The Chancellors Resolution:
OR,
His Last Sayings a little before his Death.
To the Tune of, Lilli borlero.
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I have been long in Custody here,
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under strong Bolts a Prisoner fast,
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Being possest always with a fear,
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that I should live to swing at the last;
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Never was Man more tormented,
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sorrow and grief my sences does seize;
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I never was pitty'd, but faith I have fitted
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the Hang-man, and cousen'd him of his Fees.
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I have been made the scorn of the Town,
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who was of late next Man to a Throne;
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Every Rascal's running me down,
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so that I make most pittiful moan;
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There's a thousand deaths invented,
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for honest George, who them did displease;
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but to their vexation, I shall cheat the Nation,
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and likewise the Hang-man of all his Fees.
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I was the whipping Scourge of this age,
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caus[ing] good Men to suffer with shame,
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[Therefore the Land] is all in a Rage,
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[wishing I] might partake of the same:
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Some [says scourge me, others hang] me,
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[thus e'ry] one condemns as they please;
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[But my speech] does falter, I shall scape the Halter,
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[and couzen] the Hang-man of all his Fees.
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I wish the [rest] wou'd murder the Test,
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this is a Crime which none wou'd excuse;
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And the good Wives that lives in the West,
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hopes they shall see my dye in my Shooes;
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But they will not have their wishes,
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conquering Death does Chancellor seize;
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O let them not Cavel, the Gout and the Gravel,
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will couzen the Hang-man of all his Fees.
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Ever since I have lain in this Den,
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faith I have lost the Purse and the Mace,
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And am expos'd abroad amongst Men,
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under the terms of shame and disgrace;
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Some says hang me, others flee me,
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and twenty Deaths more cruel then these,
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But here I am lying, upon my Bed dying,
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I'll couzen the Hang-man of all his fees.
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William and Mary being Proclaim'd,
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this like an Arrow went to my heart,
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I with a Feavour straight was inflam'd,
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fearing I soon should have my desert:
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Thousands waited for my Tryal,
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a shameful end the Rabble wou'd please,
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Tho' they do crave it, they never shall have it,
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I'll couzen the Hang-man of all his fees.
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Now when I hear King William was Crown'd,
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and that the loud-mouth'd Cannons [did roar,]
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Presently I fell into a Swoon'd,
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never was man so daunted before;
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And my Stony old Distemper,
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violently my Body did seize;
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'Tis no feigned Story, but in this I glo[ry]
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to couzen the Hang-man of all his fees.
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Some did declare I must loose my Head,
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others said Hanging wou'd be my Doom,
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'Cause I for Honour had been misled,
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pleading always for Treacherous Rome;
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But i'faith they're disappointed,
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conquering Death my Spirits does seize,
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I'll make each a Lyar, and straightways expire,
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so couzen the Hang-man of all his fees.
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FINIS.
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