London's Lamentation:
OR,
An Excellent New Song
On the Loss of
LONDON's CHARTER.
To the Tune of, Packingtons Pound.
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I.
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YOu Free-men, and Masters, and Prentices mourn,
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For now You are left with your Charter forlorn:
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Since London was London, I dare boldly say,
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For your Ryots you never so dearly did pay;
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In Westminster-hall
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Your Dagon did fall,
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That caus'd You to Ryot and Mutiny all:
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Oh London! Oh London! Thou'dst better had None,
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Than thus with Thy Charter to vie with the Throne.
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II.
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Oh London! Oh London! how cou'dst Thou pretend
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Against thy Defender Thy Crimes to defend?
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Thy Freedoms & Rights from kind Princes did spring,
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And yet in contempt Thou withstandest Thy King:
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With bold brazen Face
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They pleaded Thy Case,
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In hopes to the Charter the King wou'd give place:
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Oh London! Thou'dst better no Charter at all,
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Than thus for Rebellion thy Charter shou'd fall.
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III.
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Since Britains to London came over to dwell,
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You had an old Charter, to buy and to sell;
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And whilst in Allegiance each honest man lives,
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Then you had a Charter for Lord May'r and Shrieves:
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But when, with Your Pride,
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You began to backslide,
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And London of Factions did run with the Tide,
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Then London, Oh London! time to withdraw,
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Lest the floud of Your Factions the Land over-flow.
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IV.
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When Faction and fury of Rebels prevail'd;
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When Coblers were Kings, and Monarchs were jayl'd;
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When Masters in Tumults their Prentices led,
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And the Tail did begin to make war with the Head;
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When Thomas and Kate
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Did bring in their Plate,
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T'uphold the Old Cause of the Rump of the State,
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Then tell me, Oh London! I prethee now tell,
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Hadst thou e'r a Charter to Fight and Rebel?
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V.
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When zealous Sham-Sheriffs the City oppose,
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In spight of the Charter, the King, and the Laws,
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And make such a Ryot and Rout in the Town,
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That never before such a Racket was known;
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When Ryoters dare
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Arrest the Lord May'r,
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And force the King's Substitute out of the Chair:
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Oh London! whose Charter is now on the Lees,
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Did Your Charter e'r warrant such actions as these?
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VI.
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Alas for the Brethren! what now must they do,
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For choosing Whig-Sheriffs and Burgesses too?
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The Charter with Patience is gone to the pot,
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And the Doctor is lost in the depth of the Plot:
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St. Stephens his Flayl
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No more will prevail,
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Nor Sir Roberts Dagger, the Charter to bail:
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Oh London! Thou'dst better have suffer'd by Fire,
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Than thus thy old Charter shou'd stick in the Mire.
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VII.
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But since with your Folly, your Faction and Pride,
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You Sink with the Charter, who strove with the Tide,
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Let all the lost Rivers return to the Main
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From whence they descended; They'l spring out again;
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Submit to the King
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In every thing,
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Then of a New Charter New Sonnets we'll sing:
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As London, the Phoenix of England, ne'r dies,
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So out of the Flames a new CHARTER will rise.
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