ENGLAND'S Sin, and Shame: In a Parallel between the Degenerate Estate of Old ROME & GREAT BRITAIN. OR, HOR. Lib. 3. Ode 6. Ad Romanos de Moribus sui saeculi corruptis. Occasionally Paraphrased, and applied for the 30th. of January 1672. Being the Anniversary of the Murder of that Blessed Martyr King CHARLES I.  

PRepost'rously, thou chargest Crimes,  
Vain Britain! on thy Grandsire Times;  
Till thou, the ruin'd Church restore:  
It's Altars, buried in their Dust, rebuild;  
Paysed all those Duties it enjoyed before,  
And all its Sacred Rites revivest again;  
For still the more thou unto Heaven dost yield,  
the higher thou wilt reign.  
Hence springs thy Glory, Hence thy Shame;  
And 'tis neglected Heaven, has thrown on thee  
This mass of wretchedness, and misery;  
Hence grew thy Jealousies, and Fears,  
Unhappy Parents of thy CIVIL WARS!  
Where Brother, Brother; Son, did Father wound:  
Until thy Wickedness, did know no bound;  
But mounted to a Crime  
ne'er known before, by History, nor Time;  
And which no Time, nor Age shall know again:  
The Lords Anointed by his Subjects slain!  
Slain! not by private Rage, or Hate,  
But to a public Execution led:  
Giving a Face of Justice to his Fate,  
As if the Feet were Sovereigns o'er the Head.  
This made thee Slave to Arms, thy self didst raise;  
Hence sprung Infections to prevent thy days;  
This made thy Ships to burn; This makes thy City's blaze  
And mighty Nations far and near,  
Who looked on thee, with wonder, and with fear;  
Now triumphing on thy distractions gaze.   

II.  
This Age, thus fertile in all ills,  
Had first its general Source  
From giving to the Female Sex their wills;  
Which is of all flagitious Crimes the Nurse:  
For where their feeble Souls an Empire gain;  
They Bed, Religion, Stock, and Honour slain:  
And forward, like an Innundation go;  
Till they whole Rcalms, and Nations overthrow.  
How much did Adam's Fall this truth evince?  
But, how more wicked is that Sex grown since!  
The Virgin yet unripe, that scarcely knows,  
To turn her Finger in her Nose:  
To learn lascivious measures, does delight,  
And studies artful Postures to invite:  
e'er Nature calls, she acts incestuous sins;  
And to her Lust, her shamefaced brother wins:  
Soon after, crept up to the Marriage bed;  
Scarce warm within her Husband's arms,  
She's by desires as bold, as wicked led!  
And all her Thoughts employs, and all her Charms,  
Youthful, and strong Adulterers to find;  
Such as best please her lustful mind:  
Nor cares she they her favours steal;  
Nor fears what Sunshine can reveal;  
But answers to their beck in open light,  
And [O shame!] in her Conscious Husband's sight;  
Whether some Factor from the Court do call,  
Or else some hot-reyned Gaul,  
Pay dearly for her Shame and his Delight▪   

III.  
Those Youths, sprung not from such Adulterous brood,  
Who died the Holy Land with Pagan's blood;  
Nor of such spurious strains were those,  
Which made the Lilies stoop unto the Rose:  
But Spirits of a Warlike Race,  
Whose labouring Fathers did Chaste Wives embrace;  
And did not teach them Luxury, but how  
To wield the Spade, the Mattock, and the Blow:  
Who when the Glory of the War was done,  
And they with triumphs were returned home,  
Strove not to put an idle sternness on:  
Forgot the Pride of Feathers they had worn,  
And all the Trophies of the War,  
And to their labours did return,  
Outwatched the Sun; Out-rose the Morning Star;  
And in that friendly time gives rest to all,  
If a severer Mother did but call,  

Fetched home those Logs which they had cleft by day  
For Wars, than taught Men only to obey;  
But Ah! How Manners do with Time decay?   
Our Fathers, worse than theirs, have brought us forth,  
To yield the World an Offspring of less worth.   
FINIS.   

Horat. Lib. 3. Ode VI. Ad Romanos, de Moribus sui Saeculi corruptis.  
DElicta Majorum immeritus lues  
Romane: donec templa refeceris  
Aedesque labentes deorum, &  
Foeda nigro simulacra fumo.  
Diis te minorem quod geris, imperas:  
Hinc omne principium, huc refer exitum.  
Dii multa neglecti dederunt  
Hesperiae mala luctuosae.  
Jam bis Monaeses, & Pacori manus  
Non auspicatos contudit impetus  
Nostros: & adjecisse praedam  
Torquibus exiguis renidet.  
Pene occupatam seditionibus  
Delevit urbem Dacus & Aethiops:  
Hic classe formidatus, ille  
Missilibus melior sagittis.  
Foecuuda culpae sacula, nuptias  
Primum inquinavere, & genus & domos.  
Hoc fonte derivata clades  
In patriam populumque fluxit.  
Motus doceri gaudet jonicos  
Matura virgo, & fingitur artibus  
Jam nunc, & incestos amores  
De tenero mediatur ungui.  
Mox juniores quaerit adulteros  
Inter mariti vina: neque eligit  
Cui donet impermissa raptim  
Gaudia, luminibus remotis;  
Sed jussa coram non sine conscio  
Surgit marito; seu vocet institor,  
Seu navis Hispanae magister  
Dedecorum pretiosus emptor.  
Non his juventus orta parentibus  
In●ecit aequor sanguine Punico;  
Pyrrhumque & ingentem cecidit  
Antiochum, Annibalemque dirum.  
Sed rusticorum mascula militum  
Proles Sabellis d●cta ligonibus  
Vorsare glebas, & severae  
Matris ad arbitrium recisos  
Portare fustes; sol ubi montium  
Mutaret umbras, & juga demeret  
Bobus fatigatis, amicum  
T●mpus agens abeunte curru.  
Damuosa quid non imminuit dies?  
Aetas parentum pejor avis, tulit  
Nos nequiores, mox daturos  
Progeniem vitiosiorem.  
FINIS.