Note 329 — NOTES ON ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL.
Reading edition
This man told a fable of forty thousand Spanish pilgrims, who were to invade Britain, and eke of a number of black bills, wherewith the Irish Catholics were to be armed. Some wag has enumerated his discoveries in the verses entitled, "Funeral Tears upon the Death of Captain William Bedlow:"
"England, the mighty loss bemoan, Thy watchful centinal is gone. Now may the pilgrims land from Spain, And, undiscovered, cross the main; Now may the forty thousand men. In popish arms, be raised again. Black bills may fly about our ears, Who shall secure us from our fears? } { Jesuits may fall to their old sport, { Of burning, slaying, town and court, { And we never the wiser for't. Then pity us; exert thy power, To save us in this dangerous hour; Thou hast to death sworn many men, Ah! swear thyself to life agen."