Page:Poetical Works of John Oldham.djvu/124

114 Give 'em command, and if they disobey, Betray them to the ambitious heir a prey; Hound the officious curs on heretics, The vermin which the church infest, and vex; And when our turn is served, and business done, Dispatch them for reward, as useless grown.
 * 'Nor are these half the benefits and gains,

Which by wise managery accrue from thence. By this we unlock the miser's hoarded, chests And treasure, though kept close as statesmen's breasts; This does rich widows to our nets decoy. Let us their jointures and themselves enjoy; To us the merchant does his customs bring, And pays our duty, though he cheats his king; To us court-ministers refund, made great By robbery, and bankrupt of the state; Ours is the soldier's plunder, padder's prize, Gabels on lechery, and the stew's excise; By this our colleges in riches shine, And vie with Becket's and Loretto's shrine.
 * 'And here I must not grudge a word or two,

My younger votaries, of advice to you, To you, whom beauty's charms, and generous fire, Of boiling youth to sports of love inspire. This is your harvest; here, secure and cheap, You may the fruits of unbought pleasure reap; Riot in free and uncontrolled delight, Where no dull marriage clogs the appetite; Taste every dish of lust's variety, Which popes and scarlet lechers dearly buy With bribes, and bishoprics, and simony. But this I ever to your care commend,— Be wary how you openly offend, Lest scoffing lewd buffoons descry our shame, And fix disgrace on the great order's fame.