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AN INDEPENDENT
IS one, of whom in Mandevile we read,
Who acts all offices without a Head.
He knows no King; no Caesar; nor a Law
That should Allegeance from a subject draw.
His gallant Independence cannot stand
Where Soveraignty holds a commanding hand.
At first (sayes he) no King was known to us;
Which to confirme, He states the Question thus.
When Adam was on earth the onely man,
Admit him King, who were his Subjects than?
Beasts, Birds and Plants the onely Creatures were,
O're which he was assign'd to dominere:
Nor can you find, turne Annals o're and o're,
That ever He a Crown Imperiall wore.
No Princely habit beautifi'd his state,
No surly Guard sat waiting at his Gate;
No groomes o'th' Chamber; nor smooth Parasites
To lure Him to prohibited delights:
Unlesse it were, (from whom we'r taught to erre,)
That Serpent Parasite, damn'd Lucifer.
Courts were not then expos'd to merchandize,
His Garden bounded in his Liberties;
Which in their choice fruition were so many,
They pleas'd himself without offence to any.
His solitary Empire was so good,
Oppression was a word not understood:
An Eden given him for his Continent,
Where each flower cheer'd his sense with various sent.
A native freedom made him onely great,
And though no Monarch in a Monarchs seat.
Nor King, nor Subject He; but such an one,
"None did depend of Him, and He of none.
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Kings are usurpers, take them at the best,
Who with stoln feathers build their airy Nest.
For if their aimes comply with liqu'rish sense,
Angling at more then humane competence,
They play the ravenous state-incroching Beasts
To sate their quests with others interests.
And must our flesh feed their insatiate jawes,
Or slave our freedom to tyrannick Lawes,
Which much like subtle Spider-webs betray
Small Flies, while Great ones scape and break away?
He then who would his Liberty resign,
And make himself a bondslave unto time,
May he wind up his dayes in discontent,
By changing of his freedoom with restraint.
A brave exchange! when th' Master of a Trade,
Is through his weaknesse an Apprentice made;
As if he should lesse dignity receive
From style of Freeman, then the stamp of Slave.
Give me leave then to be my own Physition,
And build my faith upon this firme Position:
"He who depends upon anothers power,
"Forfeits his state to his Superiour.
What a disloyall Libertine is this,
Huggs Independence, Knows not what it is:
And for his life cannot assoyle this doubt,
Which member ha's most worth the Head or Foot?
'Tis his opinion too, no vitall part
Holds any such dependence on the heart,
As to take strength or livelyhood from it,
Or that one joynt should to another knit,
But keep a distance: as if nature ment
An independent equall Government
Through all this little humane Common-weal;
No Court must to another make appeale.
So as, methinks, His statue is become
Like Mahomets rare— independent Tombe
In Mecha rear'd; which twix't two Adamants
To th' admiration of those Miscreants,
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Hangs in an equall distance without stay,
From roofe to pavement in a middle way.
Should we survey Him further, we might find
This Prodigy to nature most unkind
To his own Members being much asham'd
To call them his, because thei'r Organs nam'd:
Tunelesse they must be, if such Pipes they be,
Swolne with Apocryphall disharmonie.
But what are State-distractions unto Him;
In troubled waters He desires to swim?
For even as Beetles are by ordure bred,
So is his humour by distempers fed:
When flourishing Empires surfeiting of peace
Breake forth into rebellious Complices;
When Civile wars imbroile a fruitfull Land,
And gage our fortunes to a Souldiers hand;
When Princes are cut off, and Traitors live
By their own Lawes without Prerogative
Or check of Caesar; than, and nere till than
Doth th' Independent shew himself a man;
Or savage fury; then is his harvest-day,
VVhich must by others ruine make a way
To his exhausted fortunes; and redeeme
His blanched fame by good mens disesteeme.
Fame strangly purchas'd; when a knave in graine
Aimes at esteem by an injurious gaine!
But to reclaime thee, and expunge that wrong
Absur'd opinion thou hast nurs'd so long,
Tell me, licentious rioter, whose state
Ha's its subsistance from our Civile hate
Fed by perfidious Councell; what can'st see
Should plant these grounds of Independencie
In thy distemper'd bosom?—Take a view
Of all such Creatures as on Earth renew,
VVhat Analogicall dependence these
Acknowledge in their naturall increase.
Plants cheer'd by silver dewes and glorious rayes
Bud, bloome and blossom forth delicious sprayes;
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VVhich without native heat and moisture too
VVould neither fruit not livery bestow:
The faithfull Elme supports the fruitfull Vine,
The Honey-suckle clinges the Eglantine;
An Embleme of the State and Church our Mother,
Holding such near dependence one on th' other.
Rills from their Fountaines like relation take,
Sprigs from their Stems, and Consorts from their Make,
Servants to Masters, Children to the Law
Of Parents, whence they their extraction draw;
Souldiers to their Commanders; in a word
Inferiour States to their superiour Lord
Hold true Analogy: No Musick sweet
Unlesse the strings harmoniously meet:
And breath such Diapason in the eare
As no dis-union in their notes appeare.
Had Orpheus harp been harsh, we may presume
Pluto had ne're been ravish't with his Tune,
Nor so surpriz'd with his attractive hand
As to bestow whats'ere He would demand.
O had he been from jealousie as cleare,
As in his Musicall pure Lyrick sphere,
He might with safety have enjoyned his Bride,
VVho now lies wantoning by Pluto's side!
Observe but these; and see if any shelfe
Incounter with dependence but thy self.
Stones by a native cement are so knit,
No art nor violence may sever it
VVithout a dissolution of the maine,
In these reflect upon thy Soveraign,
That polish'd stone, if it should be defac't,
The structur's blemished where it was plac't.
For it fares with the body Politick
As with the Nat'rall; if the Head be sick,
Or indispos'd, the Members needs must show
An Indisposure in their temper too.
He sits at sterne, and like a Pilot guides
The ship that on the Ocean bravely rides.
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Impetuous windes He patiently indures,
Imperious feares He with his courage cures;
He holds the Card by which they steare their course,
He of his fellowes sufferings takes remorse.
He shares in all extremes: and entertaines
His Mariners for sharers in his gaines.
Now, who is He if humane, could afford
An hand to throw this Pilot over boord?
Yet thou art He hast done it:—yea that Gate
VVhere thou perform'd that tragick Act of late,
Act of all Acts a President, and tell
If any age can shew it's parallel.
Now if a Tree be best known by the fruit,
How may it with an Independent suit.
To kill his Soveraign? —Abjure it then
And be no more a Prodigy to men:
And to assoyle the crime that thou haste done
Unto his Syre, redeeme it in his Son.
Recant, relent, returne, repaire thy time,
And turne true Convert to the Royall line.