2-» S. VI. 148., Oct. 30. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



341 



LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30. 1858. 



LAMPOON ON DE. PIERCE. 



I send you, thinking it might be acceptable to 

 "N. & Q.," a copy of a lampoon on Di\ Pierce, 

 President of Magdalen College, Oxford, in the 

 time of Charles II : it is from the library of the 

 late Dr. Bliss, and he notes, " The author said to 

 be John i?awson, Fellow of Magdalen, who was 

 expelled ; the printer (E. Thome, 1663), who was 

 for ever discommuned, i?awson afterwards re- 

 stored. This half sheet was all ever printed. AVood, 

 {A. 0. iv. 2.), says it came out on the 28th of Au- 

 gust, 1663. There is a copy in the Bodleian Li- 

 brary among Rawlinson's books, formerly Tho. 

 Hearne's, Rawl, 4^. 128." : — 



" Dr. Pierce : His Preaching Confuted hy His Practice. 

 Sent in a Letter by N. G. to a Friend in London. 



" Dear George, — 



" I send thee a Copy of tbe Lampoon upon the Presi- 

 dent of 3Iaudlins, that you may see at what distance his 

 Court-preaching stands with his College-practice. For 

 there he twitted the Romanists with I know not what 

 Novelties, both of Doctrine and Practice, cunningly 

 brought into the Church ; whilest he, by a tyrannical and 

 arbitrary way of Governing, he puts down all the good 

 old Customs which seemed tit to be preserv'd by his Pre- 

 decessors (some whereof were as good, and others better 

 then himself), and, under pretence of Reformation, hath 

 innovated more in a year and half, than the Romanists 

 had done in many Ages. What his Innovations are I 

 need not s&y here in Prose ; thou wilt find in great part 

 thej' are told in Verse : whereof but five or six Stanzas 

 were proclaira'd on Act-Monday by Mr. Brookes of 

 Christs-Churcb, than whom in many years there has not 

 been a more couragious, or a more comical, Terras-filius. 

 But his most execrable Novelty was his imperious way 

 of Proceeding against Harry Yerbury, who (for all his 

 Degree, and his Suflferings for the King, 1648, his great 

 Ingenuity, and civil Carriage) was not only [in Tract 

 onely] put out of Commons like a Boy, for I know not 

 what Peccadillo's call'd Verba brigosa ; but cast out of the 

 College like any Dog, for but appealing to the Visitor 

 from such Correction. Now to scare our own Governours 

 from presuming to deal with us, as the Statute-monger of 

 Maudlins dealt with him, bo sure to publish this Ballad 

 as far and wide as thou canst, so thou be'st but so honest 

 as to bush up the Name of 



" Thy aflfectionate Servant, 



«N. G." 

 1. 



" Near to the Ford, o'er which an Ass 

 Or an Ox at least did pass, 

 And where the once-bless'd, Magdalen 

 A sinner is possess'd agen. 

 The man tliat sets up Innovation 

 By th' primitive Kuk of Jhfurmation, 

 And preacli'd down Popery too, in hope 

 To be in time Himself a Pope, 

 Makes now Religious Modes to grow, 

 It^/iicti from the Beginning were nothing so. 



2. 

 " Demycs, and Fellows too, they say, 

 Arc in the Chappel brought to pray. 



As often as the Organs blow ; 

 But from the beginning it was not so. 



3. 

 " The Founder's Laws are so set up, 

 That Scholars, when they dine and sup. 

 But bandy Latine to and fro ; 

 But from the beginning it was not so. 



4. 

 " The tree, which Walnuts forth did shoot, 

 Is voted down both branch and root : 

 And where Bowls ran, there Turnips grow ; 

 But from the beginning it was not so. 



5. 

 •' Demyships, which were bought and sold. 

 Cannot now be had for Gold ; 

 And things call'd Merits, currant go ; 

 But from the beginning it was not so. 



6. 

 " Fellowships eke are nothing worth. 

 Which eightscore Pieces did bring forth, 

 And a Gratuity too, I trow; 

 But from the beginning it was not so. 



7. 

 " A Belly-full now for a Feast must suffice. 

 Whilst by an abatement of Plum-broth and Pies 

 Men are taught to be temperate ; but yet we know 

 Tliatfrom the beginning it was not so. 



8. 

 " Depraved manners now must be 

 Reform'd by Easter-scrutiny, 

 Where none must his Accuser know. 

 But from the beginning it was not so. 



9. 

 " In time of Term, 'tis lately said. 

 That weekly Preachments must be made. 

 Whether the Preacher will or no. 

 But from tlie beginning it was not so. 



10. 

 " Gold is now wrested from the Fists 

 Ot all the late Spurroyallists 

 Sent Pris'ners to th' Tow'r, as though 

 From the beginning it had been so. 



11. 



" The Grammar-school hath also cause 

 To any, New Lords do make new Laws, 

 Though Busby's followers needs must know 

 That from the beginning it was not so. 



12. 

 " Amongst the other Modern fashions 

 All men are brought to Disputations, 

 Both great and small, from top to toe ; 

 But from the beginning it was not so, 



13. 



" If a good Fellow be Maudlin drunk. 

 Speak Verba brigosa, or keep a Punk, 

 He straight must out of Commons go ; 

 But from the beginning it teas not so. 



Last. 

 " If thereupon he make Appeals 

 For having /asfec/ all those Meals, 

 He never must have Cotmnons moe ; 

 But from the beginning it tvas not so." 



Allow me to put a Query, " who was Harry 

 Yerbury?" Could you give me any account of 



