The Turncoat of the Times.
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AS I was walking thro
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Hide Park, as I us'd to do,
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Some two or three Months ago;
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I laid me all along,
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Without any fear of wrong,
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And listen'd unto a Song:
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It came from a powd'red thing,
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As fine as a Lord or King;
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He knew not that I, was got so nigh;
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And thus he began to Sing.
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I am a Turncoat Knave,
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And I can bear it brave,
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Tho' I don't show all I have:
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I can with Tongue or Pen
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Court every sort of Men,
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And kill 'em as fast again:
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With Zealots I can Pray,
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With Caveleers I can Play
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With Shop-keepers I, can Cog and Lye,
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And Cozen as fast as they.
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When first the Wars began,
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And Prentices led the Van,
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'Twas I that set them on:
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Then we cry'd Bishops down
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In Country, Court and Town,
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Quoth I then have at the Crown,
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The Covenant I did take,
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For Form and Fashion's sake,
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But when it would not, support my Plot,
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It was an old Almanack.
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When Independency
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Had Superiority,
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I was of the same Degree,
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When Keepers did Command,
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I had then a Holy Hand,
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In Deans and Chanters Land:
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But when I began to spy
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Protectorship draw nigh,
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And Keepers were, thrown o're the Bar
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Brave Oliver then cry'd I:
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When Sectaries got the Day,
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I us'd my Yea, and Nay,
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To flatter, and then Betray,
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In Parliament I gat,
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And there as a Member sat,
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To tumble down Church and State:
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For I was a trusty Trout
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In all that I went about;
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And there we did sit, on a long Dispute
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Till Oliver turn'd us out.
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Wer raz'd the House of Peers,
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We kill'd the Cavaleers
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We tippel'd the Widows Tears
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We sequestrate Mens Estates,
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And made 'em pay Monthly rates,
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To Trumpeters and their Mates;
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Rebellion we did Print
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And alter'd all the Mint;
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No Knavery then, was done by Men,
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But I had a Finger in't.
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When Charles was put to flight,
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Then was I at Worster Fight,
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And got a good Booty by't:
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At that most fatal fall
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We plunder'd one and all
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The weakest went to the Wall:
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When my merry Mates fell on,
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A pillaging I was gone,
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There's many thought I, will come by and by
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And why should not I be one,
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We Triumphed like the Turk
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We crippled the Scottish Kirk
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When we were once set a Work.
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When Cromwell did but frown,
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They yeilded up e'ery Town;
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Saint Andrews Cross went down,
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But when old Noll did dy,
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And Richard his Son nearby
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I knew not how, to guide my Plow,
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Where now shall I be said I,
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I must confess the Rump
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Did put me into a Dump,
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I knew not what would be Trump.
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When Dick had lost the Day,
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My Gaming was at a stay,
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I could not tell what to play
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When Mank came upon the score,
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I thought I could play no more,
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I could not tell what, he would be at
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I was never so mump'd before.
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But now I am at Court
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With Men of the better sort,
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And I purchase a good Report;
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I have the Eyes and Ears,
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Of many brave Noble Peers,
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And slight the Poor Cavaleers,
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Poor Knaves they know not how
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To Flatter, Cringe, and Bow:
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But he that is Wise, and means to Rise,
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He must be a Turn-Coat too.
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