The Medal Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABCBDDEEFFGGHHIJKKL MFFNNOPQQRSTTUUVVWWX XYYZZA2A2B2B2B2B2B2C 2C2D2D2E2E2B2B2F2F2B 2B2TTG2G2LLH2H2H2H2H 2H2A2A2I2I2I2H2H2B2B 2OOB2B2B2H2H2A2A2H2H 2H2H2J2J2K2K2H2H2L2L 2G2G2B2B2M2M2POB2B2H 2H2B2B2N2AM2M2PO2H2H 2E2E2B2B2NNP2P2MMB2B 2H2H2H2H2 B2B2Q2Q2H2H2PPH2H2B2 B2R2R2S2S2B2B2PPP T2T2H2H2H2H2H2H2AAH2 H2PPB2B2A2A2E2E2U2U2 V2V2A2A2W2T2V2V2H2H2 BBQJ2G2P B2B2PPPPB2B2QQJ2J2BB B2B2B2AAB2B2WWV2V2PP YYYX2X2Y2Y2PPPUUPPG2 G2UUPPB2B2B2B2 B2B2Z2Z2Z2AAB2B2B2B2 B2B2PPPPAAJ2BA3A3PPB 2B2PP G2G2I2I2R2R2R2B2B2A2 A2PPN2B2B3B3UUPPPPPN 2AA2A2YYY R2R2R2PP B2I2

Of all our antic sights and pageantry	A
Which English idiots run in crowds to see	A
The Polish Medal bears the prize alone	B
A monster more the favourite of the town	C
Than either fairs or theatres have shown	B
Never did art so well with nature strive	D
Nor ever idol seemed so much alive	D
So like the man so golden to the sight	E
So base within so counterfeit and light	E
One side is filled with title and with face	F
And lest the king should want a regal place	F
On the reverse a tower the town surveys	G
O'er which our mounting sun his beams displays	G
The word pronounced aloud by shrieval voice	H
Loetamur which in Polish is Rejoice	H
The day month year to the great act are joined	I
And a new canting holiday designed	J
Five days he sate for every cast and look	K
Four more days than God to finish Adam took	K
But who can tell what essence angels are	L
Or how long Heaven was making Lucifer	M
Oh could the style that copied every grace	F
And ploughed such furrows for an eunuch face	F
Could it have formed his ever changing will	N
The various piece had tired the graver's skill	N
A martial hero first with early care	O
Blown like a pigmy by the winds to war	P
A beardless chief a rebel ere a man	Q
So young his hatred to his Prince began	Q
Next this how wildly will ambition steer	R
A vermin wriggling in the usurper's ear	S
Bartering his venal wit for sums of gold	T
He cast himself into the saint like mould	T
Groaned sighed and prayed while godliness was gain	U
The loudest bag pipe of the squeaking train	U
But as 'tis hard to cheat a juggler's eyes	V
His open lewdness he could ne'er disguise	V
There split the saint for hypocritic zeal	W
Allows no sins but those it can conceal	W
Whoring to scandal gives too large a scope	X
Saints must not trade but they may interlope	X
The ungodly principle was all the same	Y
But a gross cheat betrays his partners' game	Y
Besides their pace was formal grave and slack	Z
His nimble wit outran the heavy pack	Z
Yet still he found hs fortune at a stay	A2
Whole droves of blockheads choking up his way	A2
They took but not rewarded his advice	B2
Villain and wit exact a double price	B2
Power was his aim but thrown from that pretence	B2
The wretch turned loyal in his own defence	B2
And malice reconciled him to his Prince	B2
Him in the anguish of his soul he served	C2
Rewarded faster still than he deserved	C2
Behold him now exalted into trust	D2
His counsels oft convenient seldom just	D2
Even in the most sincere advice he gave	E2
He had a grudging still to be a knave	E2
The frauds he learnt in his fanatic years	B2
Made him uneasy in his lawful gears	B2
At best as little honest as he could	F2
And like white witches mischievously good	F2
To his first bias longingly he leans	B2
And rather would be great by wicked means	B2
Thus framed for ill he loosed our triple hold	T
Advice unsafe precipitous and bold	T
From hence those tears that Ilium was our woe	G2
Who helps a powerful friend forearms a foe	G2
What wonder if the waves prevail so far	L
When he cut down the banks that made the bar	L
Seas follow but their nature to invade	H2
But he by art our native strength betrayed	H2
So Samson to his foe his force confest	H2
And to be shorn lay slumbering on her breast	H2
But when this fatal counsel found too late	H2
Exposed its author to the public hate	H2
When his just sovereign by no impious way	A2
Could be seduced to arbitrary sway	A2
Forsaken of that hope he shifts his sail	I2
Drives down the current with the popular gale	I2
And shows the fiend confessed without a veil	I2
He preaches to the crowd that power is lent	H2
But not conveyed to kingly government	H2
That claims successive bear no binding force	B2
That coronation oaths are things of course	B2
Maintains the multitude can never err	O
And sets the people in the papal chair	O
The reason's obvious interest never lies	B2
The most have still their interest in their eyes	B2
The power is always theirs and power is ever wise	B2
Almighty crowd thou shortenest all dispute	H2
Power is thy essence wit thy attribute	H2
Nor faith nor reason make thee at a stay	A2
Thou leapst o'er all eternal truths in thy Pindaric way	A2
Athens no doubt did righteously decide	H2
When Phocion and when Socrates were tried	H2
As righteously they did those dooms repent	H2
Still they were wise whatever way they went	H2
Crowds err not though to both extremes they run	J2
To kill the father and recall the son	J2
Some think the fools were most as times went then	K2
But now the world's o'erstocked with prudent men	K2
The common cry is even religion's test	H2
The Turk's is at Constantinople best	H2
Idols in India Popery in Rome	L2
And our own worship is only true at home	L2
And true but for the time 'tis hard to know	G2
How long we please it shall continue so	G2
This side to day and that to morrow burns	B2
So all are God Almighties in their turns	B2
A tempting doctrine plausible and new	M2
What fools our fathers were if this be true	M2
Who to destroy the seeds of civil war	P
Inherent right in monarchs did declare	O
And that a lawful power might never cease	B2
Secured succession to secure our peace	B2
Thus property and sovereign sway at last	H2
In equal balances were justly cast	H2
But this new Jehu spurs the hot mounted horse	B2
Instructs the beast to know his native force	B2
To take the bit between his teeth and fly	N2
To the next headlong steep of anarchy	A
Too happy Engand if our good we knew	M2
Would we possess the freedom we pursue	M2
The lavish government can give no more	P
Yet we repine and plenty makes us poor	O2
God tried us once our rebel fathers fought	H2
He glutted them with all the power they sought	H2
Till mastered by their own usurping brave	E2
The free born subject sunk into a slave	E2
We loathe our manna and we long for quails	B2
Ah what is man when his own wish prevails	B2
How rash how swift to plunge himself in ill	N
Proud of his power and boundless in his will	N
That kings can do no wrong we must believe	P2
None can they do and must they all receive	P2
Help Heaven or sadly we shall see an hour	M
When neither wrong nor right are in their power	M
Already they have lost their best defence	B2
The benefit of laws which they dispense	B2
No justice to their righteous cause allowed	H2
But baffled by an arbitrary crowd	H2
And medals graved their conquest to record	H2
The stamp and coin of their adopted lord	H2
	-
The man who laughed but once to see an ass	B2
Mumbling to make the cross grained thistles pass	B2
Might laugh again to see a jury chaw	Q2
The prickles of unpalatable law	Q2
The witnesses that leech like lived on blood	H2
Sucking for them were med'cinally good	H2
But when they fastened on their festered sore	P
Then justice and religion they forswore	P
Thus men are raised by factions and decried	H2
And rogue and saint distinguished by their side	H2
They rack even Scripture to confess their cause	B2
And plead a call to preach in spite of laws	B2
But that's no news to the poor injured page	R2
It has been used as ill in every age	R2
And is constrained with patience all to take	S2
For what defence can Greek and Hebrew make	S2
Happy who can this talking trumpet seize	B2
They make it speak whatever sense they please	B2
'Twas framed at first our oracle to inquire	P
But since our sects in prophecy grow higher	P
The text inspires not them but they the text inspire	P
	-
London thou great emporium of our isle	T2
O thou too bounteous thou too fruitful Nile	T2
How shall I praise or curse to thy desert	H2
Or separate thy sound from thy corrupted part	H2
I called thee Nile the parallel will stand	H2
Thy tides of wealth o'erflow the fattened land	H2
Yet monsters from thy large increase we find	H2
Engendered on the slime thou leavest behind	H2
Sedition has not wholly seized on thee	A
Thy nobler parts are from infection free	A
Of Israel's tribes thou hast a numerous band	H2
But still the Canaanite is in the land	H2
Thy military chiefs are brave and true	P
Nor are thy disenchanted burghers few	P
The head is loyal which thy heart commands	B2
But what's a head with two such gouty hands	B2
The wise and wealthy love the surest way	A2
And are content to thrive and to obey	A2
But wisdom is to sloth too great a slave	E2
None are so busy as the fool and knave	E2
Those let me curse what vengeance will they urge	U2
Whose ordures neither plague nor fire can purge	U2
Nor sharp experience can to duty bring	V2
Nor angry Heaven nor a forgiving king	V2
In gospel phrase their chapmen they betray	A2
Their shops are dens the buyer is their prey	A2
The knack of trades is living on the spoil	W2
They boast e'en when each other they beguile	T2
Customs to steal is such a trivial thing	V2
That 'tis their charter to defraud their King	V2
All hands unite of every jarring sect	H2
They cheat the country first and then infect	H2
They for God's cause their monarchs dare dethrone	B
And they'll be sure to make His cause their own	B
Whether the plotting Jesuit laid the plan	Q
Of murdering kings or the French Puritan	J2
Our sacrilegious sects their guides outgo	G2
And kings and kingly power would murder too	P
	-
What means their traitorous combination less	B2
Too plain to evade too shameful to confess	B2
But treason is not owned when 'tis descried	P
Successful crimes alone are justified	P
The men who no consiracy would find	P
Who doubts but had it taken they had joined	P
Joined in a mutual covenant of defence	B2
At first without at last against their Prince	B2
If sovereign right by sovereign power they scan	Q
The same bold maxim holds in God and man	Q
God were not safe his thunder could they shun	J2
He should be forced to crown another son	J2
Thus when the heir was from the vineyard thrown	B
The rich possession was the murderers' own	B
In vain to sophistry they have recourse	B2
By proving theirs no plot they prove 'tis worse	B2
Unmasked rebellion and audiacious force	B2
Which though not actual yet all eyes may see	A
'Tis working in the immediate power to be	A
For from pretended grievances they rise	B2
First to dislike and after to dispise	B2
Then Cyclop like in human flesh to deal	W
Chop up a minister at every meal	W
Perhaps not wholly to melt down the king	V2
But clip his regal rights within the ring	V2
From thence to asssume the power of peace and war	P
And ease him by degrees of public care	P
Yet to consult his dignity and fame	Y
He should have leave to exercise the name	Y
And hold the cards while Commons played the game	Y
For what can power give more than food and drink	X2
To live at ease and not be bound to think	X2
These are the cooler methods of their crime	Y2
But their hot zealots think 'tis loss of time	Y2
On utmost bounds of loyalty they stand	P
And grin and whet like a Croatian band	P
That waits impatient for the last command	P
Thus outlaws open villainy maintain	U
They steal not but in squadrons scour the plain	U
And if their power the passengers subdue	P
The most most have right the wrong is in the few	P
Such impious axioms foolishly they show	G2
For in some soils Republics will not grow	G2
Our temperate Isle will no extremes sustain	U
Of popular sway or arbitrary reign	U
But slides between them both into the best	P
Secure in freedom in a monarch blest	P
And though the climate vexed with various winds	B2
Works through our yielding bodies on our minds	B2
The wholesome tempest purges what it breeds	B2
To recommend the calmness that succeeds	B2
	-
But thou the pander of the people's hearts	B2
O crooked soul and serpentine in arts	B2
What curses on thy blasted name will fall	Z2
Which age to age their legacy shall call	Z2
For all must curse the woes that must descend on all	Z2
Religion thou hast none thy mercury	A
Has passed through every sect or theirs through thee	A
But what thou givest that venom still remains	B2
And the poxed nation feels thee in their brains	B2
What else inspires the tongues and swells the breasts	B2
Of all thy bellowing renegado priests	B2
That preach up thee for God dispense thy laws	B2
And with thy stum ferment their fainting cause	B2
Fresh fumes of madness raise and toil and sweat	P
To make the formidable cripple great	P
Yet should thy crimes succeed should lawless power	P
Compass those ends thy greedy hopes devour	P
Thy canting friends thy mortal foes would be	A
Thy god and theirs will never long agree	A
For thine if thou hast any must be one	J2
That lets the world and human kind alone	B
A jolly god that passes hours too well	A3
To promise Heaven or threaten us with Hell	A3
That unconcerned can at rebellion sit	P
And wink at crimes he did himself commit	P
A tyrant theirs the heaven their priesthood paints	B2
A conventicle of gloomy sullen saints	B2
A heaven like Bedlam slovenly and sad	P
Foredoomed for souls with false religion mad	P
	-
Without a vision poets can foreshow	G2
What all but fools by common sense may know	G2
If true succession from our Isle should fail	I2
And crowds profane with impious arms prevail	I2
Not thou nor those thy factious arts engage	R2
Shall reap that harvest of rebellious rage	R2
With which thou flatterest thy decrepit age	R2
The swelling poison of the several sects	B2
Which wanting vent the nation's health infects	B2
Shall burst its bag and fighting out their way	A2
The various venoms on each other prey	A2
The Presbyter puffed up with spiritual pride	P
Shall on the necks of the lewd nobles ride	P
His brethren damn the civil power defy	N2
And parcel out republic prelacy	B2
But short shall be his reign his rigid yoke	B3
And tyrant power will puny sects provoke	B3
And frogs and toads and all the tadpole train	U
Will croak to Heaven for help from this devouring crane	U
The cut throat sword and clamorous gown shall jar	P
In sharing their ill gotten spoils of war	P
Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend	P
Lords envy lords and friends with every friend	P
About their impious merit shall contend	P
The surly Commons shall respect deny	N2
And justle peerage out with property	A
Their General either shall his trust betray	A2
And force the crowd to arbitrary sway	A2
Or they suspecting his ambitious aim	Y
In hate of kings shall cast anew the frame	Y
And thrust out Collatine that bore their name	Y
	-
Thus inborn broils the factions would engage	R2
Or wars of exiled heirs or foreign rage	R2
Till halting vengeance overtook our age	R2
And our wild labours wearied into rest	P
Reclined us on a rightful monarch's breast	P
	-
Pudet hoec opprobria vobis	B2
Et dici potuisse et non potuisse refelli	I2

John Dryden

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