Note 3 — HEROIC STANZAS TO THE MEMORY OF OLIVER CROMWELL.
Reading edition
This edition occurs in the Luttrell Collection, and the title runs thus: "An Elegy on the Usurper O. C. by the Author of 'Absalom and Achitophel;' published to show the loyalty and integrity of the Poet."
Postscript.
The printing of these rhimes afflicts me more Than all the drubs I in Rose-Alley bore; This shows my nauseous, mercenary pen, Would praise the vilest and the worst of men. A rogue like Hodge[4] am I, the world well know it; Hodge was his fiddler, and I, John, his poet. This may prevent the pay for which I write; For I for pay against my conscience fight. I must confess, so infamous a knave Can do no service, though the humblest slave: } { Villains I praise, and patriots accuse; { My railing and my fawning talents use; { Just as they pay, I flatter or abuse But I to men in power a —— am still, To rub on any honest face they will. } { Thus on I'll go; for libels I declare; { Best friends no more than worst of foes I'll spare; { And all this I can do, because I dare. He who writes on, and cudgels can defy, And, knowing he'll be beaten, still writes on, am I.
London, printed for J. Smith, 1681. J. D.