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EBBA 37313

British Library - Bagford
Ballad XSLT Template
LONDONS PLAGUE
FROM
HOLLAND,
OR
Inquiries after the Natural Causes of Her
Present Calamity.

WHat's Englands Metropolis be-come folorne?
Europes late Glory, now a Pesants scorne?
The Mistress of the Seas, She that outvi'd?
Her ranting Sister Cities, th' Gallick Pride?
Room resurrect, in her great Ela State?
Must she now truckle to the Dooms of Fate
Without a rescue? 's no bold Champion sent
To wrest her from the rudest Ravishment
O'th Rawbon'd Rascall, must he triumph thus?
And timpanize himself with blood of us
Poor Mortals? Devour more at a meal
Then Bell and Dragon in an age could steal?
Where's all the Quixots of our age? has none
Th' Elixir, the long-look'd-for Stone?
No Cure for her, whose Tenants made their boasts
Till now, they'd rout the most victorious hosts
Of all Diseases? Here's a Goliah stands
And bids defiance 'gainst th' united bands
Of Art: Then muster up your Forces, say,
Who shall command? or who begin the Fray?
If Seniority takes place, the Galenists
Oblig'd in honour first to enter th' Lists.
What weapons must he use? a Weavers Beams
Too great for him to wield, His Apozemes,
Electuaries, Julips, Bolus, and the rest
Are all too gross to touch this Spirituallist.
More refin'd weapons (though defensive all)
Some say may shield us from this Canniball.
Enter Van Helmont then, who like another
Jacob, endeavours to supplant his Brother,
And with more right perhaps; take but this story;
What feats hee'l do with his Elabratory;
How hee'l unravel Nature, th' causes find
By Chimick art what 'tis compounds the wind:
Yet h's Aquafortis, Regis, and Coelestis,
(With choicest spirit, which esteem'd the best is)
Though elevated higher then the gross
And faeculent composure of a Dos,

Are too terrene t'encounter or contest
With this invincible Antagonist.
Quartans no more shall Galenists defame,
Nor th' Altahest the Paracelsian blame.
Here's a Disease so subtle (though impure)
Baffles them both to find the Cause or Cure.
Let's force Art to her Zenith then, and try
The Virtuosoes Etimology.
How they define, or gravely descant on
This grand invisible Contagion.
Malignant vagrant Atomes are the quaint
(say they) Compounders of this mortal taint,
Their qualities and motion[']s yet obscure,
Till the Dioptricks can discern th'impure,
Though subtle exhalations that proceeds
From the first matter, which infection breeds,
A Quere may be urg'd, whether they be
Not vivid Atoms, since we daily see
All sulphurous Fumes these wanderers expels,
With other Insects to remoter Cells.
Whatere they be, extrinsique first they are,
And Vagrant too, why suffered then so farre
T' entrench on humane nature? cannot Art
Contrive a Statue Law, and whip this tart
Unruly Vagabond from mortal bounds,
Or (as the Country-man the Stragler pounds)
Confine him? No, This Hoegan Mogan Lord,
(Though wafted higher on a Shipwrackt bord)
Takes so much state upon him, (like his Sire,
The Sink of Christendome, Europes Quagmire)
That Civil Laws this Gaderen defies,
With Arts and Sciences as Enemies.
Is Art then stinted? a non ultra here
To her proceedings? Th' Question is not cleer;
The Fountains muddy whence this taint first came,
Why then should th' English Artist foul his name,
In pudling into th' Cause, thus much Ile say,
If sympathetick Atomes bear the sway,
Our Calvenist with's motled Brotherhood,
Draws Dutch Opinions, and his Countryes blood.

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