Woodstock | Page 3

those that burned, burned blew,
Never kept soldiers such a doe Or vaper.
The book thus burnt and none knew how The poore contractors made a
vow To work no more; this spoil'd their plow In that place.
Some other part o' th' house they'll find, To which the divell hath no
mind, But hee, it seems, is not inclin'd With that grace;
But other pranks it plaid elsewhere. An oake there was stood many a
yeere, Of goodly growth as any where, Was hewn down,
Which into fewell-wood was cut, And some into a wood-pile put, But it
was hurled all about And thrown down.
In sundry formes it doth appeare; Now like a grasping claw to teare;
Now like a dog; anon a beare It tumbles;

And all the windows battered are, No man the quarter enter dare; All
men (except the glasier) Doe grumble.
Once in the likenesse of woman, Of stature much above the common,
'Twas seene, but spak a word to no man, And vanish'd.
'Tis thought the ghost of some good wife Whose husband was depriv'd
of life, Her children cheated, land in strife She banist.
No man can tell the cause of these So wondrous dreadful outrages; Yet
if upon your sinne you please To discant,
You'le find our actions out-doe hell's; O wring your hands and cease
the bells, Repentance must, or nothing else Appease can't.

No. II.
THE JUST DEVIL OF WOODSTOCK;
OR,
A TRUE NARRATIVE OF THE SEVERAL APPARITIONS, THE
FRIGHTS AND PUNISHMENTS, INFLICTED UPON THE
RUMPISH COMMISSIONERS SENT THITHER TO SURVEY THE
MANNORS AND HOUSES BELONGING TO HIS MAJESTIE.
[London, printed in the year 1660. 4to.]
The names of the persons in the ensuing Narrative mentioned, with
others:--
CAPTAIN COCKAINE. CAPTAIN HART. CAPTAIN CROOK.
CAPTAIN CARELESSE. CAPTAIN ROE. Mr. CROOK, the Lawyer.
Mr. BROWNE, the Surveyor. Their three Servants. Their
Ordinary-keeper, and others. The Gatekeeper, with the Wife and
Servants.

Besides many more, who each night heard the noise; as Sir Gerrard
Fleetwood and his lady, with his family, Mr. Hyans, with his family,
and several others, who lodged in the outer courts; and during the three
last nights, the inhabitants of Woodstock town, and other neighbor
villages.
And there were many more, both divines and others, who came out of
the country, and from Oxford, to see the glass and stones, and other
stuffe, the devil had brought, wherewith to beat out the Commissioners;
the marks upon some walls remain, and many, this to testifie.
THE PREFACE TO THE ENSUING NARRATIVE.
Since it hath pleased the Almighty God, out of his infinite mercy, so to
make us happy, by restoring of our native King to us, and us unto our
native liberty through him, that now the good may say, _magna
temporum felicitas ubi sentire quoe velis, et dicere licet quoe sentias_,
we cannot but esteem ourselves engaged in the highest of degrees, to
render unto him the highest thanks we can express. Although, surpris'd
with joy, we become as lost in the performance; when gladness and
admiration strikes us silent, as we look back upon the precipiece of our
late condition, and those miraculous deliverances beyond expression.
Freed from the slavery, and those desperate perils, we dayly lived in
fear of, during the tyrannical times of that detestable usurper, Oliver
Cromwell; he who had raked up such judges, as would wrest the most
innocent language into high treason, when he had the cruel conscience
to take away our lives, upon no other ground of justice or reason, (the
stones of London streets would rise to witness it, if all the citizens were
silent.) And with these judges had such councillors, as could advise
him unto worse, which will less want of witness. For should the many
auditors be silent, the press, (as God would have it,) hath given it us in
print, where one of them (and his conscience-keeper, too,) speaks out.
What shall we do with these men? saith he; _Aeger intemperans
crudelem facit medicum, et immedicabile vulmis ense recidendum_.
Who these men are that should be brought to such Scicilian vespers, the
former page sets forth--those which conceit Utopias, and have their
day-dreams of the return of I know not what golden age, with the old

line. What usage, when such a privy councillor had power, could he
expect, who then had published this narrative? This much so plainly
shows the devil himself dislikt their doings, (so much more bad were
they than he would have them be,) severer sure than was the devil to
their Commissioners at Woodstock; for he warned them, with dreadful
noises, to drive them from their work. This councillor, without more
ado, would have all who retained conceits of allegiance to their
soveraign, to be absolutely cut off by the usurper's sword.