Near Bridgewater, the fatal place,

Of MONMOUTH's downfall and disgrace;
The hapless Duke, half starved, half drown'd,
In covert of a ditch was found.

Sans trial, shorter by the head,

A month beheld him crown'd,—and dead ;
While his best friends their life blood drain,
For thwarting JAMES the Second's reign.

From Holland sailing, woe the while!
Lands, but to fall, the bold Argyle;
Him too a month sufficed to try
His fortune in the field and die.
While dread proscription's reckless work,
By JEFFERIES and relentless Kirk,
Forbids repentance to obtain

Mercy in JAMES the Second's reign.

'Twere sad the hundredth part to tell
Of who by legal murder fell,
From hospitable Lady LISLE,
(Disgrace befal the jury vile,

Who

* Landed in Scotland, May 20th, 1885; beheaded June 30th following.

† Alicra, Lady Lisle, above eighty years old, was tried for concealing two fugitives from the battle of Sedgemoor. The Jury

acquitted

Who, aw'd by JEFFRIES, fear'd to spare
Her angel sex, her silver hair)

To meanest varlet, meanly slain

By tools of JAMES the Second's reign.

'Twere ruth to tell how Bodmin's Mayor A gibbet high was bade

prepare,

To execute some rebel elf,

Then forced to hansel it himself,

By one who more enjoy'd the jest,
Because he was the victim's guest;
Who on that day did entertain

The friend of JAMES the Second's reign.

Thee too, fell KIRK! degraded man !
Such agony refined to plan,

As promise to a weeping maid

Her father's life, † and when betray'd,

Price

acquitted her three times, but were as often sent back; and Jefferies' threats at last prevailed on them to find her guilty; she was condemned to be burnt the same afternoon, and, as a great favour, permitted to lose her head.

* This monster in human shape was a Sir Anthony Kingston, who dined with the Mayor immediately prior to his unlooked-for execution.

† By some 'tis said her brother was the victim; that she was seduced to sacrifice her virtue to Kirk, on a solemn promise of her relative's pardon, whose corpse afterwards shewn to her hanging

on

(Price of the boon her virgin fame,)

Shew'd her his corse! thou void of shame, "Thine own Gods damn thee!" beastly stain TO JAMES the Second's luckless reign!

CORNISH and BATEMAN scarcely tried
Or ere they on the scaffold died;

And GAUNT, whose sex nor virtue claims
Exemption from tormenting flames,
With hundreds more of victims, swell
The catalogue of those who fell;

And bid the Muse, in mournful strain,
Weep JAMES the Second's gloomy reign.

Now dispensation from the laws

The King demands, in which foul cause

on a sign-post; which dreadful sight deprived her of her reason is incontestibly true. Kirk caused ninety others to be executed at Taunton, his drums and trumpets playing in derision of their dying agonies. Jefferies condemned above six hundred in the West of England, most of whom suffered.

Vide POMFRET'S PATHETIC POEM OF "CRUELTY & Lust."

Cornish had been Sheriff of London. Bateman was an eminent Surgeon. Elizabeth Gaunt was burnt for giving momentary shelter to one of Monmouth's fugitive adherents.

Judges

Judges corrupt are robed with power,
And prelates* punish'd with the Tower;
While CAMT and Isis feel the rod,
And whips profane the man of GOD:‡
Sinks freedom bound in slavery's chain,
Under King JAMES the Second's reign.

To reconcile the kingdoms three
TO INNOCENTS most holy see,
And homage pay to PETER's rights,
The Nuncio DADA JAMES invites ;
And sends ambassador to Rome,
Where most himself had been at home,
One PALMER, Earl of CASTLEMAIN,§
A wight of JAMES the Second's reign.

* The Bishop of London was suspended, and Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of St. Asaph, Ely, Chichester, Bath and Wells, Peterborough, and Bristol, for their attachment to the Protestant Religion were imprisoned in the Tower; afterwards tried in the King's Bench, and acquitted, for which the Judges in their favour were displaced.

†The Statutes of both Universities were violated.

The Reverend Mr. Johnson, for espousing the cause of the established Church, was most cruelly whipped, pillored, and fined 500 marks.

This Nobleman puns on a Palmer being sent to Rome; he published several pieces, and is celebrated in the CATALOGUE OF NOBLE AUTHORS.

Episcopalians

Episcopalians, in alarm,

For health of church begin to arm,
United, zealous in the cause

Of trampled rights and spurn'd at laws,
With great NASSAU for freedom treat;
NASSAU equips a gallant fleet,

Our dying charters to maintain,

And finish JAMES the Second's reign.

Louis, of France, this measure blames,
And offers ample aid to JAMES,*
Who tries by lenitives, too late,

To ward his near impending fate ;
And fools who dared their trust abuse,

'Gin tremble in their recreant shoes,

As rapidly they mark the wane

Of ill-star'd JAMES the Second's reign.

With SCHOMBERG, SOLMES, and BENTINCK brave, And AUVERQUERQUE, the willing wave

* The King of France offered a fleet, and an army of 30,000 men; King James refused this succour, under a supposition he should have no occasion for it.

Wafts