamed, if not convinced, of the Naughtiness of their Principles.
For, when all’s said and done, your serious Discourses will not make that Impression upon Minds, full of themselves, and deeply prejudiced against Conviction, as will a witty Banter, or pleasant Turn, which shews the Man to himself, and sets his Opinion in a new and surprizing Light: Insomuch, that we may venture to say, all the serious Arguments, which, for these many Years, have been advanced in behalf of Episcopacy and Monarchy, will not have the Effect upon a rigid Non-Conformist, either to overcome his Obstinacy, or make him give up the Debate, as will, the Curtain Lecture, the Round-Head’s Race, the Scotch War, the Mad Zealot, the Holy Pedlar, or Cuckolds all a-row; the Scots Curanto, or Schismatick Rotundo’s; the Independents Resolve, the Levellers Rant, or almost any other Composition in the whole Number, when sung with a proper Grace and Air, be found to have.
What the incomparable Butler has done, by representing the Factors for Rebellion, and the vile Pretenders to Religion of former Ages, in their proper and native Dress, in order to prevent the Nation from relapsing into the like Distraction; that, have we endeavoured to do in the following Collection, viz. To infuse a Spirit of Loyalty into our Fellow-Subjects, and to make Faction and Hypocrisy for ever ashamed to shew their Heads again. And tho’ we are not insensible that we may incur the Dislike of some, yet this gives us the less Concern, both because we are conscious of the Goodness of our Design, and have the Sentiments of the Poet to support us under it.
Si mala Condiderit in quem quis Carmina, jus est Judiciumque. Esto, si quis mala; sed bona si quis Judice, condiderit, laudatur Cæsare, si quis Opprobriis dignum laceraverit, integer ipse.
Hor. L. 1. Sat. 1.
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- Account of the Burning of London in 1666.
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- Commercium Epistolicum D. Johannis Collins, & aliorum de Analisi Promota.
- A Treatise on Humane Understanding, by the great Huetius, Author of Demonstratio Evangelica, &c. with an Historical Encomium on the Author and his Works, by Abbot Olivet.
- The Rape of Proserpine, from Claudian, by Mr. J. Hughes.
- A New Canting Dictionary, comprehending all the Terms, Ancient and Modern, of that kind, 12o.
- Bishop Beveridge on the Psalms, 12o.
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- Prior’s Poems, 3 Vol. 12o.
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