Page:The works of Anne Bradstreet in prose and verse.djvu/424

 338 Anne Bradjireet'^s Works.

Old cuftomes, new Prerogatives flood on,

Had the}^ not held Law faft, all had been gone:

Which by their prudence ftood them in fuch ftead

They took high Strafford lower by the head.

And to their Laud be't fpoke, they held i'th tower

All Englands Metropolitane that hour;*

This done, an a6l they would have pafTed fain,

No Prelate fhould his Bifhoprick retain;

Here tugg'd they hard (indeed,) for all men faw

This muft be done by Gofpel, not by Law.

Next the Militia they urged fore.

This was deny'd, (I need not fay wherefore)

The King difpleas'd at York, himfelf abfents.

They humbly beg return, fhew their intents;

The writing, printing, pofting too and fro.

Shews all was done, I'le therefore let it go.

But now I come to fpeak of my difafter,

Contention grown, 'twixt Subjects & their Mafter;

They worded it fo long, they fell to blows, [199]

That thoufands lay on heaps, here bleeds my woes,

I that no wars fo many years have known,

Am now deftroy'd and flaught^red by mine own;

But could the Field alone this ftrife'' decide.

One Battel two or three I might abide:

grave author. Archbishop Laud was committed to the Tower Feb. 26, 1641, and was confined there until his execution. His trial took place in March, 1644. He was beheaded Jan. 10, 1645.
 * A plaj upon words is not often to be met with in the writings of our

c caufe.

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