Penny Dreadfuls, 1602 · page 135 of 400
Penny Dreadful Cover — page 135: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# What This Page Contains This is a page of running verse poetry from *Albions England*, Book III, Chapter 22. The text presents a moralizing speech attributed to Edward, King Harold's preregnant, warning against hypocrisy, social corruption, and religious decay in England. The verse condemns the wealthy for avarice, the poor for envy, parasites and lords for exploitation, and English Christians for abandoning virtue—contrasting them unfavorably with pagan societies that at least honored their gods with sacrifice. The passage ends with complaints about religious schism and pulpit corruption.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- ia > re Fe, ye bo, f Zu SRG eee See oe OM at are, a 5 hee’ * eee 4 } vw y - YC Dwerd, King HaroldsPreregnant,of thisfame Change foretold, - Ic isa world tonote(quoth he) the waies that men adore, , _ And how Hypocrifie hath bred of Godlike Deuils ftore, ie _ That fpeake to feeme,that feeme to fhift,that fhift to fpoyleby guile, _ Thatfinooth,& footh, & yeatdeceiue with Scriptum eff meane while? 4 | The Lords and landed ouer-rent,and cunningly the fame s The Parafite doth ouer-reach,and beares away the game: . | Their lofty heads haue leaden heeles,and end where they begun. | | It is acommon pointon which the aged groflely ronne, a -Onceto haue dared ,faid,and feene,more then was euler done, | Effeminate,phantaftick,and in few not few are nought. | The Lamp/acens gaue Pryapus his filthy Rites,and Create a | To Jove his Bullesjand Ste:te to Ceres tithed VWheat, | | f | ' ¥ : - . : ag = ’ ’ ! Das . ' ie ae a? * - »Y . ‘2. AS a > «ee : , a 7 | Ls re <t ' + ‘> y * i f 4 7 Fi , , eas ; re. sia ‘ ¥ om, Sh : i Od ' a Ss = - is * hh. ty he wes ws : - oy. Ar Pl 3 , hata \ . a) . 4 ‘fio tae Oe. : + = - if . 2 - * - > * ‘ % » wae 2 . » « * 4 . . - gS o> Ve | La Pp Y oe & , ‘iy : /., oe % ‘ : , adie" ha ku | en? @ a a M. . 5 ’ " 4 5 ; A »* = \ . y _, Who prefent and fucceeding times thus,dying did vnfold: a But letthem heaue their handsto Heaven, they hauetheirhierinHell That feeme devout to cloake deceit,and fay but do not well, a The Rich are retchles in their willes,their liking is forlaw: > The Poore repine, andGoods,not theirs, by idle fhiftings claw: ‘a One rifeth by anothers fall,and fome doe clime fo faft, That in the Clowdes they doe forget what Climates they haue paft: But Eagle-winged mindes that fly to neftle in the Sunne, The Youth are foolifh-hardic,or lefle hardy then they ought, At Cyprus not the wanton Saint nor yeat her wylie Sonne j Did want her Orgies,nor at Rome did Vefta lacke her Nonne, i The Thracians with their Bacchanales did Lybers Temple fill, And /tale did blood of Babes on Saturnes Altars fpill, And fatall wreathes of Myrtill boughes were facred vnto Dys , In fewe,there was no Pagane God his Sacrifice did mis: But Engli{h-men,nay cbriftian men,not onely feeme prophane, But Man to Man,as Beaft to Beaft holds ciuill dueties vaine < Yea Pulpits fome,like Pedlers packs,yeeld foorth as men affect, And whata Synode fhall conclude a Sowter willcorrect. The rude thus boafting Litrature,one Schifme begets another, a 4 Gomicbooks-con