Page:The works of Anne Bradstreet in prose and verse.djvu/422

 3,3^ Anne BradJireeVs Works.

I then believ'd not, now I feel and fee,

The plague of ftubborn incredulity/

Some loft their livings, fome in prifon pent.

Some fin'd, from houfe & '' friends to exile went.

Their Iilent tongues to heaven did vengeance cry, [197]

Who faw their wrongs, & hath judg'd righteoufly "

And will repay it feven-fold in my lap:

This is fore-runner of my Afterclap.

Nor took I warning by my neighbours falls,

I faw fad Ger7nanyes difmantled walls,

I faw her people famifh'd. Nobles flain.

Her fruitfull land, a barren Heath remain.

I faw unmov'd, her Armyes foil'd and fled.

Wives forced, babes tofs'd, her houfes calcined.

I faw ftrong Rochel y\^\^^di''' to her Foe,

Thoufands of ftarved Chriftians there alfo.

I faw poor Ireland bleeding out her laft.

Such crueltyes '" as all reports have paft;*

Mine heart obdurate ftood not yet agaft.

s Instead of this and the preceding line, the first edition has, — Thefe Prophets mouthes (alas the while) was ftopt. Unworthily, fome backs whipt, and eares cropt; Their reverent cheeks did beare the glorious markes Of ftinking, ftigmatizing, Romilh Clerkes;

referring probably to the persecutions of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton.

Prynne himself says of the letters " S. L." branded on his cheeks, —

"Bearing Lavd's Stamps on my cheeks, I retire, Triumphing, God's sweet Sacrifice, by Fire."

t Some groffely fin'd, from.

« Who heard their caufe, and wrongs judg'd righteoufly, ■V yielding. -^ cruelty. * See page 164 and note.

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