(f^'XM^ (2m&MiLm% Tmm witk^t H U D I B R A S SAMUEL BUTLER INTOTES AJNJ:> J^ T^ITER^I?,^^ IMEIMOIR II.LCSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS, AND CONTAINING A NEW AND COMPLETE INDEX. • " Ncn deerunt fortasse vitilitigatores, qui calumnientur, pnrtim leviores esse nugas, qnam ut theolo^aim deceant, partim mordaciores, quam ut Christianse conveniant modesiife." Erasm. Moriw. Eneom. rrerjat. NEW YORK : D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 90, 92 & 94 GEAND ST. 1869. ^ I (/ ^ .iy of Constaniine the Great, to which Otway wrote the pro- logue, according to Giles Jacob in his poetical Register, was not acted at the Theatre Royal till 1681, four ^'ears after our poet's death, but probably he had seen the MS. or heard the thought, as both his MSS. difler somewhat from the printed copy. AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS, 15 111 the same MS. he says, " wit is very chargeable, •* and not to be maintained in its necessary expenses at •' an ordinary rate : it is the worst trade in the world to ■' live upon, and a commodity that no man thinks he ' has need of, for those who have least believe they havo '•« most." Ingenuity and wit Do only make the owners fit For nothing, but to be undone Much easier than if th' had none. Mr. Butler spent some time in France, probably wheii Lewis XIV. was in the height of his glory and vanity : however, neither the language nor manners of Paris were pleasing to our modest poet ; some of his obser\'a- tions may be amusing, I shall therefore insert them in a note.* He married Mrs. Herbert: whether she was a * " The French use so many words, upon all occasions, that if they did not cut them short in pronunciation, they would grow tedious and insufferable. " They infinitely affect rhyme, though it becomes their lan- guage the worst in the world, and spoils the little sense they have to make room for it, and make the same syllable rhyme to itself, which is worse than metal upon metal in heraldry : they find it much easier to write plays in verse tlian in prose, for it is much harder to imitate nature, than any deviation from her ; and prose requires a more proper and natural sense and expres- sion than verse, that has something in the stamp and coin to an- swer for the alloy and want of intrinsic value. I never came among them, but the following line was in my mind: Raucaque garrulitas, studiunique inane loquendi; for they talk so much, they have not time to think; and if they had all the wit in the world, their tongues would run before it. "The present king of France is building a most stately tri umphal arch in memory of his victories, and the great actions which he has performed : but, if I am not mistaken, those edifi- ces which bear that name at Rome, were not raised by the em- perors whose names ihey bear, (such as Trajan, Titus, &c.,) but were decreed by the Senate, and built at the expense of the pub- lic ; for that glory is lost, which any man designs to consecrate to himself. "The king takes a very good course to weaken the city of Pa- ris by adorning of it, and to render it less, by making it appear greater and more glorious ; for he pulls down whole streets to make room for his palaces and public structures. " There is nothing great or magnificent in all the country, that I have seen, but the buildings and furniture of the king's houses and the churches ; all the rest is mean and paltry, "The king is necessitated to lay heavy taxes upon his subjects in his own defence, and to keep tliem poor, in order to keep then, quiet ; for if they are suffered to enjoy any plenty, they are natu- rally so insoPent, that they would become ungovernable, and use him as they have done his predecessors: but he has rendered himself so strong, that they have no thoughts of attempting any Ihing in his time. 2 16 ON SAMUEL BUTLER ESQ., widow, or not, is uncertain ; with her he expected a con- siderable fortune, but, through various losses, and kna- very, he found himself disappointed : to this some have attributed his severe strictures upon the professors of the law ; but if his censures be properly considered, they will be found to bear hard only upon the disgraceful part of each profession, and upon false learning in general : this was a favorite subject with him, but no man had a great- er regard for, or was a better judge of the worthy part of the three learned professions, or learning in general, than Mr. Butler. How long he continued in office, as steward of Lud- low Castle, is not known ; but he lived the latter part of his life in Rose-street, Covent Garden, in a studious retired manner, and died there in the year 1680. — -He is said to have been buried at the expense of Mr. Wil- liam Longueville, though he did not die in debt. Some of his friends wished to have inten-ed him in Westminster Abbey with proper solemnity ; but not finding others willing to contribute to the expense, his corpse was deposited privately in the yard belonging to the church of Saint Paul's, Covent Garden, at the west end of the said yard, on the north side, under the wall of the said church, and under that wall which parts the yard from the common higlnvay.* I have been thus particular, because, in the year 1786, when the church was repaired, a marble monument was placed on the south side of the church on the inside, by some of the parishioners, which might tend to mislead posterity as to the place of his interment : their zeal for the memory of the learned poet does them honor ; but the writer of the verses seems to have mistaken the character of Mr. Butler. The inscription runs thus : " This little monument was erected in the year 1.786, " by some of the parishioners of Covent Garden, in "The churchmen overlook all other people as haughtily as the tnurches and steei)les do private houses. "The French do nothing without ostentation, and the king himself is not behind with his triumphal arches consecrated to himself, and his impress of the sun, nee pluribus impar, " The French king having copies of the best pictures from Ronifi, is as a great prince wearing clothes at second hand: the king in his prodigious charge of buildings and furniture does the same thing to himself that he means to do by Paris, renders him- self weaker, by endeavoring to appear the more magnificent: lets go the substance for shadow." * See Butler's Life, printed before the small edition of Hudi \>ras in 1710, and reprinted iiy Dr. Grey AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS, 17 " memory of the celebrated Samuel Butler, who wfis " buried in this church, A. D. 1680. " A few plain men, to pomp and state unknown, "O'er a poor bard have raised this humble stone, " Whose wants alone his genius could su'pass, " Victim of zeal ! the matchless Hudibras ; " What though fair freedom suffer'd in his page, " Reader, forgive the author for the age ! " How i'ew, alas ! disdain to cringe and cant, " When 'tis the mode to play the sycophant. " But, oh ! let all be taught, from Butler's fate, " Who hope to make their fortunes by the great, " That wit and pride are always dangerous things, " And little faith is due to courts and kings." In the year 1721, John Barber, an eminent printer, and alderman of London, erected a monument to our poet in Westminster Abbey ; the inscription is as fol- lows : M. S. Samuelis Butler Qui Strenshamiffi in agro Vigorn. natus 1G12, Obiit Lond. 1G80. Vir doctus imprimis, acer, integer, Operibus ingenii non item prsmiis felix. Salyrici apud nos carminis artifex egregius. Qui simulatffi religionis larvam delraxit Et perduellium scelera liberrime exagitavit, Scriptorum in suo genere primus et postrenuis.* Ne cui vivo deerant fere omnia Deesset etiam mortuo tumulus Hoc tandem posito marmore curavit Johannes Barber civis Londinensis 1721. On the latter part of this epitaph the ingenious Mr Samuel Wesley wrote the following lines : While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive. No generous patron would a dinner give ; See him, when starved to death, and turn'd to dust, Treser.ted with a monumental bust. The poet's fate is here in emblem shown, He ask'd for bread, and he received a stone. Soon after this monument was erected in Westminster Abbey, some persons proposed to erect one in Covent Garden church, for which Mr. Dennis wrote the follow- ing inscription : Near this place lies interr'd The body of Mr. Samuel Butler, Author of Hudibras. He was a whole species of poets in one : Adniirable in a manner In which no one else has l)een tolerable : A manner which began and ended in him. 18 ON SAMUEL BUTLER ESQ., In which he knew no guide, And has found no followers. Nat. 1G12. Ob. IfiSO. Hudibras is Mr. Butler's capital work, and though the characters, poems, thoughts, «Scc., published by Mr. Thyer, in two volumes octavo, are certainly written by the same masterly hand, though they abound in lively rallies of wit, and display a copious variety of erudition, yet the nature of the subjects, their not having received the author's last corrections, and many other reasons which might be given, render them less acceptable to the present taste of the public, which no longer relishes the antiquated mode of writing characters, cultivated when Butler was young, by men of genius, such as Bishop Earie and Mr. Cleveland ; the volumes, how- ever, are very useful, as they tend to illustrate many passages in Hudibras. The three small ones entitled. Posthumous Works, in Prose and Verse, by Mr. Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras, printed 1715, 1716, 1717, are all spurious, except the Pindaric ode on Duval the highwayman, and perhaps one or two of the prose pieces. As to the MSS. which after Mr. Butler's death came into the hands of Mr. Longueville, and from Vv'hence Mr. Thyer published his genuine Remains in the year 1759 ; what remain of them, still unpublished, are either in the hands of the ingenious Doctor Farmer, of Cambridge, or myself: for Mr. Butler's Common-place Book, mentioned by Mr. Thyer, I am indebted to the lib- eral and public-spirited James Massey, Esq., of Rosthern, near Knotsford, Cheshire. The poet's frequent and correct use of law-terms* is a sufficient proof that he v.-as well versed iu that science ; but if furtlier evidence were wanting, I can produce a MS. purchased of some of our poet"s relations, at the Hay, in Brecknockshire : it appears to be a collection of legal cases and principles, regularly related from Lord Coke's Commentary on Littleton's Tenures: the language is Norman, or law French, and, in general, an abridgment of the above- mentioned celebrated work : for the authorities in the margin of the MS. correspond exactly with those given on the same positions in the first institute ; and the sub- ject matter contained in each particular section of But- jer's legal tract, is to be found in the same numbered * Butler is said to liave been a member of Gray's-inn, and of a club with Cleveland and other wits inclined to the royal causes AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. 19 section of Coke upon Littleton : the first book of the MS. hkewise ends with the 84th section, which same number of sections also terminates the first institute and the second book of the MS. is entitled by Butler, Le second livre del primer part del institutes de ley d'Engleterre. The titles of the respective chapters of the MS. also precisely agree with the titles of each chapter in Coke upon Littleton ; it may, therefore, rea- sonably be presumed to have been compiled by Butler solely from Coke upon Littleton, with no other object than to impress strongly on his mind the sense of that author ; and written in Norman, to familiarize himself with the barbarous language in which the learning of the common law of England was at that period almost uniformly expressed. The MS. is imperfect, no title existing, some leaves being torn, and is continued only to the 193d section, which is about the middle of Coke's second book. of the first institute. As another instance of the poet's great industry, I have a French dictionary, compiled and transcribed by him : thus did our ancestors, with great labor, draw truth and learning out of deep wells, v/hereas our mod- ern scholars only skim the surface, and pilfer a super- ficial knowledge from encyclopaedias and reviews. It doth not appear that he ever wrote for the stage, though I have, in his MS. Common-place book, part of an un- finished tragedy, entitled Nero. Concerning Hudibras there is but one sentiment — it is universally allowed lo be the first and last poem of its kind ; the learning, wit, and humor, certainly stand un- rivalled ; various have been the attempts to define or describe the two last ; the greatest English writers have tried in vain ; Cowley,* Barrow,t Dryden,t Locke, § Addison, II Pope,'0' and Congreve, all failed in their at- tempts ; perhaps they are more to be felt than explain- ed, and to be understood rather from example than pre- cept ; if any one wishes to know what wit and humor are, let him read Hudibras with attention, he will there see them displayed in the brightest colors : there is lus- tre resulting from the quick elucidation of an object, by * In his Ode on Wit,— t in his Sermon ngain;;! Foolish Talk Ing and Jesting, — J in his Preface to an Opera failed the State of Innocence,— $ Essay on Human Understanding, b. ii. c. y.— I Spectator, Nos. 35 and 32. — *r Essay concerning humor ia Comedy, and Corbyn IMorris's Essay on Wit, Humor, and Eail- 20 ON SAMUEL BUTLER, ES^., a just and unexpected arranjrcment of it with another subject ; propriety of words, and thoughts ciegantly adapted to the occasion : objects which possess an af- finity and congruity, or sometimes a contrast to each other, assembled with quickness and variety ; in short, every ingredient of wit, or of humor, which critics have discovered on dissecting them, may be found in this poem. The reader may congratulate himself, that he is not destitute of taste to relish both, if he can read it with delight ; nor would it he presumption to transfer to this capital author, Quinctilian's enthusiastic praise of a great Ancient : hunc igitur spectemus, hoc propositum sit nobis exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat cui Cicero valde placebit. Hudibras is to an epic poem, what a good farce is to a tragedy : persons advanced m years generally prefer the former, having met with tragedies enough in real hfe ; whereas the comedy, or interlude, is a relief from anxious and disgusting reflections, and suggests such playful ideas, as wanton round the heart and enliven the very features. The hero marches out in search of adventures, to suppress those sports, and punish those trivial offences, which the vulgar among the royalists were fond of, but which the Presbyterians and Independents abhorred ; and which our hero, as a magistrate of the former per- suasion, thought it his duty officially to suppress. The diction is that of burlesque poetry, painting low and mean persons cud things in pompous language, and a mag- nificent manner, or sometimes levelling sublime and pompous passages to the standard of low imagery. The principal actions of the poem are four : Hudibras's vic- tory over Crowdero — Trulla's victoiy over Hudibras — Hudibras's victory over Sidrophel — and the Widow's anti-masquerade : the rest is made up of the adventures of the Bear, of the Skimmington, Hudibras's conversa- tions with the Lawyer and Sidrophel, and his long dis- putations with Ralpho and the Widow. The verse con- sists of eight syllables, or four feet, a measure which, in unskilful hands, soon becomes tiresome, and will ever be a dangerous snare to meaner and less masterly imi- tators. The Scotch, the Irish, the American Hudibras, are not worth mentioning : the translation into French, by an Englishman, is curious ; it preserves the sense, but cannot keep up the humor. Prior seems to have como A.UTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. 21 neaiest the original, though he is sensible of his own in- feriority, and says. But, like poor Andrew, I advance, False mimic of my master's dance ; Around the cord av\hile I sprawl, And thence, tlio' low, in earnest fall. His Alma is neat and elegant, and his versification superior to Butler's : but his learning, knowledge, and wit, by no means equal. Prior, as Dr. Johnson says, had not Butler's exuberance of matter and variety of illustration. The spangles of wit which he could afford, he knew how to polish, but he wanted the bullion of his master. Hudibras, then, may truly be said to be the first and last satire of the kind ; for if we examine Lu- cian's Tragopodagra, and other dialogues, the Caesars of Julian, Seneca's Apocolocyntosis,* and some frag- ments of Varro, they will be found very different : the battle of the frogs and mice, commonly ascribed to Ho- mer, and the Margites, generally allowed to be his, prove this species of poetry to be of great antiquity. The inventor of the modern mock heroic was Ales- sandro Tassoni, born at Modena, 1565. His Secchia rapita, or Rape of the Bucket, is founded on the popu- lar account of the cause of the civil war between the inhabitants of Modena and Bologna, in the time of Frederic II. This bucket was long preserved, as a trophy, in the cathedral of Modena, suspended by the chain which fastened the gate of Bologna, through which the Modeneso forced their passage, aiij seized the prize. It is written in the ottava Rima, the solemn measure of the Italian heroic poets, has gone through many editions, and been twice translated into French : it has, indeed, considerable merit, though the reader will scarcely see Elena trasformasi in una secchia. Tassoni travelled into Spain as first secretary to Cardi- nal Colonna, and died, in an advanced age, in the court of Francis the First, duke of Modena : he was highly esteemed for his abilities and extensive learning ; but. like Mr. Butler's, his wit was applauded, and unre- * Or the mock deification of Claudius ; a burlesque of Apothe- osis or Anathanatosis. Reimarus renders it, non inter deos seJ inter fatuos relatio, and quotes a proverb from Apuleius, Colo- cyntas caput, for a fool. Colocynta is metaphorically put for any thing unusually large. X^/zaf KoXoKvvTaig, in the C'lomis of Aristophanes, is to have the eye swelled by an obitructiou 03 Jig as a gourd. 22 ON SAMULL BUTLER, ESQ.. warded, as appears from a portrait of liini, with a fig iij his hand, under which is written tlie following distich : ■ Dextera car ficum qureris mea gestat inaneni, Longi operis merces haec fuit, Aula dedit. The next successful imitators of the mock-heroic, have been Boileau, Garth, and Pope, whose respective works are too generally known, and too justly admired, to require, at this time, description or encomium. The Pucelle d"Orleans of Voltaire may be deemed an imita- tion of Hudibras, and is written in somewhat the same metre ; but the latter, upon the whole, must be con- sidered as an original species of poetiy, a composition sui generis. Unde nil majus generatnr ipso ; Nee viget quidquain simile aut secundum. Hudibras has been compared to the Satyre Menippee de la vertu du Catholicon d'Espagne, first published in France in the year 1593 ; the subject indeed is some- what similar, a violent civil war excited by religious zeal, and many good men made the dupes of state poli- ticians. After the death of Henry IH. of France, the Duke de Mayence called together the states of the kingdom, to elect a successor, there being many pre- tenders to the crown ; these intrigues were the founda- tion of the Satire of Menippee, so called from Menippus a cynic philosopher, and rough satirist, introducer of the burlesque species of dialogue. In this work are unveiled the different views and interests of the several actors in those busy scenes, who, under the pretence of publi-'; good, consulted only their private advantage, passions, and prejudices. The book, which aims particularly at the Spanish party,* went through various editions from its first pub- '^ It is sometimes called Higuero del infierno, or the fig-tree of flell, alluding to the violent part the Spaniards took in the civil wars of France, and in allusion to the title of Seneca's Apocolo* cyntosis. By this fig-tree the aiuhor perhaps means the won derful bir or banian described by Milton. The fig-tree, not that kind for fruit renown'd, But such as at this day to Indians known • In Malabar or Decan, spreadshis arms. Branching so broad and long, that in the ground The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother tree ; a pillar'd shade High over-arch'd, and echoing walks between. AUTHOR OF HUDIBIJAS. 23 licatioii to 1726, when it was printed at Katisbone in three volumes, with copious notes and index : it is stili studied by antiquaries with delight, and in its day was as much admired as Hudibras. D'Aubigne says of it, il passe pour un chef d'ceuvre en son gendre, ct fut lue avec uue egale avidite, et avec un plaisir men'eilleux par les royalistes, par les politiques, par les Huguenots et par les iigueurs de toutes les especes.* M. de Thcu's character of it is equally to its advan- tage. The principal author is said to be ^lonsieur lo Roy, sometime chaplain to the Cardinal de Bourbon, whom Thuanus calls vh- bonus, et a factione summ.o alienus. This satire differs widely from our author's : like those of Varro, Seneca, and Julian, it is a mixture of verse and prose, and though it contains much wit, and Mr. Butler had certainly read it with attention, yet he cannot be said to imitate it : the reader will perceive that our poet had in view Don Quixote, Spenser, the Italian poets, together with the Greek and Roman classics : but very rarely, if ever, alludes to Milton, though Paradise Lost was published ten years before the tiiird part of Hu- dibras. Other sorts of burlesque have been published, such as the Carmina Macaronica, the Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum, Cotton's Travesty, &c,, but these are efforts Mr. Ives, in his Journey from Persia, thus speaks of this won- derful vegetable: "This is the Indian sacred tree; it grows to a " prodigious height, and its branches spread a great way. The "limbs drop down fibrous, wliich take root, and become another "tree, united by its branches to the first, and so continue to do, "until the tree cover a great extent of ground ; the arches wliich " those ditferent stocks make are Goihic, like those we see in "Westminster Abbey, the stocks not being single, but appearing "as if composed of many stocks, are of a great circumference "There is a certain solemnity accompanying these trees, nor do " I remember that I was ever under the cover of any of them, " but that my mind was at the time impressed with a reverential ''awe." From hence it seems, that both these authors thought Gothic architecture similar to embowered rows of trees. The Indian fig-tree is described as of an inmiense size, capable of shading 800 or 1,000 men, and some of them 3,000 persons. In Mr. Marsden's History of Sumatra, the following is an account of the dimensions of a remarkable banyan-tree near Banjer, twenty miles west of Patna, in Bengal. Diameter 3G3 to 375 feet, circumference of its shadow at noon 1,110 feet, circumfer ence of the several stems, (in number 50 or GO,) 911 feet. * Henault says of this work, Peut-6tre que la satire Menipi)6B ne fut gueres moins utile i Henri IV. que la bataille d'ivri: Ifl ridicule a plus de force qu'on nc croit 24 ON SAMUEL iJUTLER, ESCJ. of genius of no great importance. Many burlesque and satirical poems, and prose compositions, were published in France between the years 1593 and 1660, the au- thors of which were Rabelais,* Scarron, and others; the Cardinal is said to have severely felt the Maza- renade. A popular song or poem has alw ays had a wonderful effect ; the following is an excellent one from ^Eschylus, sung at the battle of Salamis, at which he was present, and engaged in the Athenian squadron. "^Sl ira^Seg 'EAA»/j/wv ire, i\tvBtpoiiTe ■!TaTpih\ iXetdepovrc Si TTuT^aj, yvvulKag, QtSv re Trarpo'wv eot), OijKai rs ~poy6vo)v' vvv vxtp Travrwv ayuv. JEsch. Persffi, 1. 400. The ode of Callistratus is supposed to have done em- inent service, by commemorating the delivery, and pre- venting the return of that tyranny in Athens, which was happily terminated by the death of Hipparchus, and expulsion of the Pisistratida> ; I mean a song which was sung at their feasts beginning, Ev fivprov K\ahl to ^t(pos ^oprjcio, £i>aTT£p ApuoSios k' Apis'oyeiriov, ore Tov Tvpavvov KTaviTi-jV, t(7ov6povs ~' A-d/jvai i-oirjadTTjv. And ending. Act c(t)Civ K^iog ecraeraL kut alav, (piXrad'' ApfidSie k' Api^oyurov, OTL TOV TVpaVVOV KTavCTOV icovdpiovs T AQf/vas i-oirjaaTov. Of this song the learned Lowtli says, Si post idus illas Martias e Tyrannoctonis quispiam tale aliquod carmen plebi tradidisset, inque suburram, et fori circulos, et ia ora vulgi intulisset, actum profecto fuisset de partibua deque dominatione Caesarum : plus mehercule valuisset unum Apjxodiov iitXos quam Ciceronis Philippicce omnes ; and again, Num verendum erat ne quis tyrannidem Pisistratidarura Athenis instaurare auderet, ubi cantita- retur ^fcdXiov illud Callistrati. — See also Israelitarura 'E-rivUiov, Isaiah, chapter xiv. * [rrobably a misprint. Kabelais died in 1553, and his work was fast published at Lyons in 1533.1 AUTHOK OF IIUDIBEAS. 2& burlero, which just before the Revolution in 1688, had such an effect, that Burnet says, " a foolish ballad was " made at that time, treating t]ie papists, and chiefly " the Irish, in a very ridiculous manner, which had a " burthen said to be Irish words. Loro ioro lilliburk-ro, " that made an impression on tho (king's) army that '* cannot be imagined by those that saw it not. Tho *' whole army, and at last the people, both in city and "country, were singing it perpetually: and perhaps " never had so slight a thing so good an effect." Of this kind in modern days was the song of God save great George our king, and the Ca ira of Paris. Thus wonderfully did Hudibras operate in beating down the hypocris)', and false patriotism of his time. Mr. Hay- ley gives a character of him in four lines with great propriety : " Unrivall'd Butler ! blest with happy skill "To heal by comic verse each serious ill, " By wit's strong flashes reason's light dispense, "And laugh a frantic nation into sense." For one great object of our poet's satire is to unmask the hypocrite, and to exhibit, in a light at once odious and ridiculous, the Presbyterians and Independents, and all other sects, which in our poet's days amounted to near two hundred, and were enemies to the King ; but his further view was to banter all the false, and even all the suspicious pretences to learning that prevailed in his time, such as astrology, sympathetic medicine, alchymy, transfusion of blood/ trifling experimental philosophy, fortune-telling, incredible relations of travellers, false wit, and injudicious affectation of ornament to be found in the poets, romance writers, Sec. ; thus he frequently alludes to Purchas's Pilgrim, Sir Kenelm Digby's books, Bulwer's Artificial Changeling, Brown's Vulgar Errors, Burton's Melancholy, the early transactions of the Royal Society, the various pamphlets and poems of his time, «fcc., &c. These books, though now little known, were much reac and admired in our author's days. The ad- venture with the widow is introduced in conformity with other poets, both heroic and dramatic, who hold that no poem can be perfect which hath not at least one Epi- sode of Love. It is not worth while to inquire, if tho characters painted under the fictitious names of Hudibras, Crow dero, Orsin, Talgol, Trulla, &c , were drawn from veiii life, or whether Sir Roger L'Estrangc's key to Hudi- 26 ON sa:\iuel builepv, esq., bras be a true one ; it matters ]iot whether the her*, v/era designed as the picture of Sir Samuel Luke, Col. iolLs, or Sir Henry Rosevvell, he is, in tlie language of Drjdeu, knight of the Shire, and represents them all, that is, the whole body of the Presbyterians, as Ralpho does that of the Independents : it would be degrading the liberal spirit and universal genius of Mr. Butler, to narrow hia general satire to a particular libel on any characters, however marked and prominent. To a single rogue, or blockhead, he disdained to stoop ; the vices and follies of the age in which he lived, (et quando uberior vitiorum copia,) were the quarry at which he fled ; these he con- centrated, and embodied in the persons of Hudibras, Ralpho, Sidrophel, &c., so that each character in this admirable poem should be considered, not as an individ- ual, but as a species. It is not generally known, that meanings still more remote and chimerical than mere personal allusions, have been discovered in Hudibras ; and the poem would have wanted one of those marks which distiiiguish works of superior merit, if it had not been supposed to be a perpetual allegory : writers of eminence, Homer, Plato, and even the Holy Scriptures themselves, have been most wretchedly misrepresented by commentators of this cast ; and it is astonishing to observe to what a de- gree Heraclides* and Proclus,t Philot and Origen, have lost sight of their usual good sense, when they have * The Allegorise Honieiicte, Gr. Lat., published by Dean Gale, Ainst. 1G88, though usually ascribed to Heraclides Ponticus, the Platonist, must be the work of a more recent author, as the Dean has proved : his real name seems to have been Heraclitus, (not the philosopher,) and nothing more is known of him, but that Eustathius often cites him in his comment on Homer: the tract, however, is elegant and agreeable, and may be read with ini- I*' ovetnent and pleasure. t Proclus, the most learned philosopher of the fifth century, left among other waitings numerous comments on Plato's works Till subsisting, so stuffed with allegorical absurdities, that few who have perused two periods, will have patience to venture on a third. In this, he only follows the example of Atticus, and ijiany others, whose interpretations, as wild as his own he care- fully examines. He sneers at the famous Longinus with much contempt, for adhering too servilely to the literal meaning of Plato. t Philo the Jew discovered many mystical senses in the Pen- tateuch, and from him, perhaps, Origen learned his unhappy knack of allegorizing both Old and JVew Testament. This, in justice, however, is due to Origen, that ^^•hile he is hunting after abstruse senses, he doth not neglect the litcval, but is sometimes IWppy in his criticisms AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. 27 allowed themselves to depart from the obvious and literal meaning of the text, which they pretend to explain. Thus some have thought that the hero of the piece was intended to lepresent the parliament, especially that part of it which favored the Presbyterian discipline ; when in the stocks, he personates the Presbyterians after they had lost their power ; his first exploit is against the bear, whom he routs, which represents the parliament getting the better of the king : after this great victory, he courts a widow for her jointure, that is, the riches and power of the kingdom ; being scorned by her, he retires, tat the revival of hope to the royalists draws forth both him and his squire, a little before Sir George Booth's insurrection. Magnano, Cerdon, Talgol, Sec, though described as butchers, coblers, tinkers, were designed as officers in the parliament army, whose original profes- sions, perhaps, were not much more noble : some have- imagined Magnano to be the duke of Albemarle, and his getting thistles from a barren land, to allude to his. power in Scotland, especially after the defeat of Booth. TruUa his wife, Crowdero Sir George Booth, whose bringing in of Bruin alludes to his endeavors to restore the king: his oaken leg, called the better one, is the- king's cause, his other leg the Presbyterian discipline ; liis fiddle-case, which in sport they hung as a trophy on the whipping-post, the directory. Ralpho, they say,. represents the parliament of Independents, called Bare- bones Parliament ; Bruin is sometimes the royal person, sometimes the king's adherents ; Orsin represents the royal party — Talgol the city of London — Colon the balk of the people: all these joining together against the knight, represent Sir George Booth's conspiracy, w'.tli Presbyterians and royalists, against the parliament : their overthrow, through the assistance of Ralph, means tiie defeat of Booth by the assistance of the Independ- ents and other fanatics. These ideas are, perhaps, only the phrensy of a wild imagination, though there may bo some lines that seem to favor the conceit. Diyden and Addison have censured Butler for hia double rhymes ; the latter nowhere argues worse than upon this subject: " If," says he, "the thought in the " couplet be good, the rhymes add little to it ; and if " bad, it will not be in tlie power of rhyme to recom- " mend it. I am afraid that great numbers of thoso " who admire the incomparable Hudibras, do it more on " account of tlicse doggerel rhymes, than the parts tliaj- 3 28 ox SAMUEL BUTLER, ESQ., "really deserve admiralion."* This reflection affects equally all sorts of rhyme, which certainly can add nothing to the sense ; but double rhymes are like the whimsical dress of Harlequin, which does not add to his wit, but sometimes increases the humor and di-ollery of it: they are not sought for, but, when they come easily, are always diverting: they are so seldom found in Hudibras, as hardly to be an object of censure, espe- cially as the diction and the rhyme both suit well with the character of the hero. It must be allowed that our poet doth not exhibit his hero with the dignity of Cervantes ; but the principal fault of the poem is, that the parts are unconnected, and the stoiy not interesting : the reader may leave off without being anxious for the fate of his hero ; he sees only disjecta membra poetse ; but we should remember, that the parts were published at long interv^als,t and that several of the different cantos were designed as satires on different subjects or extravagancies. What the judicious Abbe du Bos has said respecting Ariosto, may be true of Butler, that, in comparison with him, Homer is a geometrician : the poem is seldom read a second time, often not a first in regular order ; that is, by passing fronr the first canto to the second, and so on in succession. Spenser, Aiiosto, and Butler, did not live in an age of planning ; the last imitated the former poets — " his poetry is the careless exuberance of a witty " imagination and great learning." Fault has likewise been found, and perhaps justly, with the too frequent elisions, the harshness of thb num- bers, and the leaving out the signs of our substantives ; his inattention to grammar and syntax, which, in some passages, may have contributed to obscure his mearing, as the perplexity of others arises from the amazing fiuit- fuluess of his imagination, and extent of his reading. Most writers have more words than ideas, and the reader wastes much pains with them, and gets little informa- tion or amusement. Butler, on the contrary, has more ideas than words, his wit and learning crowd so fast upon him, that he cannot find room or time to arrange them : hence his periods become sometimes embarrassed and obscure, and his dialogues are too long. Our poet has been charged with obscenity, evil-speaking, and * Spectator, No. CO. t The Epistle to Sulrophel, not till many years after the canto to which it is annexed. AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. 2'J profaneness ; but satirists will take liberties. Juveual, and that elegant poet Horace, must plead his cause, so far as the accusation is well founded. Some apology may be necessar)'-, or expected, when a person advanced in years, and without the proper qualifications, shall undertake to publish, and comment upon, one of the most learned and ingenious writers in our language ; and, if the editor's true and obvious mo- tives will not avail to excuse him, he must plead guilty. The frequent pleasure and amusement he had received from the perusal of the poem, naturally bred a respect for the memory and character of the author, whi^h is further endeared to him by a local relation to the coun- ty, and to the parish, so highly honored by the birth of Mr. Butler. These considerations induced him to at- tempt an edition, more pompous perhaps, and expensive, than w^as necessary, but not too splendid for the merit of the work. While Shakspeare, ]\Iilton, Waller, Pope, and the rest of our English classics, appear with every advantage that either printing or criticism can supply, why should not Hudibras share those ornaments at least with them which may be derived from the present im- proved state of typography and paper ? Some of the dark allusions, in Hudibras, to history, voyages, and the abstruser parts of v/hat was then called learning, the author himself was careful to explain in a series of notes to the first two parts ; for the annotations to the third part, as has been before obseiTcd, do not seem to come from the same hand. In most other respects, the poem may be presumed to have been tolerably clear to the or- dinary class of readers at its first publication : but, in a course of years, the unavoidable fluctuations of language, the disuse of customs then familiar, and the oblivion which hath stolen on facts and characters then com- monly known, have superinduced an obscurity on seve- ral passages of tiie work, which did not originally be- long to it. The principal, if not the sole view, of the annotations now offered to the public, hath been to re- move these difficulties, and point out some of the passa- ges in the Greek and Roman authors to which the poet alludes, in order to render Hudibras more intelligible to persons of the commentator's level, men of middling capacity, and limited information. To such, if his re- marks shall be found useful and acceptable, he will be content, though they should appear trifling in the esti- mation of the mors learned. 30 ox 3a:,iuel cutler, esq,., It is extraordinary', that for above a hundred aii4 twenty years, only one commentator hath furnished notes of any considerable length. Doctor Grey liad va- rious friends, particularly Bishop Warburton, Mr. Byron, and several gentlemen of Cambridge, who communica- ted to him learned and ingenious observations : these have been occasionally adopted without scruple, have been abridged, or enlarged, or altered, as best consisted with a plan, somewhat different from the doctor's ; but in such a manner as to preclude any other than a gene- ral acknowledgment from the infinite peiplexity that a minute and particular reference to them at every turn, would occasion ; nor has the editor been without the as- sistance of his friends. It is well known in Worcestershire, that long before the appearance of Doctor Grey's edition, a learned and worthy clergyman of that county, after reading Hudi- bras with attention, had compiled a set of observations, with design to reprint the poem, and to subjoin his own remarks. By the friendship of his descendants, the present publisher hath been favored v/ith a sight of those papers, and though, in commenting on the same work, the annotator must unavoidably have coincided with, and been anticipated by Dr. Grey in numerous instan- ces, yet much original information remained, of which a free and unreserved use hath been made in the fol- lowing sheets ; but he is forbid any further acknowledg- ment. He is likewise much obliged to Dr. Loveday, of Wil- liamscot, near Banbury, the worthy son of a worthy father ; the abilities and correctness of the former can be equalled only by the learning and critical acumen of the latter. He begs leave likewise to take this opportu- nity of returning his thanks to his learned and worthy neighbor Mr. Ingrs.ham, from whose conversation much information and entertainment has been received on many subjects. Mr. Samuel AVestley, brother to tlie celebrated John Westley, had a design of publishing an edition of Hudi- bras with notes. He applied to Lord Oxford for the use of his books in his library, and his Lordship wrote him tlie following obliging answer from Dover-street, August 7, 1734 — " I am very glad you was reduced to read "over Hudibras three times with care: I find you are " perfectly of my mind, that it much v.'ants notes, and ^ that it will be a great work ; certainly it will be, to da AUTHOR OF IIUDIBRAS. 3l " it as it should be. I do -,iot know one so capable of " doing it as yourself. I speak this very sincerely. " Lilly's life I have, and any books that I have you " shall see, and have the perusal of them, and any other " part that I can assist. I own I am very fond of the " work, and it would be of excellent use and entertaiu- " ment. " The news you read in the papers of a match with '* my daughter and the Duke of Portland was completed " at Mary-le-bonne chapel," &c.* What progress he made in the work, or what became of his notes, I could never learn. * Extract of a letter from Lord Oxford, taken from ori!|inal let- ters by the Reverend John Westley and his friends, illustrative of his early history, published by Josech PriesUev. LL. D., Drinted at Birmiushara 1791 PART I. CANTO I THE ARGUMENT. Sir Hudibras* his passing worth The manner how he sally'd forth ; His arms and equipage are shown ; IJis-hoFBe's virtues and his own. Th' adventure of the bear and fiddle >Is sung, but breaks off in the middle.t * Butler probably took this name from Spenser's Fairy (iueea. B. ii. C. ii. St. 17. He that made love unto the eldest dame Was hight Sir Hndibras, an hardy man : Yet not so good of deeds, as great of name, Which he by many rash adventures wan, Since errant arms to sew he first began. Geoffry of Monmouth mentions a British king of this name, though some have supposed it derived from the French, Hugo, Hu de Bras, signifying Hugh the powerful, or with the strong arm : thus Fortintiras, Firebras. In the Grub-street Journal, Col. Rolls, a Devonshire gentle- man, is said to be satirized under the character of Hudibras; and it is asserted, that Hugh de Bras was the name of the old tutelar saint of that county: but it is idle to look for personal reflections in a poem designed for a general satire on hypocrisy, enthusiasm, and false learning. t Bishop Warburton observes ver>' justly, that tliis is a ridi- cule on Ronsard's Franciade and Sir William Davenant's Gca- dibert. HUDIBRAS CANTO I. When civil fury first grew high,* -sAnd men fell out, they knew not why ;t When hard words, jealousies, and fears,t Set folks together by the ears, * In the first edition of the first part of this poem, printed separately, we read dudgeon. But on the publication of the sec- ond part, when the first was reprinted with several additions and alterations, the word dudgeon was changed to fury ; as ap- pears in a copy corrected by the author's own hand. The pub- lisher in 1704, and the subsequent ones, have taken the liberty of correcting the author's copy, restored the word dudgeon, and many other readings: changing them, I think I may say, for the worse, in several passages. Indeed, while the Editor of 1704 replaces this word, and contends for it, he seems to show its im- propriety. " To take in dudgeon," says he, " is inwardly to re- " sent, a sort of grumbling in thegizzar'd, and what was previous " to actual fury." Yet in the next lines wc have men falling out, set together by the ears, and fighting. I doubt not but the inconsistency of these expressions occurred to the author, and induced him to change the word, that his sense might be clear, and the sera of his poem certain and uniforju. — Dudgeon, in its primitive sense, signifies a dagger ; and figuratively, such hatred and sullenness as occasion men to employ short concealed weapons. Some readers may be fond of the word dudgeon, as a burlesque term, and suitable, as they think, to the nature of the poem : but the judicious critic will observe, that the poet is not always in a drolling humor, and might not think fit to fall into it in "the first line The chooses his words not by the oddness or uncouihness of the sound, but by the propriety of their sig- nification. Besides, the word dudgeon, in the figurative sense, though not in its primitive one, is generally taken for a monoptoto in the ablative case, to take in dudgeon, which might be another reason why the poet changed it into fury. See line 379. t Dr. Perrincheifs Life of Charles I. says, " Thtre will never "be wanting, in any country, some discontented spirits, and " some designing craftsmen : but when these confusions begaji, " the more part knew not wherefore they were come together." X Hard words — Probably the jargon and cant-words used by the Presbyterians, and other sectaries. They called themselves the elect, the saints, the predestinated : and their opponents they called Papists, Prelatists, ill-designing, reprobate, prufligatei fee &c 34 HUDIBRAS. [Pvrt . And made thcMi figlit, like mad or drunk, 5 iFor dame Relifjion as for Punk :* "In the body politic, when the spiritual and windy power '' movcth the members of a commonwealth, and by stranjre and " hard words suffocates their understanding, it must needs there- " by distract the people, and either overwhelm the common- wealth with oppression, or cast it into the fire of a civil war " HOBBES. Jealousies— B'lshoj) Burnet, in the house of lords, on the firs-t article of the impeachment of Sacheverel, says, " The true oc "casion of the war was a jealousy, that a conduct of fifteen " years had given too much ground for; and tliat was still kepi " up by a fatal train of errors in every step." See also the king's speech, Dec. 2. 1G41. And fears— Oi superstition and Popery in the church, and of arbitrary power and tyranny in the state : and so prepossessed were many persons with these fears, that, like the hero of this poem, they would imagine a bear-baiting to be a deep design against the religion and liberty of the country. Lord Clarendon tells us, that the English were the happiest people under the sun, wtiile the king was undisturbed in the administration of justice ; but a too nmch felicity had made them unmanageable by moderate government ; a long peace having softened almost all the noblesse into court pleasures, and made the commoners insolent by great plenty. King Charles, in the fourth year of his reign, tells the lords, " We have been willing so far to descend to the desires of our " good subjects, as fully to satistie all moderate minds, and free ' them from all just fears and jealousies." The words jealousies and fears, were bandied between the king and the parliament in all their papers, before the absolute breaking out of the war They were used by the parliament to the king, in their petition for the militia, "March 1, 1641-2 ; and by the king in his answer: "You speak of jealousies and fears, lay your hands to your " hearts and ask j'ourselves, whether I may not be disturbed " with jealousies and fears." And the parliament, in their de- claration to the king at Newmarket, March 9, say, * Those fears " and jealousies of ours which your majesty thinks to be cause- '•* less, and without just ground, do necessarily and clearly arise " from those dangers and distempers into which your evil coun- "cils have brought us: but those other fears and jealousies of " yours, have no foundation or subsistence in any action, inten ' tion, or miscarriage of ours, but are merely grounded on false ' hood and malice." The terms had been used before by the Earl of Carlisle to James I., 14 Feb. 1G23. "Nothing will more dishearten the en- ' vious maligners of your majesty's felicity, and encourage your " true-hearted friend's and servants, than the removing those " false fears and jealousies, which are mere imaginary phan- " tasms, and bodies of air easily dissipated, whensoever it shall " please the sun of your majesty to shew itself clearly in its * native brightness, lustre, and goodness." * Punk — From the Anglo-Saxon pung ; it signifies a bawd Anus instar corii ad ignem siccati. (Skinner.) Sometimes scor tom, scortillum. Sir John Suckling says, Religion now is a young mistress here For which each man will fight and die at least : Let it alone awhile, and 'twill become Canto i.] IIUD1BRA8. 35 Whose honesty they all durst swear for, The' not a man of them knew wherefore When Gospel-Trumpeter, surrounded With long-ear'd rout, to battle sounded,* 10 And pulpit, drum ecclesiastick. Was beat with fist, instead of a stick ;t I Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling, iAnd out he rode a colonelling.t A Wight he was,§ whose veiy sight wou'd 15 Entitle him Mirror of Knight-hood :|| A kind of married wife ; people will be Content to live with it in quietness. * Mr. Butler told Thomas Veal, esquire, of Simons-hall, Gloucestershire, that the Puritans had a custom of putting their hands behind their ears, at sermons, and bending them forward, under pretence of hearing the better. Pie had seen five hundred or a thousand large ears pricked up as soon as the text was named. Besides, they wore their hair very short, which showed their ears the more. See Godwin's notes in Bodley library. Dr. Bulwer in his Anthropometamorphosis, or Artificial Changeling, tells us wonderful stories of tlic size of men's ears in some countries. — Pliny, lib. 7, c. 2, speaks of a people on the borders of India, who covered themselves with their ears. And Purchas, in his Pilgrim, saith, that in the island Arucetto, there are men and women having ears of such bigness, tliat they lie upon one as a bed, and cover themselves with the other. I here mention the idle tales of these authors, because their works, together with Brown's Vulgar Errors, are the frequent object of our poet's satire. t It is sufficiently known from the history of those times, that the seeds of rebellion were first sown, and afterwards cultivated, by the factious preachers in conventicles, and the seditious and schismatical lecturers, who had crept into many churches, es- pecially about London. "These men," says Lord Clarendon, " had, from the beginning of the parliament, infused seditious "inclinations into the hearts of all men, against the government " in chiiirch and state : but after the raising an army, and reject- " itig the king's overtures for peace, they contained themselves " within no bounds, but filled all the pulpits with alarms of ruin "and destruction, if a peace were offered or accepted." These preachers used violent action, and made the pulpit an instru- ment of sedition, as the drum was of war. Dr. South, in one of his sermons, says, " The pulpit supplied the field with sword- " men, and the parliament-house with incendiaries." t Some have imagined from hence, that by Iludibras, was in- tended Sir Sanuiel Luke of Bedfordshire. Sir Samuel was an active justice of the peace, chairman of the quarter sessions, colonel of a regiment of foot in the parliament army, and a committee-man of that county : but the poet's satire is gcneralf not personal. ^ Wight is originally a Saxon word, and signifies a i)erson 01 feing. It is often used by Chaucer, and the old poets. Some- umes it means a witch or conjure?. jj A favorite title in romances. 3e HUDIBRAS. [Part i That never bent liis stubborn knee* To any tiling but cbivahy ; Nor put up blow, but that which laid Right Avorshipful on shoulder-blade :t ^ Chief of domestic knights, and errant. Either for chartelt or for warrant : Great on the bench, great in the saddle, •That could as well bind o'er, as swaddle :§ Mighty he was at both of these, 23 And styl'd of War as well as Peace. So some rats of amphibious nature, Are either for the land or water. But here our authors make a doubt, Whether he were more wise, or stout. |1 30 Some hold the one, and some the other ; But howsoe'er they make a pother. The diiF'rence was so small, his brain Outweigh'd his rage but half a grain ; W^hich made some take him for a tool 35 That knaves do work with, call'd a Fool ; And offer'd to lay wagers, that As Montaigne, playing with his cat, * Alluding to the Presbyterians, who refused to kneel at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and insisted upon receiving it in a sittins? or standing posture. See Baxter's Life, «&c. &c. In some of the kirks in Scotland, the pews are so made, that it is very difficult for any one to kneel. t That is, did not sutler a blow to pass unrevenged, except the one by which the king knighted him. t For a challenge. He was a military as well as a civil offi- cer— au(p6Tepov ^aci'Xtvs t ayadbg KoarEods r' alxiirjTfiq. //. iii. l~^. Pope translates it. Great in the war, and great in arts of swav. //. iii. 23G. Plutarch tells us, that Alexander the Great was wonderfully delighted with this line. $ Swaddle. — That is, to beat or cudgel, sa3"s Johnson ; but the word in the Saxon, signifies to bind up, to try to heal by proper bandages and applications : hence the verb to sicathe, and the adjective swaddling clothes ; the line therefore may signify, that his worship could either make peace, and heal disputes among his neighbors, or, if they could not agree, bind them over to the sessions for trial. II A burlesque on the usual strain of rhetorical flattery, when authors pretend to be puzzled which of their patrons' noblo qualities they should give the preference to. Something similar to this passcice is the saying of Julius Capitolinus, concerning the emperor Verus ; " melior orator quam poeta, aut ut verius dicam pejor poeta quam orator " I A. Canto i.] IIUDIBRAS. 37 Complains she thought him but au ass,* Much more she wou'd Sir Hudibras : 40 For that's the name our vahant knight To all his challenges did write. But they're mistaken very much, 'Tis plain enough he was no such : jVe grant, although he had much wit, 45 JH' was very shy of using it ;t |As being loth to wear it out, And therefore bore it not about, nless on holy-days, or so. As men their best apparel do. 50 Besides, 'tis known he could speak Greek As naturally as pigs squeek : That Latin was no more difficile, Than to a blackbird 'tis to whistle : Being rich in both, he never scanted 55 His bounty unto such as wanted ; Bat much of either wou'd afford To many, that had not one word. jFor Hebrew-Toots, although they're found JTo flourish most in barren ground,! 60 He had such plenty, as suffic'd To make some think him circumcis'd ; And truly so, perhaps, he Vk^as, 'Tis many a pious Christian's case.§ * "When my cat and I," says Montaigne, "entertain each ' other with mutual apish tricks, as playing with a garter, who " knows but I make her more sport than she makes me 1 shall I " conchide her simple, who has her time to begin or refuse sport- " iveness as freely as I myself 7 Nay, who knows but she laughs " at, and censures, my folly, for making her sport, and pities me " for understanding her no better 1" And of animals — *' ils nous " peuvent estimer betes, comme nous les estimons." t The poet, in depicting our knight, blends together his great pretensions, and his real abilities ; giving him high encomiums on his affected character, and dashing them again with his true and natural imperfections. He was a pretended saint, but in fact a very great hypocrite ; a great champion, though an errant coward ; famed for learning, yet a shallow pedant. t Some students in Hebrew have been very angry with these lines, and assert, that they have done more to prevent the study of that language, than all the professors have done to promote it. See a letter to the printer of the Diary, dated January 15. 1789, and signed John Ryland. The word for, here means, 8.S to. $ In the first editions this couplet was differently expr&'-seJ : .^nd truly so he was. perhaps, JVot as a proselyte, but for claps. Many vulgar, and. some indecent phrases, were afl%/ corrected \-J-' kF KUDIBRAS. [Paut He was in Loj[ric a great critic,* iProfoundly skiil'd m Analytic ; iHe could distinguish, and divide j A hair 'twixt south and south-west side ; I On either side he would dispute, I Confute, change hands, and still confute ;1 J He'd undertake to prove by force ~\ Of argument a man's no horse ; He'd prove a buzzard is no fowl. And that a Lord may be an owl ; A calf an Alderman, a goose a Justice, I- And rooks Committee-Men or Trustees.^ He'd run in debt by disputation. And pay with ratiocinatiou All this by syllogism true, [n mood and figure, he would do. ( Fo;L_BJietflnc, he could not ope His mouth, but out there fiew a trope : And when he happen'd to break oft" i' th' middle of his speech, or cough. by Mr. Buller. And, indeed, as Mr. Cowley observes, in his Ode on Wit, 'tis just Tlie author blush, there, where the reader must. * In some following lines the abuses of human learning are finely satirized. t Carneades, the academic, having one day disputed at Rome very copiously in praise of justice, refuted every word on the morrow, by a train of contrary arguments. Something similar is said of Cardinal Perron. X A doggerel Alexandrine placed in the first line of the couplet, as it is sometimes in heroic Alexandrines : thus Dryden — So all the use we make of heaven's discover'd will. See Ills Religio Laid. ^ A rook is a well-known black bird, said by theglossariststa be comix frugivora, and supposed by them to devour the grain; hence, by a figure, applied to sharpers and cheats. Thus the committee-men harassed and oppressed the country, devouring, in an arbitrary manner, the property of those they did not like, and this under the authority of parliament. Trustees are often mentioned by our poet. See p. 3, c 1, i. 1516. In Scobel's collection is an ordinance, 1G49, for the sale of the loyal lands in order to pay the army; the common soldiers i)ur- chasing by regiments, like corporations, and having trustees foi the whole. These trustees either purchased the soldiers' shares at a very small price, or sometimes cheated the officers and sol- diers, by detaining these trust estates for their own use. The same happened often with regard to the church lands: but 13 Ch. II. an act passed for restoring all advowsons. glebe-lands and tythes, &c. to his majesty's loyal subjects. Onto i.] IIUDIBRAS. 39 H' had hard words, ready lo shew wiiy So And tell what rules he did it by.* Elae, when with greatest art he spoke, Sfou'd think he talk'd like other folk. For all a Rhetorician's rules 1 Teach nothing but to name his tools. 90 His ordinaiy rate of speech [n loftiness of sound was rich ; A Babylonish dialect, ".(Which learned pedants much affect ; ' It was a parti-color'd dress 05 'Of patch'd and piebald languages : 'Twas English cut on Greek and Latin, Like fustian heretofore on satin.t It had an odd promiscuous tone As if h' had talk'd thice parts in one ; 100 Which made some think, when he did Th' had heard three laborers of Babel ;t Or Cerberus himself pronounce A leash of languages at once.§ This he as volubly would vent 105 As if his stock would ne'er be spent : * i. e. Aposiopesis — Quos egr! — sed niotos, &c. Or cough. — Tlie preachers of those days, looked upon cough- ing and hemming as ornaments of speech ; and when they printed their sermons, notetl m the margin where the preacher coughed or hemniM. This practice was not confined to Eng- land, for Olivier Maillard, a Cordelier, and famous preacher printed a sermon at Brussels in the year 1500, and marked in the margin where the preacher hennn'd once or twice, or coughed. See the French notes. t The slashed sleeves an-' hose may he seen in the pictures of Dobson, Vandyke, and others ; but one would conjecture from the word heretofore, that they were not in common wear in our. poet's time. % In Dr. Donne's Satires, by Pope, we read, Yi u prove yourself so able, Pity! you were not Druggerman at Babel ; For had they found a linguist half so good I make no question but the tower had stood. ^ " Our Borderers, to this day, speak a leash of languages " (Brii-ish; Saxon, and Danish) in one : and it is hard to determine " which of those three nations has the greatest share in the " motley breed." Camden's Britannia — Cumberland, p. 1010. Butler, in his character of a lawyer, p. 107, — says, "he overruns " liatin and French with greater barbarism than the Goths diii "Italy and France; and mai:es as mad a confusion of language, ' by mi.\ing both with English." Statins, rather ridiculously. .iitroduce3 Janus haranguin.'^ and comi)limenting Doinitian with oolh his mouths, levat ecce, supinas Hinc atquo inde manus, geminiquc hiLC voce jirofatur. 4 ,^ :4^ 10 IIUDIBRAS. Part And truly, to support that charge, He had supphes as vast and large For he could coin, or counterfeit New words with little or no wit:* il£ Words so debas'd and hard, no stone Was hard enough to t^uet them on ;t ' ^*'^-»'-4 /An.d when with hasty noise he spoke'em, i. / (The ignorant for current took'em. v/ That had the orator, who once IJb ^1^^ - Did fill his mouth with pebble stones j ■* ^ ^- When he harangu'd, but known his phrase, "He would have us*d no other ways.t In Mathema tics he was greater Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater :§ 120 For he, by geometric scale, Could take the size of pots of ale ; Resolve, by sines and tangents straight, . If bread or butter wanted weight :il I And wisely tell what hour o' th' day 125 I The clock does strike, by Algebra. Beside, he was a shrewd Philosopher, And had read ev'r}'^ text and gloss over : Whate'er the crabbed'st author hathjli" He understood b' implicit faith : 130 Whatever Skeptic could inquire for ; For every Vv'iiv he had a wherefore:** i Knew more than forty of them do, I As far as words and terms could go. * The Presbyterians coined and composed many new words, such as out-goings, carryings-on, nothingness, workings-out, gos pel-walking times, secret ones, &c. &c- t This seems to be the risht reading; and alludes to the touchstone. Though Bishop Warburton conjectures, that tuite ORght to be read here instead of stone. t These four lines are not found in the first two editions. They allude to the well-known story of Demosthenes. § Erra Paler is the nickname of some ignorant astrologer. A little paltry book of the rules of Erra Pater is still vended among the vulgar. I do not think that by Erra Pater, the poet meant William Lilly, but some contemptible person, to oppose to the great Tycho Brahe. Anticlimax was Butler's favorite figure, and one great machine of his drollery. II He could, by trigonometry, discover the exact dimensions of a loaf of bread, or roll of butter. The poet likevfise intimates that his hero was an over-officious magistrate, setfTching out little offences, and levying fines and forfeitures upon thom. See Talgol's speech in the next canto. 1 If any copv would warrant it, I should read "author saith.' *• That is, he could elude one difficulty by proposing another or answer one question by proposing another. Canto i.] IIUDIBRAS 41 All which he understood by rote, 135 And, as occasion serv'd, would quote ; No matter whether right or wrong, They might be either said or sung. His notions fitted things so well, That which was which he could not tell ;* j4o But oftentimes mistook the one For th' other, as great clerks have done. lie could reduce all things to acts, And knew their natures by abstracts ;t [Where entity and quiddity, 145 -The ghost of defunct bodies fly ;t Where Truth in person does appear,§ Like words congeal'd in northern air. 1| He knew what's what, and that's as high As metaphysic wit can fly. IT ,50 In school-divinity as able As he that htgliriiTefragable ;** * He had a jumble of many confused notions in his head, which he could not apply to any useful purpose : or perhaps the poet alludes to those philosophers who took their ideas of sub- stances to be the combinations of nature, and not the arbitrary workmanship of the human mind. t A thing is in potentia, when It is possible, but does not actually exist ; a thing is in act, wben it a not only possible, but does e.\ist. A thing is said to be reduced from power into act, when that which was only possible, begins feally to exist: how far we can know the nature of things by abstracts, has long been a (lis[)ute. See Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding ; and coi'suU the old metaphysicians if you think it worth while t A tine satire upon the abstracted notions of the metaphy- sicians, calling the metaphysical natures the ghosts or shadows of real substances. ^ Some authors have mistaken truth for a real thing or person, « hereas it is nothing but a right method of putting those notions ov images of things (in the understanding of man) into the same state and order, that their originals hold in nature. Thus Aris- totle, Wet. lib. 2. Unumquodque sicut se hai)et secundum esse ita se habet secund;.im veritatem. !| See Rabelais's Pantagruel, livre 4, ch. 5G, which liint is Improved and drawn into a paper in the Tatler, jVo. 2.54. In Rabelais, Pantagruel throws upon deck three or four handfuls of frozen words, il en jecta sus le tillac trois ou quatre poign6es ; et y veids des parolles bien piquantes. ir The jest here is, giving, by a low and vulgar expression, an apt description of the science. In the old systems of logic, quid est quid was a conunon question. ** Two lines originally followed in this place, which were afterwards omitted by the author in his corrected coi)y, viz A second Thomas ; or at once. To name them all, another Duns Perhaps, upon recollection, he thought this great man, Aquinas, deserving of better treatment, or perhaps he ^vas ashamed of the pun. However, as the passage no\i stands, it is an inimitable 43 HUDIBRAS. [Part . A. second Thomas, or ai once, To name them all, another Duns : Profound in all the nominal, 155 And real ways, beyond them all ; And, with as delicate a hand, Could twist as tougli a rope of sand ;* And w^eave fine cobwebs, fit for scull That's empty when the moon is full :1 leo Such as take lodgings in a head That's to be let mifurnished. He could raise scruples dark and nice, .And after solve 'em in a trice ; As if Divinity had catch'd 165 The itch, on purpose to bo scratch'd ; Or, like a mountebank, did wound And stab herself with doubts profound, Only to show with how small pain The sores of Faith are cur'd again ; iTO Altho' by woful proof we find, They always leave a scar behind. He knew the seat of Paradise, Could tell in what degree it lies ;i satire uiK>a the old school divines, who were mar y of them honored with some extravagant epithet, and as vfell known by it as hy their proper names: thus Alexander Hales, was called doctor irrefragable, or invincible ; Tlion)as Aquinas, the angelic doctor, or eagle of divines ; DunScolns, thes.iblle doctor. This last was father of the Reals, and Williiuu Ochara of the Nominals. They were both of Merton college in Oxford, where they gave rise to an odd custom. See Plott's Oxfordshire, page 285. — Hight, a Saxon and Old English ptirticiple passive, siguj fying called. * A proverbial saying, v/hen men lose their lalior hy busying; themselves in trifles, or attempting things in>possible. t That is, subtle questions or foolish conceits, lit for the brain of a madman or lunatic. X "Paradisum locum diu multnmque qna'situm per terrarnm "orbem ; neque tanlum per terrarum orbem, sed etiam in atre, "in luna, et ad tertium usque ccelum." Burnett. Tell. Th«or. 1. 2, Cap. 7. " Well may I wonder at the notions of some learned " men concerning the garden of Eden ; some affirming it to be "above tl)e moon, others above the air; some that it is in the "whole world, others only a part of the north ; some thinking "that it was nowhere, whilst others supposed it to be, God " knows where, in the West Indies; and, for ought I know. Sir "John Mandeville's story of it may be as good as any of them.'' Foulis's History of Plots, fol. p. 171. " Otrebius, in a tract de " Vita. Mnrte, et Resnrrectione, would persuade us, that doubtless "the Kosicrucians are in paradise, which place he sealeth near "unto the region of the moon." Olaus Rudbeckius, a Swede, in a very scarce book, entitled Atlantica sive Jilanhcim, 4 vol. fol., out of zeal for ihe honor of his cou:i;ry, has endeavored to pro'.e that Sweden was the real paradi.-ic. The learned Huet Ca>;to I.] HUDIBRAS. 43 jVnd, as he was dispos'd, could prove it, 173 lielow the moon, or else above it : What Adam dreamt of when his bride Came from her closet in his side : Whether the devil tempted her By an High-Dutch interpreter:* 180 If either of them had a navel :t bishop of Avranches, wrote an express treatise De Situ ?aradisi Terrestris, but not published till after our poet's death, (1G01.) He fiives a map of Paradise, and says, it is situated upon the canal formed by the Tigris and Euphrates, after they have joined near Apaniea, between the place where they join and that where they separate, in order to fall into the Pewian gulf, ersecutions : but the Presbyterians of those days were literally the church militant, fighting with the establishment, and all that opposed them. IT Cornet Joyce, when he carried away the klHg from Ilolden- by, being desired by his majesty to show his instructions, drew tip his troop in the inward court, and said, "These, sir, are my instructions." ** How far the character here given of the Presbyterians is a true one. I leave others to guess. When they have not had the upper hand, they certainly have been friend's to mildness am! Canto i.] IIUDIBRAS. 45 Which always must be caixy'd on, And still bo doing, never done As if Religion were intended 205 For nothing else but to be mended. 'a sect, whose chierclevotion lies In odd perverse antipathies :* In falling out with that or this, And finding somewhat still amiss :t 219 More peevisji, cross, and splenetic, Than dog distract, or monkey sick. That with more care keep holy-day The wrong, than others the right way :* Compound for sins they are inclin'd to, 215 By damning those they have no mind to : Still so perverse and opposite. As if they worshipp'd God for spite. The self-same thing they will abhor One way, and long another for. SSO Free-will they one way disavow, Another, nothing else allov/.§ lAU piety consists therein (In them, in other men all sin.|] • Rather than fail, they will defy 225 That which they love most tenderly ; Quarrel with miuc'd pies, IT and disparage moderation : but Dr. Grey produces r):issages from some of their violent and absurd writers, which made him think that they had a strong spirit of persecution at the bottom. Some of our brave ancestors said of the Romans, " Ubi soli- •'tudinem fliciunt, pacem appellant." Tacitus, Vita Agricol. 30. * In ail great quarrels, the parties are apt to take pleasure in contradicting each other, even in the most trifling matters. The I'resbyterians reckoned it sinful to cat plum-porridge, or minced pies, at Christmas. The cavaliers observing the formal carriage of iheir adversaries, fell into the opposite e.xtreme, and ate and drank plentifully every day, especially after the restoration. t Q.ueen Elizabeth v/as often hoard to say, that she knew very well what would content the Catholics, but that she never could learn what would content the Puritans. + In the year 1645. Christmas-day was ordered to be observed as a fast : and Oliver, when protector, was feasted by the lord mayor on Ash-Wednesday. When James the First desired the magistrates of Edinburgh to feast the French ambassadors before their return to France, the ministers prochumcd a fast to be kept the same day. § As maintaining absolute predestination, and denying the liberty of man's will : at the same tinie contending for absolute freedom in rites and ceremonies, and tlie discipline of the church. li They themselves being the elect, and so incapable of sin- ning, and all others being reprobates, and therefore not capable «jf performing any sood action. 1' "A sort ol inquisition was set up, against the food which 46 HUDIBRAS. [Part : Their best and dearest friend — pium-porridgc : Fat pig and goose itself oppose, And blaspheme custard through the nose. 230 Th' apostles of this fierce religion, Like Mahomet's, were ass and widgeon,* To whom our knight, by fast instinct Of wit and temper, was so linkt. As if hypocrisy and nonsense 221 Had got th' advowson of his conscience. Thus was he gifted and accoutcr'd. We mean on th' inside, not the outward : That next of all we shall discuss ; Then listen. Sirs, it foUoweth thus : 'MO ^ His tawnv _beard was th' equal grace ^Both of his wisdom and his face ; /In cut and dye so like a tile, , A sudden view it would beguile : i;^ The upper part thereof was whey, 245 XThe nether orange, mixt with grey. (This hairy meteor did denounce ^The fall of sceptres and of crowns ;t liad " been customarily in use at this season." BlackalPs Ser inon on Christmas-day. * Mahomet tells us, in the Koran, that the Angel Gabriel brought to him a milk-white beast, called Alborach, something like an ass, but big<:er, to carry him to the presence of God. Alborach refused to let him get up, unless he would promise to procure him an entrance into paradise: which Mahomet pro- mising, he got up. Mahomet is also said to have had a tame pigeon, which he taught secretly to eat out of his ear, to make his followers believe, that by means of this bird there were im- parted to him some divine comnuinications. Our poet calls it a widgeon, for the sake of equivoque ; widgeon in the figuraliya sense, signifying a foolish silly fellow. It is usual to say of such a person, that he is as wise as a widgeon : and a drinkinc; song has these lines. — ISIahomet was no divine, but a senseless widgeon. To forbid the use of wine to those of his religion. Widgeon and weaver, says Mr. Ray, in his Philosophical Let- ters, are male and female sex. "There are still a nuiltitude of doves about Mecca preserved " and fed there with great care and superstition, being thought " to be of the lireed of that dove which spake in the ear of Ma "hornet." Sandys' Travels. t Alluding to the vulgar opinion, that comets are always predictive of some public calamity. Et nunquam ccelo spectatum impune cometen. Pliny calls a comet crinita. Jtr. Butler in his Genuine Remains, vol. i. p. 54. says, Which way the dreadful comet went In sixty-four, and what it meant 1 Canto i.j HUDIBRaS 47 With grisly type did represent /Declining age of government, 251/ And tell, with hieroglyphic spade, (Its own grave and the state's were made. jLike Sampson's heart-breakers, it grew jIn time to make a nation rue ;* jTho' it contributed its own fall, 055 To wait upon the public downfall :t 'It was canonic, t and did grow lu holy orders by strict vow :§ What Nations yet are to bewail The operations of its tail : Or whether France or Holland yet, Or Germany, be in its debt? What wars and plagues in Christendom Have happen'd since, and what to come ? What kings are dead, how many queens And princesses are poison'd since 7 And who shall next of ail by turn, Make courts wear black, and tradesmen mourn 1 And when again shall lay embargo Upon the admiral, the good ship Argo. Homer, as translated by Pope, Iliad iv. 434, says, While dreadful comets glaring from afar, Forewarn' d the horrors of the Thehaii war. * Heart-breakers were particular curls worn by the ladies, roj«/ sometimes by men. Sampson's strength consisted in his hau * when that was cut off, he was taken prisoner; when it f",rew again, he was able to pull down the house, and destroy hia ene- mies. See Judges, cap. xvi. t Many of the Presbyterians and Injlepeiideirts s \v n rfe iioT 10" cut their beards, not, like Mei)hibosheth, till the king was rc- ■' st ored, but Jill nnn rraTchy and episcopacy ws iie-rained. . Such vows were cumnion among the barbarous nations, especially the Germans. Civilis, as we learn from Tacitus, having dclroyed the llon)an legions, cut his hair, which he had vowed to In grow from his first taking up arms. And it became at lenglh a na- tional custom among some of the Germans, never to tiaii their hair, or their beards, till they had killed an enemy. i The latter editions, for canonic, read monastic. ^ This line would make one think, that in the preceding or.o we ought to read monastic; tliough the vow of not shiving tho beard till some particular event happened, was not uncommou in those times. In a humorous poem, falsely ascribed to Mr, Butler, entitled, The Coblcr and Vicar of Bray, we ret.d, This worthy kni-iht was one that swore He would not cut his beard, Till this ungodly nation was From kings and bishops clear'd. Which lioly vow he firmly kept, And most devoutly wore A grisly meteor on his face. Till they were both no more 48 HUDIBRAS. lPart i Of rule as sullen and severe As that of rigid Cordeliere :* 2G9 'Twas bound to suffer persecution And martyi'dom with resolution ; T' oppose itself against the hate And vengeance of th' incensed state : In whose defiance it was worn, 261 Still ready to be puU'd and torn, With red-hot irons to be tortur'd, Revil'd, and spit upon, and martyr'd : Maugre all which, 'twas to stand fast, As long as monarchy should last ; QTO [But when the state sJiould hap to reel, I'Twas to submit to fatal steel, And fall, as it was consecrate, 'a sacrifice to fall of state ; Whose thread of life the fatal sisters 275 Did twist together with its whiskers. And twine so close, that Time should never, In life or death, their fortunes sever ; But with his rusty sickle mow Both down together at a blow. 2&fl So learned Taliacotius, frojii The brawny part of porter's bum. Cut supplemental noses, which Would last as long as parent breech :t * An order so called in France, from the knotted cord which they wore about their middles. In England they were named Grey Friars, and were the strictest branch of the Franciscans. t Taliacotius was professor of physic and surgery at Bologna, where he was born, 1553. His treatise is well known. He says, the operation has been practised by others before him with suc- cess. See a very humorous account of him, Tatler, No. 2G0. The design of Taliacotius has been improved into a method of holding correspondence at a great distance, by the sympathy of flesh transferred from one body to another. If two persons ex- change a piece of flesh from the bicepital muscle of the arm, and circumscribe it with an alphabet; when the one pricks him- self in A, the other is to have a sensation thereof in the same part, and by inspecting his arm, perceive what letter the other points to. Our author lUvewise intended to ridicule Sir Keneltn Digby, who, in his Treatise on the sympathetic powder, mentions, but with caution, this method of engrafting noses. It has been ob- served, that the ingenuity of the ancients seems to have failed them on a similar occasion, since they were obliged to piece ouj the mutilated shoulder of Pelops witli ivory. In latter daj's it has been a common practice with dentists, ti draw the teeth of young chimney-sweepers, and fix them in the heads of other persons. There was a lady whose mouth was supplied in this manner. After some tune the boy claimed the Canto I.] HUDIBRAS 49 But when the date of Nock was out,* 285 Off dropt the sympathetic snout. His back, or rather burthen, show'd As if it stoop'd with its own load. For as ^Eneas ^bore his sire Upon JTis shouTders thro' the fire, S;90 Our kniglit did bear no less a pack |Of his own buttocks on his back : Which now had almost got the upper- Hand of his head, for want of crupper. To poise this equally, he bore ii95 A paunch of the same bulk before : Which still he had a special care To keep well-cramm'd with thrifty fare : As white-pot, butter-milk, and cm-ds, Such as a couutiy-house affords ; 30fc With other victual, which anon We farther sliall dilate upon. When of his hose we come to treat. The cup-board where he kept his meat. His doublet was of sturdy buff, 305 And though not sword, yet cudgel-proof, Whereby 'twas fitter for his use. Who fear'd no blows but such as bruise. t His breeches were of rugged woollen, And ha3~BBen at the siege of Bullen ;t 310 tooth, and went to a justice of peace for a warrant against the lady, who, he alleged, had stolen it. The case would have puzzled Sir Hudibras. Dr. Hunter mentions some ill effects of the practice. A per- son who gains a tooth, may soon after want a nose. The simile has been translated into Latin thus : Sic adscititios nasos de clune torosi Vectoris docta secuit Taliacotius arte : Qui potuere parem durando square parentem ; At postquam fato clunis computruit, ipsum Una symphaticuni ccspit tabescere rostrum * Nock is a British word, signifying a slit or crack. And hence figuratively, nates, la fesse, the fundament. Nock, Nockys, is used by Gawin Douglas in his version of the .^neid, for the bottom, or extremity of any thing; Glossarists say, the word hath that sense both in Italian and Dutch: others think it a British word. t A man of nice honor suffers more from a kick, or slap in the face, than from a wound. Sir Walter Raleigh says, to be strucken with a sword is like a man, but to be strucken with a stick is like a slave. % Henry VHI. besieged Boulogne in person, July 14, 1544. He was very fai, and consequently his breeches very largo. Sec the painiinus at Cowdry in Su :sex, and the engravings published 50 ULDIBRAS. U'ahc t To old Kiiifr Harry so well known, Some writers held they were his own, Thro' they were lin'd with many a piece Of ammunition-bread and cheese, And fat black-puddings, proper food 315 For waniors that delight in blood: For, as we said, he always chose To carry vittle in his hose, That often tempted rats and mice, Tlie ammunition to surprise : J'iO And when he put a hand but in The one or th' other magazine. The)'' stoutly in defence on't stood. And from the wounded foe drew blood ; And till tlr were storm'd and beaten out 52a Ne'er left the fortifi'd redoubt ; [And tho' knights errant, as some think, 'Of old did neither eat nor diink,* Because wlien thorough desarls vast, And regions desolate they past, 330 I Where belly-timber above ground, (Or under, was not to be found, Unless they graz'd, there's not cue word Of their provision on record : Which made some confidently write, 335 Tliey had no stomachs but to fight. 'Tis false : for Arthur wore in hallt Round table like a farthingal.t by the Society of Antiquaries. Their breeches and hose were the same, Port-hose, Tiuniv-hose, Pantaloons, were ail like our sailors' trowsers. See Pedules in Cowel,and the 74th canon ad finem. * " Though I tliink, says Don Quixote, that I have read as " many histories of chivalry in my time as any other man, I " never could find that knijihts errant ever eat, unless it weie " by mere accident, wlien they were invited to great feasts and " royal banquets ; at other times, they indulged themselves with " little other food besides their thoughts." T Arthur is said to have lived about the year 530, and to have been born in £01, but so many romantic exploits are attributed to him, that some have doubted whether there was any truth at ali in Ills history. Geoffrey of Monmouth calls him the son of Uther Pendragon, others think he was himself called Uther Pendragon : Uther sig- nifying in the British tongue a club, because as with a club he beat down the Saxons : Pendragon, because he wore a dragon on the crest of his lielujet. t Tlie farthingal was a sort of hoop worn by tlie ladies. King Arthur is said to liave made choice of the round table lliat lii* knights might not quarrel about precedence. Canto i.] IIUDIBRAS. 51 On which, with shirt pull'd out behind, And eke before, his good knights din'd. .'MO Tho' 'twas no table some suppose, But a huge pair of round trunk hose : In which he carry'd as much meat. As he and all his knights could eat,* Wljen laying by their swords and truncheons, :nj They took their breakfasts, or their nuucheons.'t But let that pass at present, lest We should forget where we digrest ; As learned authors use, to whom We leave it, and to th' purpose come. 3.j0 His puissant sj^iuid unto his side. Near his undaunted heart, was ty'd, With basket-hilt, that would hold broth, And sei-ve for fight and dinner both. In it he melted lead for bullets, . 3">5 To shoot at foes, and sometimes I'mllets To whpm he bore so fell a grutch. He ne'er gave quarter t' any such. The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty.t For want of fighting was grown rusty, 300 And ate into itself, for lack Of somebody to hew and hack. The peaceful scabbard where it dwelt. The rancour of its edge had felt : For of the lower end two handful 3155 It had devour'd, 'twas so manful. And so much scorn'd to lurk in case, As if it durst not shew its face. * Trae-wit, in Ben .Tonscn's Silent Woman, says of Sir Aiiior- ons La Fool, " If he could but victual himself for half a year in '• liis breeches, he is sufficiently armed to over-run a country." Act 4, sc. 5. t J\''tnicheons. — i\!eals now made by the servants of most fam- ilies about noon-tide, or twelve o'clock. Our ancestors in the ],lth and 14th centuries had four meals a day, — breakfast at 7; dmner at 10 ; supper at 4 ; and livery at 8 or 9 ; soon after which they went to-bed. See the Earl of Northumberland's household- honk. The tradesmen and laboring people had only 3 meals a day, —breakfast at 8 ; dinner at 1'2 ; and supper at 0. They had no livery. J Toledo is a city in Spain, the capital of New Castile, famous for the manufacture of swords: the Toledo blades were general- ly broad, to wear on horseback, and of ^reat lenjith, suitable to the old Spanish dress. See Dillon's Voyage through Spain, 4tu 78i. lUu those which I have seen were narrow, like a stiletto, cut mncli longer: though probably our hero's was broad, as is aijilicd by the epithet trenchaiit: cutting. r,2 IIUDIBRAS [Pakt v i!j many desperate attempts, Of warrants, exigents,* contempts, ;J7C It had appear'd with courage bolder Than Serjeant Bum invading shoulder :t Oft had it ta'en possession. And pris'ners too, or made them run. fi ' /' This sword a dagger had, hia^iager «?^^-^ 375 That was but little for his age : t And therefore waited on him so. As dwarfs upon knights errant do. It was a serviceable dudgeon, § Either for fighting or for drudging :|| i?.0 When it had stabb'd, or broke a liead. It would scrape trenchers, or chip bre;ul. Toast cheese or bacon, IT though it were To bait a mouse-trap, 'twould not care : 'Twould make clean shoes, and in the earth :;r>5 Set leeks and onions, and so forth : It had been 'prentice to a brewer,** * Exigent is a writ issued in order to bring a person to an out- lawry, if he does not appear to answer llie suit commenced against him. t Alluding to the method by which bum-bailiffs, as they are called, arrest persons, giving them a tap on tlie shoulder. i Thus Homer accoutres Agamemnon with a dagger hanging near his sword, which he used instead of a knife. Iliad. Lib. iii. 271. A gentleman producing some wine to his guests in small glasses, and saying it was sixteen years old ; a person replied it was very small for its age — i-Ki66vTos he tivos oIvov ivilvKrrjpiSit^ uiKpbv, Kai dnSvTos ori iKKaihtKahrji' [xiK^ds yc, ciptj^ wj roauTiav trCiv. Athensus Ed. Casauboi). pp. 584 and 585, lib xiii. 289. § A dudgeon was a short sword, or dagger : from the Teutonic degen, a sword. II That is for doing any drudgery-work, such as follows in the next verses. ir Corporal Nim says, in Shakspeare's Henry V., " I dare not "fight, but I will wink, and hold out mine iron: it is a simple " one, but what though — it will toast cheese." ** This was a common joke upon Oliver Cromwell, who was said to have been a partner in a brewery. It was frequently made the subject of lampoon during his lii'e-time. In the collec- tion of loyal songs, is one called tlie Protecting Brewer, which nas these stanzas — A brewer may be as bold as a hector, When as he liad drunk his cup of nectar, And a brewer may be a Lord Protector, Which nobody can deny. Now here remains the strangest thing, How this brewer about his liquor did bring To be an emperor or a king, Which nobndy can deny. Canto i.J HUDIBRAS, 53 Where this, and more, it did endure ; But left the trade, as many more Have lately done, on the same score. :in« In th' holsters, at the saddle-bow. Two aged pistols he did stow, Among tlie surplus of such meat As in his hose he could not get. These would inveigle rats with th' scent, 395 To forage when the cocks were bent ; And sometimes catch 'em with a snap. As cleverly as th' ablest trap.* They were upon hard duty still. And every night stood sentinel, 400 To guard the magazine in th' hose. From two-legg'd and from four-legg'd foes. C Thus cla d and fprtify'd. Sir Knight, [From peaceful home set forth to fight. 13 ut first with nimble active force, 405 He got on th' outside of his horse :t For having but one stirrup ty'd T' his saddle, on the further side. It was so short h' had much ado To reach it with his desp'rate toe. 410 But after many strains and heaves, He got upon the saddle eaves, From whence he vaulted into th' seat, , ■ L i^ With so much vigour, strength, and heat, S^^V*^'^ 'That he had almo st tumbled over 415 With his own weight, but did recover, By laying hold on tail and mane, Which oft ho us'd instead of rein. But now we talk of mounting steed, Before we further do proceed, 420 But whether Oliver was really concerned in a brewery, at any period of his life, it is difficult to deterniine. Heath, one of his I)rofessed enemies, assures us, in his Flagellum, that there was no foundation for the report. Colonel Pride had been a brewer: Colonel Hewson was first a shoemaker, then a brewer's clerk : and Ecott had been clerk to a brewer. * This and the preceding couplet were in the first editions, but afterwards left out in the author's copy. toothing can be more completely droll, than this description of Hudibras mounting his horse. He had one stirrup tied on the off-side very short, the saddle very large ; the knight short, fat, and deformed, having his breeches and pockets stufieii with black puddings and other provision, overacting his ellbrt tu mount, and nearly tumbling over on the opposite side; his sin gle spur, we may suppose, catching in some of his horse's furni ture. 54 HUDIBRAS. [I'aut . It doth behove us to say sonicthuig Of that which bore our valiant bumkiu.* Th ejjeas t-was sturdy, large, and tail, With mouth of meal, and e\es of wall ; I would say eye, for h' had but one, 425 As most agree, though some say none. He was well stay'd, and in his gait, Preserv'd a grave, majestic state. At spur or switch no more he skipt, Or mended pace, tnan Spaniard whipt:t 430 fc\.nd 5'et so fiery, he would bound, \.s if he griev'd to touch the ground : That Csesarls horse, who, as fame goes, Had corns upon his feet and toes,| Was not by half so tender-hooft, 435 Nor trod upon the ground so soft : And as that beast would kneel and stoop, Some write, to take his rider up,§ * A silly country fellow, or awkward stick of wood, from the P.elgboom, arbor, and ken, or kin, a diminutive. t This alludes to the story of a Spaniard, who was condemned to run the gantlet, and disdained to avoid any part of the punish- ment by mending his pace. t Suetonius relates, that the hoofs of Cesar's horse were di- vided like toes. And again, I^ycosthenes, de prodigiis et por- tentis, p. 214, has the following passage: ".lulius Ca;sar cum "Lusitaniffi prccesset— equus insignis, fissis unguibus auteriorum "pedum, etpropemoduni digitorum humanorum natusest; ferox " admodum, atque elatus : quern natum apud se, cum auruspices " imperium orbis terra; significare domino proniintiassent, magn^ "curii aluit; nee patientem sessoris alterius, prijnus ascendit . "cujus etiam signum pro JEde Veneris genetricis postea dedica- " vit." — The statue of Julius Caesar's horse, which was placed beibre the temple of Venus Genetrix, had the hoofs of the fore feet parted 'ike the toes of a man. Montfaucon's Antiq. v. ii.p.58 In Havercamp's Medals of Christina, on the reverse of a coin of Gordianus Pius, pi. 34, is represented an horse with two hu- man fore feet, or rather one a foot, the other a hand. Arion is said, by the scholiast, on Statius Theb. vi. ver. 301, to have had the feet of a man — huraano vestigio dextri pedis. Q Stirrups were not in use in the time of Ctesar. Common persons, wiio were active and hardy, vaulted into their seats; and persons of distinction had their horses taught to bend down toward the ground, or else they were assisted by their ftrators or equerries." Q,. Curtius mentions a reniarkable instance of do- cility of the elephants in the army of king Porus : " Indus more "solito elephantum procumbere jussit in genua; qui ut se sub- "missit, ceteri quoque, ita enini instituti erant, demisere corpora " in terram." I know no writer who relates that Ceesar's horse would kneel; and perhaps Mr. Butler's memory deceived him. Of Bucephalus, the favored steed of Alexander, it is said— -'Mile "nee in dorso insidere suo patiebatur alium; et regem, quura " vcUet ascendere sponte sua genua submittens, excipiebat ; cre- " debatorque sentire queni veheret." See also Diodor. Sicul. et <^/.N-To I.] HLPIBRAS. 55 So Hudibras his, 'tis well known, Would often do, to set liim down. 44(1 We shall not need to say what lack Of leather was upon his back : For that was hidden under pad, And breech of Knight gall'd full as bad. His strutting ribs on both sides show'd 445 Like furrows he himself had plow'd : For underneath the skirt of pannel, f'Twixt every two there was a channel. Iliis draggling tail hung in tiie dirt, ! Which on his rider he would flirt ; 4"50 Still as his tender side he prickt, With arm'd heel, or with unarm'd, kickt ; For Hudibras wore but one spur, As wisely knowing, could he stir To active trot one side of 's horse, 455 • i The other would not hang an arse. r^ r 1^/ T A Squire he had, whose name was Ralph,* LC-^ 0^ "^^"^ ' riutarch. de solert. animal. Jlr. Butler, in his MS. Common- place Book, applies the saddle to the right horse ; for he says, Like Bucephalus's brutish honor. Would have none mount but the right owner. Hudibras's horse is described very ranch in the same manner with that of Don Quixote's lean, stiff, jaded, foundered, with a sharp ridge of bones. Rozinante, however, could boast of " mas "quartos que un real" — an equivoque entirely lost in most translations. Quarto signifies a crack, or chop, in a horse's hoof or heel : it also signifies a small piece of money, several of which go to make a real. * As the knight was of the Presbyterian party, so the squire was an Anabaptist or Independent. This gives our author an opportunity of characterizing both these sects, and of shewing their joint concurrence against the king and church. The Presbyterians and Independents had each a separate form of church discipline. The Presbyterian sj-stcm appointed, for every parish, a minister, one or more deacons, and two ruling efders, who were laymen chosen by the parishioners. Each parish was suhject to a classis, or union of several parishes. A deputation of two ministers and four ruling elders, from every classis in the county, constituted a provincial synod. And su- perior to the provincial was the national synod, consisting of deputies from the former, in the proportion of two ruling elders to one minister. Appeals were allowed throughout these several jurisdictions, and ultimately to the parliament. On the attachment of the Presbyterians to their lay-elders, Mr. Seldon observes in his Table-talk, p. 118, that " there must be some lay- "men in the synod to overlook the clergy, lest they spoil the " civil work : just as when the good woman puts a cat into the " uiilk-house, she sends her maid to look after the cat, lest the "cat should eat up the cream." The Independents maintained, that every congregation was a •complete church within itself, and had no dependence on claa- 56 IIUDIBRAS. [Pakt i jThat in th' adventure went liis half (Though writers, for more stalely tone, I Do call him Ralpho, 'tis all one : 4G€ A nrl nrJiPn wf^ (> n.n, with me tre safe, \yellLcallJaim 6o,-if Jiot, plain Kaph ;* For rh^'mg^tho judder is of vei-scs, WjHiJvvhicli^ like^upiTt^' steer Jheircourscts. An equal slock of wit and valor 4ri5 He had lain in, by birth a tailor. The mighty Tyrian queen that gain'd, With subtle shreds, a tract of land,1 Did leave it, with a castle fair. To his great ancestor, her heir ; 470 From him descended cross-legg'd knights,! Fam'd for their faith and warlike fights Against the bloody Cannibal, § sical, provincial, or national synods or assemblies. They chose their own ministers, and required no ordination or laying on of hands, as the Presbyterians did. They admitted any gifted bro- ther, that is, any enthusiast who thought he could preach oi pray, into their assemblies. They entered into covenant with their minister, and he with them. Soon after the Revolution the Presbyterians and Independents coalesced, the former yield- ing in some respects to the latter. * Paulino Ausonius, metrum sic suasit, ut esses Tu prior, et nomen praegrederere meuni. Sir Roger L'Estrange supposes, that in his description of Ral pho, our author had in view one Isaac Robinson, a butcher in Moorfields: others think that the character was designed for Prenible, a tailor, and one of the committee of sequestrators. Dr. Grey supposes, that the name of Ralph was taken from the grocer's apprentice, in Beaumont and Fletcher's play, called the Knight of the Burning Pestle. Mr. Pemberton, who was a rela- tion and godson of Mr. Butler, said, that the 'squire was designed for Ralph Bedford, esquire, member of parliament for the town of Bedford. t The allusion is to the well-known story of Dido, who pur- chased as much land as she could surround with an ox's hide. She cut the hide into small strips, and obtained twenty-two fur- longs. Mercatique solum, focti de nomine Byrsam, Taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo. Virg. .^neid, lib. i. 367. i Tailors, who usually sit at their work in this posture ; and knights of the Holy Voyage, persons who had made a vow to go to the Holy Land, after death were represented on their monu- ments with their legs across. " Sumptuosissima per orbem "christianum erecta ccenobia; in quibus hodie quoque videre " licet militum iliorura imagines, monumenta, tibiis in crucem " transversis : sic enim sepulti fuernnt quotquot illo seculo nom- " jna bello sacro dedissent, vel qui tunc temporis crucem susce- " pissent." Chronic. Ecclesiast. lib. ii. p. 7-2. ob- " serving the impossibility of knowing the exact moment of any " man's birlh, do use very prudently to cast the nativity of tha " question, (like him that swallowed the doctor's bill instead of " the medicine,) and find the answer as certiiin and infallible, as " if they had known the very instant in which the native, as " they call him, crept into the world." $ Sapiens dominabitur astris, was an old proverb among the astrologers. Bishop Warburton observes, th;it the obscurity in these lines arises from the double sense of the wordmsp08«; when it reliites to the stars, it signifies influence ; when it relates to astrologers it signifies deceive. G6 PIUDIBRAS. FTart » This Ralplio knew, and therefore tojk The other coarse of wliich we spoke.* liius.was th' accomplish'd squire endu'd With gifts and knowledge perlous shrewd. Never did trusty squire with knight, ()25 Or knight with squire, e'er jump more riglit. Their arms and equipage did fit, As well as virtues, parts, and wit : Their valors, too, were of a rate, And out they sally'd at the gate. G30 Few miles on horseback had they jogged. But fortune unto them turn'd dogged ; For they a sad adve nture met, Of which we now prepare to treat : But ere we venture to unfold o:>5 . Achievements so resolv'd, and bold. We should, as learned poets use, i Invoke th' assistance of some muse ;t 1 However critics count it sillier. Than jugglers talking t' a familiar : C40 We think 'tis no great matter which ,t They're all alike, yet we shall pitch On one that fits our purpose most, \ Whom therefore thus we do accost : — Thou that with ale or viler liquors, G45 Didst inspire Withers, Pryn, and Vickars,§ * Ralpho did not take to astrological, but to reliiiioiis inipos- ture ; the author intimating that wise men were sometimes de- ceived by this. t Butler could not omit burlesquing the solenm invocations ivlth which poets address their Muses. In like manner .luvenal. going to describe Domitian's great turbot, ludicrously invokes the assistance of the Muses in his fourth satire. t Bishop Warburton thinks It should be read, The7j think, thai, is the critics. § The Rev*. Mr. Charles Dunster, the learned and ingenious trdnslator of the Frogs of Aristophanes, and the Editor of Philips's Cider, has taken some pains to vindicate the character of Withers as a poet. Party might induce Butler to speak slight- ingly of him ; but he seems to wonder why Swift, and Granger in his Biograi)hical History, should hold him up as an object of contempt. His works are very numerous, and Mr. Granger says, his Eclogues are esteemed the best ; but ]Mr. Dunster gives a few lines from his Britain's Remembrancer, a poem in eight Cantos, written ujjon occasion of the plague, which raged in London in the year 1625, which bear some resemblance to east- ern poetry : two pieces of his, by no means contemptible, are published among the old English ballads, and extracts chiefly lyrical, from his Juvenilia, were printed in 1785, for J. Sewell Cornhill. George Withers died 1667, aged 79. — For a further account ol Canto i.J [IUDI13RAS. 67 And force them, though it were in spite Of Nature, and their stars, to write ; Who, as we find in sullen writs,* And cross-grain'd works of modern wits, 650 With vanity, opinion, want, The wonder of the ignorant. The praises of the author, penn'd By himself, or wit-insuring friend ;t •The itch of picture in the front,! G55 With bays, and wicked rhyme upon't. him, see Kennet's Register arm Clironicle, page G48: lie is luen- tioned in Hudibras, Part ii. Canto iii. 1. IGD. The extract lioni his Britain's lleinenibrancer here follows, which, Mr. Dunster says, may perhaps challenge "comparison " with any instance of the Beds ai:b {trixavijs i" ancient or nioil- " ern poetry." it prov'd A crying sin, and so extremely niov'd God's gentleness, that angry he became : His brows were bended, and his eyes did flame, Methought I saw it so ; and thotigh I were Afraid within his presence to appear. My soul was rais'd above her common station, Where, what ensues, I view'd by contemplation. There is a spacious round, which bravely rears Her arch above the top of all the spheres, Until her bright circumference doth rise, Above the reach of man's, or angels' eyes, Conveying, through the bodies chrystalline. Those rays which on our lower globes do shine; And all the great and lesser orbs do lie Within the compass of their canopy. In this large room of state is fix'd a throne, From whence the wise Creator looks upon His workmanship, and thence doth hear and see All sounds, all places, and all things that be : Here sat the king of gods, and from about His ej-e-Iids so much terror sparkled out, That every circle of the heavens it shook, And all the world did tremble at his lock The i)rospect of the sky, that erst was clear. Did with a low'ring countenance appear; The troubled air before his presence tied, The earth into her bosom shrunk her head ; The deeps did roar, the heights did stand amaz'd ' The moon and stars upon each other gaz'd ; The sun did stand unmoved in his path. The host of heaven was frighted at his wrath ; And with a voice, which made all nature quake. To this effect the great Eternal spake. Canto i. p. 17. * That is, ill-natured satirical writings. T He very ingeniously. ridicules the vanity of authors who prefix comniendatory verses to their works. * Milton, who had a high opinion of his own person, is said lo have been angry with the painter or engraver for want of 68 HUDIBRAS. [Part All that is left o' tli' forked hill* To make men scribble without skill ; I Canst make a poet, spite of fate, Aud teach all people to translate ; GtO Though out of languages, in which They understand no part of speech ; Assist me but this once, I 'mplore, iAnd I shall trouble thee no more. jn we £tar4i clime there-is a towH,t G63 To those that dwell therein well knowu, Therefore there needs no more be said here, We unto them refer our reader ; [For brevity is very good, /When w' are, or are not understood.t (iTrt 10 this town peoplejiid-r€^pair On days of market, or of fair. And to crack'd fiddle, and hoarse tabor. In merriment did drudge and labor ; (But now a sport more formidable (\75 Had rak'd together villag e rabble,: 'Twas an old way of recreating. Which learned butchers call bear-baiting ; A bold advent'rous exercise, With ancient heroes in high prize ; 680 For authors do affirm it came From Isthmian or Nemean game ; Others derive it from the bear That's fix'd in northern hemisphere. likeness, or perhaps for want of grace, in a print of himself pre fixed to his juvenile poems. He expressed his displeasure ia four iambics, which have, indeed, no great merit, and lie open to severe criticism, particularly on the word ^van'mrnia. 'AnaOu Y£Yjydairig Tax' "*'' '^P°^ a^of alro(pvii PXizwv. Toi/ 6' tKrvntaTov ovk i-iyvovreg, f the dissenters. U/t Canto i.] HUDIBRAS. And round about the poles does make A circle, like a bear at stake, That at the chain's end Avheels about, And overturns the rabble-rout : For after solemn proclamation,* In the bear's name, as is the fashion, According to the law of arms. To keep men from inglorious harms, Tliat none presume to come so near As forty feet of stake of bear ; If any yet be so fool-hardy, T' expose themselves to vain jeopardy, If they come wounded off and lame, No honor's got by such a maim, [ Altho' the bear gain much, b'ing liouad I In honour to make good his ground, TOO When he's engag'd, and take no notice, If any press upon him, who 'tis, But lets them know, at their own cost, That he intends to keep his post. This to prevent, and other harms, 705 Which always wait on feats of arms. For ia the hurry of a fray 'Tis hard to keep out of harm s way. /Thither the Knight his course did steer, (To keep the peace 'twixt dog and bear, 710 As he believ'd he vv^as bound to do III conscience, and commission too ;t And therefore thus^ t>espoke. the Squ ire : — We that are wisely mounted higher Than constables in curule wit, 7!5 When on tribunal bench we sit,t * The proclamation here mentioned, was usually made at ^ear or bull-baiting. See Plot's Stafibrdsliire, 43'J. Solemn proclamation made by the steward, that all manner of persons give way to the bull, or bear, none being to come near him by ibrty feet. T The Presbyterians and Independents were great enemies to those sports with which the country jieople amused themselves. Mr. Hume, in the last volume of his History of England, (Man- ners of the Commonweaith, chap. Hi. anno 16C0, page 119,) says, "All recreations were in a manner suspended, by the rijiid ** severity of the Presbyterians and Independents- even bcar- " baiting was esteemed heathenish and unchristian the sport *'of it, not the inhumanity, gave otlence. Colonel Hewson, " from his pious zeal, marched with his regiment into London, " and destroyed all the bears which were there kept for the " diversion ot' the citizens. This a ivenlure seems to have given "hirth to the fiction of Hudibras." % We that are in high office, and sit on the I)ench by commii- I-O IIUDIBRAS. [Part i Like speculators, should foresee, From Pharos of authority, Portended mischiefs farther than Low proletarian tything-men :* 72« And therefore being inform'd by bruit, That dog and bear are to dispute, For so of late men fighting name, Because they often prove the same ; For where the first docs hap to be, '25 The last docs coincidere. Quantum in nobis, have thought good To save th' expence of Christian blood, And try if we, by mediation Of treaty and accommodation, T30 Can end the quarrel, and compose iThe bloody duel without blows. Are not our liberties, ojir lives. The laws, religion, and our wives, Enough at once to lie at stake 735 For cov'nant, and the cause's sake ?t But in that quarrel dogs and bears, As well as we, must venture theirs? Thi s feud by Jesuits invented,! iBy~evil coun"seri5TomFntETl ; " 740 [There is a Machiavilian plot, Tho' ev'ry nare olfact it not,§ sion as justices of the peace. — Some of the chief magiilrates in Rome, as aidile, censor, pitetor, and consul, were said to hold turule offices, from the chair of state or chariot they rode in, called sella curulis. * Proletarii were the lowest class of people among the Ro- mans, who had no ])roperty, so called a munere officioque pro! is edendffi, as if the only good they did to the state were in beget- ting children. Tything-man, that is, a kind of inferior or deputy constable. + Covenant means the solemn league and covenant drawn up by the Scotch, and subscribed by many of the sectaries in England, who were fond of calling their party The Cause, or the greatest cause in the world. They professed they would not forsalce it for all the parliaments upon earth. One of their writers says, " Will not the abjurers of the covenant, of all -others, be the chief of sinners, whilst they become guilty of no " less sin, than the very sin against the Holy Ghost 7" i As Don Quixote was dreaming of chivalry and roniance>, so it was the great object of our knight to extirpate popery and independency in religion, and to reform and settle the state. ■^ The knight, in this speech, employs more Latin, and more uncouth phrases, than he usually does. In this line he mean-;— though every nose do not smell it. The character of his lan- guage was given before in the ninety-first, and some fiilluv.ing 10ANT0 I.] HUDIBRAS 71 Aud deep design in't to divide iThe well-afFected that confide, 'By setting brother against brother, 74' To claw aud curry one another. Have we not enemies plus satis. That cane et angue pejus* hate us? And shall we turn our fangs and claws 'Upon our own selves, without cause ? 750 That some occult design doth lie In bloody cynarctomachy,1 Is plain enough to him that knows How saints lead brothers by the nose. I wish myself a pseudo-prophet,t 755 But sure some mischief will come of it, Unless by providential wit. Or force, we averruncate§ it. For what design, what interest, Can beast have to encounter beast? 700 .jrh©y-figh^f»r^io -espoused cmise, Frail_pnvilegey^ f uadanxental laws.jl * A proverbial saying, used by Horace, expressive of a bitter aversion, The punishment for parricide among: the Romans was, to be put into a sack witli a snake, a dog, and an ape, and thrown into the river. t Cynarctomachy is compounded of three Greek words, signi- fying a figiit between dogs and bears. The perfect Diurnal of some passages of Parlianient from July 24 to July 31, 1G43, Nu. 4, gives an account how the Queen brought from Holland " be- sides a company of savage rutiians a company of savage bea/s;" Colonel Cromwell finding the people of Uppingham, in Rutland- shire, baiting them on the Lord's day, and in the height of their sport, caused the bears to be seized, tied to a tree, and shot. We tax'd you round — sixpence the pound. And massacred your bears Loyal Songs. X That is, a false prophet. ■^ Jiverruncate, means no more than eradicate, or pluck up. II The following lines recite the grounds on which the parlia- ment began the war against the king, and justified their pro- ceedings afterwards. lie calls the privileges of parliament frail, because they were so very apt to complain of their being broken Whatever the king did, or refused to do, contrary to the senti uients, and unsuitable to the designs of parliament, they voted presently a breach of their privilege: his dissenting to any of the bills they offered him was a breach of privilege : his pro- claiming them traitors, wlio were in arms against him, was a high breach of their urivilege : and the commons at last voted it a breach of privilege for the house of lords to refuse assent to any thing that came from the lower house. Both the English and the Scotch, from the beginning of the war, avouched that their whole proceedings were according to the fundamental laws : by which they meant not any statutes or laws in being, but their own sense of the constitution. Thus, after the king's death, the Dutch ambassadors were told, that y llLDlJillAS. [J'aut .. iNor for a tliorough reformation, JNor covenant, nor protestation,* Nor liberty of consciences,! '(iS Nor lords' and commons' ordinances ;| Nor for the church, nor for church-lands, To get them in their own no hands ;§ Nor evil counsellers to bring To justice, that seduce the King ; 770 Nor for the worship of us men, Tho' we have done as much for them. Til' Egyptians worshipp'd dogs, and for Their faith made fierce and zealous >yar.[| Others ador'd a rat, and some 773 For that church sufFer'd martyrdom. The Indians fought for the truth Of th' elephant and monkey's tooth ;Tr And many, to defend that faith, Fought it out mordicus to death ;** 780 But no beast ever was so slight.tt For man, as for his god to fight. They have more wit, alas ! and know Tiiemselves and us better than so : But we who only do infuse • 785 Tlie rage in them like boute-feus,tt v.'hat the parliament had done against the king was according to the fundamental laws of this nation which were best known i(j themselves. * The protestation was a solenm vow or resohition entered into, and s\il)scribed, the first year of the long ])arliaMient. t. The early editions have it free libertij of consciences: and lliis reading liishop Warlmrton approves ; "free liberty" being, as he thinks, a satirical perijihrasis for licentiousness, which is what the axithor here hints at. + An ordinance (says Cleveland, p. 109) is a law still-born, iiropt before quickened by the royal assent. 'Tis one of the pirliameni's by-blows, acts only being legitimate, and hath no more fire than a Spanish gennet, that is begotten by the wind. § Suppose we read, To get them into their own hands. [Mr. ^I'ash is wrong— 710 hands here means /laz^JS.] jl See the beginning of the fifteenth satire of Juvenal. ^r The inhabitants of Ceylon and Slam are said to have hart in their temples, as objects of worship, the teeth of monkeys and of elephants. The Portuguese, out of zeal for the Christian religion, destroyed these idols ; and the Siamese are said to have offered 700,000 ducats to redeem a monkey's tooth which they had long worshipped. Le Blanc's Travels, and Herbert's Trav- els. Martinus Scriblerus, of the Origin of Sciences, Sivift'a works. ** Mordicus, valiantly, tooth and nail. tt That is, so weak, so silly. XX Makers of mischief, exciters of sedition Canto i.] IIUDIBRAS. 73 'Tis our example that instils In them the infection of our ills. For, as some late philosophejs Have well observ'd, beasts that converse TDfl With man take after him, as hogs Get pigs all th' year, and bitches dogs.* Just so, by our example, cattle Learn to give one another battle. We read, in Nero's time, the Heathen, 7;)5 When they destroyed the Christian brethren, They sew'd them in the skins of bears, And then set dogs about their ears ; From whence, no doubt, th' invention came O f this l ewd antichristiau game. 800 To this, quoth_Ralpho, verily The point seems very plain to me ; It is an antichristiau game, JJnlawful both in thing and name. [First, for the name : the word bear-baiting 605 Is carnal, and of man's creating ; tt^or certainly there's no such word In all the Scripture on record ; Therefore unlawful, and a sin :t * This faculty is not unfrequently instanced by the ancients, to show the superior excellence of mankind. Xenophon, Mem. i. 4, 12. A Roman lady seems to have been of the same opinion. '•Populia, IMarci filia, miranti cuidani quid esset quapropter aliaj " bestiae nunquam niarem desiderarent nisi cum praegnantes vel- " lent fieri, respondit, bestia enim sunty Macrob. Saturn, lib. ii. cap. 5. Vide etiani Just. Lipsii. Epist. Qua-st. lib. v. epist. ;{, et Andream Laurent, lib. viii. Hist. Anatom. Qua^st. l]-i, nhi causas adducit cur bruta; gravida? uiarem non admittunt, tit inter homines mulier. t Some of the disciplinarians held, that the Scriptures were full and express on every subject, and that every thing was sin- ful, which was not there ordered to be done. Some of the Hu- guenots refused to pay rent to their landlords, unless they would produce a text of Scripture directing them to do so. At a meeting of Cartwright, Travers, and other dissenting ministers in London, it was resolved, that such names as did savor either of Paganism or Popery should not be used, but only Scripture names; accordingly Snape refused to baptize a child, by the name of Richard. They formed popular arguments for deposing and murdering kings, from the e.\amples of Saul, Agac, Jeroboam, Jehoran, and the like. This reminds me of a story I have heard, and which, perhaps, IS recorded among Joe Miller's Jests, of a countryman going along the street, in the time of Cromwell, and inquiring the way to St. Anne's church — the person inquired of, happeninir to be a Presbyterian, said, he knew nn such person as Saint Anne; go- ing a 'little farther, lit asked another mar which v/as the \va7 :3 4 iiUDIBRAS. [Part i And so is, second y, the thing : 810 \ vile assembly 'tis, that can No more be proved by Scripture, than Provincial, classic, national :* Mere human creature-cobwebs all. Xhicdiyj^ It is idolatrous ; 815 For when men run a-whoring thus With their inventions,t whatsoe'er The thing be, whether dog or bear, It is idolatrous and pagan, No less than worshipping of Dagon. 820 Quoth Iludibras, I smell a rat ; Ralpho thou dost prevaricate ; For though the thesis which thou lay'st Be true, ad amussim,t as thou say'st ; For the bear-baiting should appear, 82i Jure divino, lawfuller Than synods are, thou dost deny, Totidem verbis — so do I ; Yet there's a fallacy in this ; For if by sly homcEosis,§ 830 Thou wouldst sophistically imply Both are unlawful — I deny. And I, quoth Ralpho, do not doubt But beai baiting may be made out. In gospel-times, as lawful as is 835 Provincial, or parochial classis ; And that both are so near of kin. Anne's church? he being a cavalier, said, Anne was a Saint before he was born, and would be after he was hanged, and gave him no information. * Ralpho here shows his independent principles, and his aver- sion to the Presbyterian forms of chnrch government. If the s2 IIUDIBRAS. [Part! But, as for our part, we shall tell 3.1 iThe naked truth of what befoli, |A.nd as an equal friend to both [The Knight and Bear, but more to t roth ;* ,y!iliik neitber faction^JwITjake^partT" But give to each a due desert, 40 And never coin a formal lie on't, To make the Knight overcome the giant. This b'ing profest, we've hopes enough, And now go on wliere we left off. They rode, but authors having not 4S Determin'd whether pace or trot. That is to say, whether tollutation, As they do term't, or succussatiou.t We leave it, and go on, as now Suppose they did, no matter how ; 50 Yet some, from subtle hints, have got Mysterious light it was a trot : But let that pass ; they now begun TcLSflur ^their living engines on : , For as whipp'd tops and bandy'd balls, 55 The learned hold, are animals ;t So horses they affirm to be Mere engines made by geometry, And were invented first from engines. As Indian Britains were from Peuguins.§ CU '^ "Amicus Socrates, amicus PJato, sed magis arnica Veritas " t Tollutation is pacing, or ambling, moving per latera, as Sir Thomas Brown says, that is, lifting both legs of one side togetli- er — Succussation, or trotting, that is, lifting one foot before, and the cross foot behind. i The atomic philosophers, Democritus, Epicurus, &c., and some of the moderns likewise, as Des Cartes, Hobbes, and oth- ers, will not allow animals to have a spontaneous and living principle in them, but maintain that life and sensation are gen- erated out of matter, from the contexture of atoms, or some pe- culiar composition of magnitudes, figures, sites, and motions, and consequently that they are nothing but local motion and mechanisiu. By which argument tops and balls, whilst they are in motion, seem to be as much animated as dogs and horses. Mr. Boyle, in his Experiments, printed in IC'SO, observes how like animals (men excepted) are to mechanical instruments. § This is meant to burlesque the idea of Mr. Selden, and oth- ers, tliat America had formerly been discovered by the Britons or Welsh ; which they had inferred from the similarity of some words in the two languages ; Penguin, the name of a bird, with a white head in America, in British signifies a white rock. Mr ir?kien, in his note on Drayton's Polyolbion, says, that Madoc, brother to David ap Owen, prince of Wales, made a sea voyago to Florida, about the year 1170. David Powell, in his history of Wales, reportcth that one Ma- Canto n.] IIUDIBRAS. r^ .So let them be, and, as I was sayinpf. They their live engines ply'd,* not staying Until Jh^'' r'^a'^h'd th^, f-Mi\] '^hmnpaign Which th' enemy did then encamp on ; The dire Piiai ;salian_plain)t where battle 63 Was to be wag'd^'twixt puissant cattle., And fierce auxiliary men, That came to aid their brethren ;t Who now began to take the field, As knight from ridge of steed beheld. 70 For, as our modern wits behold. Mounted a pick-back on the o!d,§ 3Inch farther oiF, much farther he Rais'd on his aged beast, could see ; Yet not sufficient to descry 75 All postures of the enemy : Wherefore he bids the s quire ride ^Jmlhcr, T' observ e their numbers, and their order ; That when their motions they had known, He might know how to fit his own. 80 Meanwhile he stopp'd his willing steed. To fit himself for martial deed : Both kinds of metal he prepar'd Either to give blows, or to v/ard ; tloc, son of Owen Gwinedsh, prince of Wales, some liundred years before Coliimbus discovered the West Indies, sailed into those parts and planted a colony. The simile runs thus ; horses are said to be invented from engines, and things without sense and reason, as Welshmen are said to have sailed to the Indies ; both upon the like grounds, and with as much probability. My worthy and ingenious friend i\Ir. Pennant, though zealous for the honor of his native country, yet cannot allow his coun- trymen the merit of having sailed to America before the time of Columbus : the proper name of these birds, saith he, (Philosoph. Transactions, vol. Iviii. p. 9(3,) is Pinguin, jirojjtcr pinguediuerii, on account of their fatness : it has been corrupted to Penguen- so that some have imagined it a Welsli word, signifying a white head : besides, the two species of birds that frequent Americii under that name, have blade heads, not white ones. Our poet rejoices in an opportunity of laughing at his old friend Seklen, and ridiculing some of his eccentric ncnions. * That is, Hudibras and his Squire spurred their horses. t Alluding to Pharsalia, where Julius Cajsar gained his signa. victory. t The last word is lengthened into brctheren, for metre sake th, fidicula, in the British language. Canto ii.J HUDIBRAS. g5 A squeaking engine he apply'd Unto his neclc, on north-east side,* Just where the hangman does dispose, 11 j To special friends, the fatal noose : For 'tis great grace, when statesmen striiglit Dispatch a friend, let others wait. His warped ear hmig o'er the strings, Which was but souse to chitterlings :t *" 120 For guts, some write, ere they are sodden, Are fit for music, or for pudden ; From whence men borrow ev'ry kind Of minstrelsy, by string or wind. His grisly beard was long and thick, , 123 f J, With which he strung his fiddle-stick ; JoS-CpA ^^ ^^^'^ For he to horse-tail scoru'd to owe / 'i- ^ For what on his own chin did grow. c^"^' Chiron, the four-legg'd bard, had both A beard and tail of his own growth ; 130 And yet by authors 'tis averr'd. He made use only of his beard. In Staffordshire, where virtuous wortht Does raise the minstrelsy, not birth : * It is difficult to say why Butler calls the left the north-east side. A friend of Dr. Gray's supposes it to allude to the manner of burying; the feet being put to the east, the left side would be to the north, or north-east. Some authors have asserted, and Euseb. Nurembero;, a learned Jesuit, in particular, that the body of man is niagneticai ; and being placed in a boat, a very small one we must suppose, of cork or leather, will nei'er rest till the head respecteth the north. Paracelsus had also a microcosmicaj conceit about the body of a man, dividing and differencing it ac- cording to the cardinal points ; making the fece the east, the hack the west, &c., of this microcosm : and therefore, working upon human ordure, and by long preparation rendering it odorif- erous, he terras it Zibetta occidentalis. Now in either of these positions, the body lying along on its back with its head towards the north, or standing upright with the foce towards the east, the reader will find the place of the fiddle on the left breast to be due north-east. One, or both of these conceits, it is probable, our poet had in view ; and very likely met with them, as I have done, in a book entitled Brown's Vulgar Errors, b. ii. ch. 3. Ovid, dividing the world into two hemispheres, calls one the right hand, and the other the left. The augurs of old, in iheii divinations, and priests in their sacrifices, turned their faces to- wards the east ; in which posture the north, being the left hand, agrees exactly with the position in which Crowdero would hold his fiddle. t Souse is the pig's ear, and chitterlings are the pig's guts: the former alludes to Crowdero's ear, which lay upon the fiddle ; the latter to the strings of the fiddle, which are made of catgut. t This alludes to the custom of bull-rnnning in the manor of Tudbury in Stafibrdshire, where a charter is granted by John of Sfi IIUDIBKAS. [Part i Where bulls do choose the boldest king, 13.- And ruler o'er the men of string, As once in Persia,* 'lis said, Kings were proclaim'd by a horse that neigh'd ; He, bravely vent'ring at a crown, By chance of war was beaten down, 140 And wounded sore : his leg then broke, Had got a deputy of oak ; • For when a shin in fight is cropt, Tiie knee with one of timber's propt, Esteem'd more honorable than the other, 1 4J And takes place, tho' the younger brother.! Next marcli'd brave Orsin,t famous for Wise conduct, and success in war ; A skilful leader, stout, severe, Now marshal to the champion bear. 150 With truncheon tipp'd with iron head. The vrarrior to the lists he led ; With solemn march, and stately pace, But far more grave and solemn face ; Grave as the emperor of Pegu, 155 Or Spanish potentate, Don Diego.§ This leader was of knowledge great, Either for charge, or for retreat : Gaunt, king of Castile and Leon, and duke of Lancaster, (and confirmed by inspexinius and grant of Henry VL,) dated 2-2d of August, in the fourth year of the reign of our most gracious Cuiost sweet, trei dulce) king Richard II., (A. D. 1380,) appoint- ing a king of the minstrels or musicians, (sive histriones,) who is to have abu.l for his property, which shall be turned out by the prior of Tiidbury, if his minstrels, or any one of them, could cut oti'a piece of his s.kin before he runs into Derbyshire ; but if the bull gets into that county sound and unhurt, the prior may have his bull again. Exemplification of Henry VI. is dated 1442. This custom being productive of much mischief, was, at the request of the inhabitants, and by order of the duke of Devon- shire, lord of the manor, discontinued about the year 178?. See Blount's Ancient Tenures, and Jocular Customs. * This relates to a story told by Herodotus, lib. iii., of the seven princes, who, having destroyed the usurper of the crov.m of Per sia, were all of them in competition for it : at last they agreed to meet on horseback at an appointed place, and that he should bo acknowledged sovereign whose horse first neighed : Darius's groom, by a subtle trick, contrived that his master should sue ceed. t A person with a wooden leg generally puts that leg first in walking. I This character was designed for Joshua Goslin, who kept bears at Paris garden, Southwark, as says Sir Roger L'Estrange La his Key to Hudibras. $ See Purchas's Pilgrims and Lady's Travels into Spain. Canto ii.] IIUDIBRAS. 97 Knew when t'engage his bear pell-mtll, And when to bring liim off as well, IGO So lawyers, lest tlie bear defendant. And plaintiff* dog, should make an end oa't,* Do stave and tail witji writs of error,t Reverse of judgment, and demurrer, To let them breathe awhile, and then 165 Cry whoop, and set them on agen. As Romulus a wolf did rear. So he was dry-nurs'd by a bear,! That fed him with the purchas'd prey Of many a fierce and bloody fray ; 170 * Mr. Butler probably took this idea from a book entitled The princely Pleasure of Kenilworthin Warwickshire, in 1575. "The beares wear brought foorth intoo coourt, the dogs set " too them, to arsu the points, eeven face to face ; they had "learned coounsell also a both parts; — If the dog in pleadyng " would pluck the beare by the throte, the beare with travers " would claw him again by the skaip, &c." t The comparison of a lawyer with a bearward is heire kept up; the one parts his clients, and keeps them at bay by writ of error and demurrer, as the latter does the dogs and the bear, by interposing his staff, (hence stave,) and holding the dogs by the tails. See the character of a lawyer in Butler's Genuine Re- mains, vol. ii. p. 1G4, where the severity and bitterness of the satire, and the verses which follow, may be accounted for by the poet's having married a widow, whom he thought a great fortune, but perhaps, through the unskilfulness or roguery of the lawyer, it being placed on bad security, was lost. This he fre- quently alludes to in his MS. Common-place Book : he says the lawyer never ends a suit, but prunes it, that it may grow the faster, and yield a greater increase of strife. The conquering foe they soon assailed. First Trulla stav'd, and Cerdon tailed. The improvements in modern practice, and the acuteness of Butler's observation, have been able to add little to the i)icture left us by Ammianus Marcellinus of the lawyers of ancient Rome. See lib. xxx. cap. iv. Butler's simile has been transla- ted into Latin, [by Dr. Ilarmar, sometime under-master of VVestr minster School.] Sic legum mystre, ne forsan pax foret, Ursam Inter tutanteni sese, actoremque molossum Faucibus injiciunt clavos, dentesque refigunt. Luctantesque canes coxis, remorisque reveliunt : Errores jurisque moras obtendcre certi, •ludiciumque prius revocare ut prorsus iniquum. Tandem post aliquod breve respirainen utrinque, Ut pugnas iterent. crebris hortatibus urgent. Eja ! agite o cives, ilerumque in proelia trudunt. { That is, maintained by the diversion wliich this bearallbrded the rabble. It may allude likewise, as Dr. Grey observes, to the itory of Valentine and Orson, ch. iv., where Orson is Buckled by 1 bear, as Romulus was by a wolf. 8S ilUDlBRAS. IPakt i IJred up, where discipline most rare is, la military garden Paris;* r'or soldiers heretofore did grow In gardens, just as weeds do now. Until some splay-foot politiciane 171 T' Apollo ofFer'd up petitions,! For licensing a new invention They'ad found out of an antique engin, To root out all the weeds, that grow In public gardens, at a blow, 180 And leave th' herbs standing. Quoth Sir Sun,t My friends, that is not to be done. Not done ! quoth Statesmen: Yes, an't please ye. When 'tis once known you'll say 'tis easy. Why then let's know it, quoth Apollo: i85 We'll beat a drum, and they'll all follow. * At Paris garden, in Southwark, near the river side, there was a play-hoiise, at v.'hich Ben Jonson is said to have acted the part of Zuliman: the place was long noted for the entertainment of bear-baiting. The custom of resorting thither was censiired by one Crowley, who wrote in the latter time of Henry VIU.— Robert Crowley, I believe, was a Northamptonshire man, of Magdalene College, Oxford, about the year 1534, and 1542. la Bod. Lib., see his 31 Epigrams. At Paris garden, each Sunday, a man shall not fail To find two or three hundred for the bearward vale, One halfpenny a piece they use for to give ; When some have not more in their purses, I believe. Well, at the last day their conscience will declare. That the poor ought to have all that they may spare. If you therefore give to see a bear fight. Be sure God his curse upon you will light. These barbarous div^ersions continued in fiishion till they were suppressed by the fanatics in the civil wars. Bear-baiting was forbid by an act of Parliament, ICh. I., which act was continued and enforced by several subseqiient acts. James the first insti- tuted a society, which he called of the military garden, for the training of the soldiers and practising feats of arms, and as Paris was then the chief place for polite education, some have imag- ined this place was from thence called the military garden Paris : others suppose it to be called garden Paris from the name of the owner. t The whole passage, here a little inverted, is certainly taken from Boccalini's Advertisement from Parnassus, cent. i. advert. IG, p. 27, ed, 1656, where the gardeners address Apollo, beseech- ing him, that, as he had invented drums and trumpets, by means of which princes could enlist and destroy their idle and dissolute subjects; so he would teach them some more easy and expeditious method of destroying weeds and noxious plants, than that of removing them with rakes and spades. t " Sir Sun," is an expression used by Sir Philip Sydney in Pembroke's Arcadia, book i. p. 70. See likewise Butler's Re- Bsains, vol. ii. p. 248. Canto ii.] IIUDIBRAS. 89 A drum I quoth Phoebus ; Troth, that's true, A pretty invention, quaint and newj But the' of voice and instrument We are, 'tis true, chief president, -^GO We such loud music don't profess, The devil's master of that office, Where it must pass ; if 't be a drum. He'il sign it with Cler. Pari. Dom. Com.* To him apply yourselves, and he 195 Will soon dispatch you for his fee. They did so, but it prov'd so ill, They'ad better let 'em grow there still.t But to resume what we discoursing Were on before, that is, stout Orsin ; 200 That which so oft by sundry writers, Has been apply'd t' almost all fighters, More justly may b' ascrib'd to this Than any other warrior, viz. None ever acted both parts bolder, 285 Both of a chieftain and a soldier.t He was of great descent and high For splendor and antiquity, And from celestial origine, Deriv'd himself in a right line ; q[i Not as the ancient heroes did, Who, that their base births might be !-id,§ * During the civil wars, the parliament granted patents for new inventions ; these, and all other orders and ordinances, were signed oy their clerk, with this addition to his name — clerk of the par- liament house of commons. The devil is here represented as directing and governing the parliament. Monopolies and grant- ing of patents had occasioned great uneasiness in the reign of James I., when an act passed, that all patents should regularly- pass before the king and council, upon the report of the attorney- general. t The expedient of arming the discontented and unprincipled multitude, is adventurous, and often proves fatal to the state. t A satire on common characters given by historians. "^ Ion thus addressed his mother Creusa, when she had told iiim that he was son of Apollo — AfBp' 1X9' • ig ovi yap rot? Xdyowj sl-slv OtXu, Kal -jrepiKa^vipai Tolai -pdyjxaai That is, heat of the sun : so in Canto iii. v. G-2S. Promethenn poicdcr, that is, i)owder calcined by the sun, for the chief ingre- dient in sympathetic powder was calcined by the sun. II Still ridiculing the sympathetic powder. See the treatise above-moutioned, where ^he poet's story of the spit is seriously Canto ii.J HUDIBRAS. 91 A skiifnl leech is better far, * 245 Than half a hundred men of v:ar ;* So he appear'd, and by his skill, No less than dint of sword, cou'd kiii. Thega llant Brui nmarch'd next him, WTtF visage formiJably'grlrn, 250 And rugged as a Saracen. Or Turk of Mahomet's own km,i Clad in a mantle de la guerre Of rough impenetrable fur ; And in his nose, like Indian king, 255 He wore, for ornament, a ring : About his neck a threefold gorget, As rough as trebled leathern target ; Armed, as heralds cant, and langued, Or, as the vulgar say, sharp-fanged :t 2GC For as the teeth in beasts of prey Are swords, with which they fight in fray So swords, in men of war, are teeth. Which they do eat their vittle with. He was, by birth, some authors write, SGa A Russian, some a Muscovite, And 'mong the Cossacks had been bred, Of whom we in diiirnals read. That serve to fill up pages here, As with their bodies ditches there. 27t' Scrimansky was his cousin-gcrman,§ With whom he serv'd, and fed on vermin ; *" 'Irjrpbg yap av^ip TtoWuiv ai'Ta^ios aXXoJV, 'Ioi;j r' iKTUjjiiciv iTzi r' ijiria (bd^j.iaKa T:dne ride on side," p. 70, a. 2. t The princess Rhodalind harbored a secret affection for Gon- dil)ert; biU he was more struck with the charms of the humble Pirtha, daughter to the sage Astragon. Canto ii.] HUDIBRAS. 99 They say 'tis false, without all sense, But of pernicious consequence To government, which they suppose Can never be upheld in prose :* 40C Strip nature naked to the skin, You'll find about her no such thing. It may be so, yet wliat we tell Of Trulla, that's improbable. Shall be depos'd by those have seen"!,, 405 Or, what's as good, produc'd in print -A And if they will not take our word, We'll prove it true upon record. The upright Cerdon next advanc't,; Of all his race the valiant'st ; «J0 Cerdon the Great, renown'd in song, Like Herc'les, for repair of wrong : Ho rais'd the low, and fortify'd The weak against the strongest side :§ 111 has he read, that never hit 4l.> On him in muses' deathless writ.|| Courts she ne'er saw; yet courts could have outdone, ^Vith untaught looks, and an unpractis'd heart. * Butler loses no opportunity of rallying Sir William Dave- nant, and burlesquing his poem entitled Gondibert. Sir William, like many professional men, was much attached to his own line of science; and in his preface to Gondibert, endeavors to show, that neither divines, leaders of armies, statesmen, nor ministers of the law, could ujjhold the government without the aid of poetry. t The vulgar imagine that every thing which they see in print must be true. An instance of this is related by our coun- tryman, Mr. Martin, who was thrown into the inquisition for neglecting to pay due respect to a religious processional IMalaga. One of the father-inquisitors took much pains to convert him ; and among other abuses which he cast on the reformed religion and its professors, affirmed that king William was an atheist, and never reteived the sacrament. Mr. Martin assured him this was false to his own knowledge : when the reverend father re- jiliei!, " Isaac, Isaac, never tell me so. — I have read it in a French book." t An equivoque on the word upright. Perhaps our poet might here mean to satirize Colonel Hewson, who was a cobbler, great preacher, and a commander of some note : " renown'd in K'nirj," for there are many ballads and poems which celebrate the cob- bler and his stall. t horse Canto ii.] HUDIBRAS. jqi Yet he was much tlie rougher part, And always had the harder heart, Altho' his horse had been of tliose That fed on man's flesh, as fame goes -.^ Strange food for horse ! and yet, alas ! 4J5 It may be true, for flesh is grass.t Sturdy he was, and no less able Tiian Hercules to cleanse a stable ;t As great a drover, and as great A critic too, in hog or neat. i60 He ripp'd the womb up of his mother, Dame Tellus,§ 'cause she wanted fother, ■ And provender, wherewith to feed Plimself, and his less cruel steed. It was a question whether he, i66 Or's horse, were of a family More worshipful ; 'till antiquaries, After th'ad almost por'd out their eyes, Did very learnedly decide The bus'ness on the horse's side, 470 And prov'd not only horse, but cows, Nay pigs, were of the elder house : * The horses of Diomedes were said to have been fed with nuiiian flesh. Kon libi succurrit crudi Diomedis imago, Efferus huiiiana qui dape pavit eqiias. Ovid. Epist. Deianira Herculi. The moral, perhaps, might be, that Dlomede was ruined by keeping his horses, as Acteon was said to be devoured by his dogs, because he was ruined by keeping them : a good hint to young men, qui gaudent equis, canibusque ; the French say, of a man who has ruined himself by extravagance, il a mange ses biens. See the account of Duncan's horses in Shakspeare, (Macbeth, Ac. ii. sc. 4.) t Our poet takes a particular pleasure in bantering Sir Thomas Browne, author of the Vulgar Errors, and Religio Medici. In the latter of these tracts he had said, " All flesh is grass, not "only nietaphurically, but literally: for all those creatures we "behold, are but the herbs of the field digested into flesh in "them, or more remotely carnified in ourselves. Nay, farther, " we are, wliat we all abhor, anthroi)nphagi and cannibals ; de- " vourers not only of men but of ourselves, and that not in alle- ",?ory but iH)sitive trut+i ; for all this mass of flesh which we " behold came in at our mouth ; this frame we look upon hath " been upon our trenchers." t Alluding to the fabulous story of Hercules, who cleansed the stables of Augeus, king of Elis, by turning the river Alpheus through them. ^ Tl\is means no more than his pimighing the ground. The mock epic delights in exaggerating the most trifling circiimstan C€S. This whole character is full of w't and happy allusions. jOi; liUDIBRAS. i'Paut For beasts, when man was but a piece Of earth himself, did th' earth possess. These worthies were the chief that led 475 The combatants,* each in the head Of his command, with arms and rage, Ready and longing to engage. The numerous rabble was drawn out Of sev'ral countries round about, 480 From villages remote, and shires, Of east and western hemispheres. From foreign parishes and regions. Of different manners, speech, religions,t Came men and mastiffs ; some to fight 483 For fame and honor, some for sight. And now the field of death, the lists. Were enter'd by antagonists, And blood was ready to be broaclrd. When Hudibras in haste approach'd, 490 With Sqiiu-e and weapons to attack 'em ; But first thus from his horse bespake 'em : r What rage, Ocitizeus It what fuiy (Doth you to TKese dire actions hurry ? What oestrum, what phrenetic mood§ 493 * All Eiitler's heroes are round-heads: the cavaliers are sel- dom mentioned in his poem. The reason may be, that his ,«atiro nn the two predominant sects would not have had the same force from the mouth of a royalist. It is now founded on the acknowledgments and mutual recriminations of the parties ex- posed. t In a thanksgiving sermon preached before the parliament on the taking of Chester, the pr3?cher said, there were in London no leoS than one hiuuired and f:.fty different sects. J Butler certainly had these lines of Lucart in view, Phar- sal 1-S: Quis furor, O elves, ras tanta licentia ferri, • Gentibus invisus 7j?',i>im prfebere cruorum ? Cumque superba fcrct Babylon spolianda trophaiis Ausoniis, umb'-'iqu'j erraret Crassus inulta, Bella geri placuu nulios habitura triumphos? Tieu, quac'cuir potuit terrce pelagique parari Hoc, quem civUes hauserunt, sanguine, dextra?. Ind Virgil, ^n. ii. 42: U miseri, quae tanta insania, cives ? Perhaps, too, he recollected the seventh epode of Horace: Quo, quo scelesti, ruitis? aut car dexteris Aptantur enses conditi 1 $ OT^po; is not only a Greek word for madness but signifies ilso a paJ-beo. or horse-fly, that torments cattle in the summer And makes them rTtn about as if they were mad Canto ii.] HUDIBRAS. 10.7 Makes you thus lavish of your blood, While the proud Vies your trophies boLst, And, unreveng'd, walks ghost ?* What towns, what garrisons might you, With hazard of this blood, subdue, 500 Which now y' are bont to throw away An vain, untriumphable fray?t Shall saints in civil bloodshed wallow ! Of saints, and let the cause lie fallow ?+ I The cause, for which we fought and swore fjOa [So boldly, shall we now give o'er ? Then, because quarrels still are seen With oaths and swearings to begin, The solemn league and covenant^ Will seem a mere God-damn-me rant, 510 And we that took it, and have fought. As lewd as drunkards that fall out : For as we make war for the king Against himself, II the self-same thing Some will not stick to swear we do 515 For God, and for religion too ; * Vier-, or Devizes, in Wiltshire. This passage alludes to the defeat given by Wiimot to the forces iiiuler Sir William Waller, near that place, July 13, 1C43. After the battle Sir William was entirely neglected by his party. Clarendon calls it the battle of IJoundway-dovvn. See vol. ii. p. 224. Some in joke call it Run- away-down. Others suppose the hiatus, in the second line, ought to be supplied by the name Hampden, who was killed in *~'halgrove-field in Oxfordshire, about the time of Waller's de- feat in the neighborhood of the Devizes. — The heathen poets have feigned, that the ghosts of the slain could not enter Ely- sium till their deaths were revenged. ,-v^ t The Romans never granted a triumph to the conqueror in a J civil war. ^ t The support of the discipline, or ecclesiastical regimen by presbyters, was called the Cause, as if no other cause were com- parable to it. See Hooker's Eccles. Pol.; preface. § Mr. Robert Gordon, in his history- of the illustrious family of Gordon, vol. ii. p. 197, compares the solemn league and cove- nant with the holy league in France : he says, they were as like as one egg to another ; the one was nursed by the Jesuits, the other by the Scots Presbyterians. II '"To secure the king's person from danger," says Lord Clar- endon, " was an expression they were not ashamed always to '•use, when there was no danger that threatened, l)\it wliat ''themselves contrived and designed against him. They not "only declared that they fought for the king, but that the raising "and maintaining soldiers for their own army, would be an ac- "ceptable service for the king, parliament, and kingdom." One Blake, in the king's army, gave intelligence to the enemy ta what part of the army the king fought, that they might direu Jheir bullets accordingly 104 HUDIBliAS. IPart » For if bear-baiting we allow, LWhat good can reformation do ?* The blood and treasure that's laid out Is thrown away, and goes for nought. 520 Are these the fruits o' th' protestation,t The prototype of reformation, t Which all the saints, and some, since martyrs,§ Wore in their hats like wedding-garters,|| When 'twas resolved by their house, 325 Six members' quarrels to espouse?*! Did they for this draw down the rabble. With zeal, and noises formidable ;** And make all cries about the town Join throats to cry the bishops down? 530 Who having round begirt the palace, As once a month they do the gallows,tt As members gave the sign about. Set up their tliroats with hideous shout. * Hewson is said, by Mr. Hume, to have gone, in tlie fervor of his zeal against bear-baiting, and killed alj the bears which he could find in the city. But we are told by'the author of the Mystery of the good old Cause, a pamphlet published soon after these animals were destroyed, that they were killed by Colonel Pride. Granger's Biographical History, vol. iii. p. 75. t The protestation was framed, and taken in the house of commons. May 3, JG41 ; and immediately printed and dispersed over the nation. The design of it was to alarm the people with fears and apprehensions both for their civil and religious liber- ties; as if the Protestant religion were in danger, and the privi- leges of parliament trampled upon. The king was deemed to have acted unconstitutionally the day before, by taking notice of the bill of attainder against the earl of Strafford, then depend- ing in the house of lords. t The protestation was the first attempt towards a national combination against the establishment, and was harbinger to the covenant. See Nalson's Collections, vol. i. p. ult., and Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, vol. i. 22-(j. ^ Those that were killed in the war. II The protestors or petitioners, when they came tumultuously to the parliament-house, Dec. 27, 1C41, stuck ])ieces of paper in their hats, which were to pass for their protestation. M Charles I. ordered the following members — Lord Kimbolton, BIr. Pym, Mr. Hollis, Mr. Hampden, Sir Arthur Haselng, and I*I.'-. Stro-ji- — to be prosecuted, for plotting with the Scots, and stirring up sedition. The commons voted against their arrest, and the king went to the house with his guards, in order to seize them ; but they had received intelligence of the design, and made their escape. This was one of the first acts of open vio- lence which preceded the civil wars. The king took this meas- ure chiefly by the advice of Lord Digby. ** The cry of the rabble was, as mentioned in the following lines, for reformation in church and state — no bishops — no evil counsellors, &c. See the protestation in Rapin's History. *(• The e-\ecutions at Tyburn were generally once a month. Canto n J HUDIBRAS. 1^5 When tinkers bawFd aloud, to settle o3j Churcli-disciplhie, for patching kettle.* No sow-gelder did blow his horn To geld a cat, but cry'd Reform. The oyster-women lock'd their fish up, And trudg'd away to cry No Bishop : j-to The mouse-trap men laid save-alls by, And 'gainst ev'i counsellors did ciy. Botchers left old cloaths in the lurcn. And fell to turn and patch the church. ;Some cry'd the covenant, instead .:4j Of pudding-pies and ginger-bread : And some for brooms, old boots, and shoes, Bawl'd out to purge the commons' house : Instead of kitchen-stufF, some cry A gospel-preaching ministry : o30 And some for old suits, coats, or cloak, No surplices, nor service-book. A strange harmonious inclinaticu Of all degrees to reformation: And is this all? is this the end 555 To which these carr'iugs-on did tend? Hath public faith, like a young heir, For this tak'n up all sorts of ware, And run int' ev'ry tradesman's book, 'Till botji turn bankrupts, and are broke ; 5SC Did saints for this bring in their plate,t • And crowd, as if they came too late ? For when they thought the Cause had need on"t Happy was he that could be rid on't. Did tliey coin piss-pots, bowls, and flaggons, 5m lilt' officers of horse and dragoons ; And into pikes and musqueteers Stamp beakers, cups, and porringers? A thimble, bodkin, and a spoon, Did start up living men, as soon 57(i As in the furnace they were thrown, Just like the dragon's teeth b'ing sown.t * For, Ihat is, instead of; as ;ilso in v. 547 and Sol. t Zealous persons, on botli sides, lent iheir plate, to miso aioney tor recruitina rt-bole army in the parliament service; as also in yuai Cakto ii.] HUDIBRAS 107 Made prayers, not so like petitions, As overtures and propositions. Such as the army did present To their creator, the parliament ; r.'jO In which they freely will confess, They will not, cannot acquiesce, Unless the work be carry'd on In the same way tiiey have begun, By setting church and comnion-tvcal t05 All on a flame, bright as their zeal, On which the saints were all a-gog, And all this for a bear and dog. The parliament drew up petitions* To 'tself, and sent them, like commissions. cio To Avell-afFected persons down, In every city and great town, With pow'r to levy horse and men. Only to bring them back again ; For this did many, many a mile, G15 Ride manfully in rank and file. With papers in their hats, that show'd As if they to the pillory rode. Have all these courses, these efforts. Been try'd by people of all sorts, C2( Velis et remis, omnibus nei-vis.t And all t' advance the cause's service : And shall all now be thrown away In petulant intestine fray ? Shall we, that in the cov'naut swore, 025 Each man of us to run before " sermons efieclually to stir up the people to appear in persDn, " and to join with the army, and the committee lor the militia in "the city." * It was customary for the active members of parliament to draw up petitions and send them into the country to be signcii. Lord Clarendon charges them with altering; the matter of the petition after it was signed and affixing a fresh petition to the names. The Hertfordshire petition, at the beginning of the war, took notice of things done in parliament the night before its delivery : it was signed by many thousands. Another petition was presented, beginning, " We men, women, children, and "servants, having considered," &:c. Fifteen thousand porters- petitioned against the bishops, affirming they cannot enduie the laeight of episcopacy any longer. t That is, with all their might. The reader will remember, that to our hero Latin was no more difficile Than to a black-bird 'lis to whistle. Canto i. 1. 53 108 HUDIBRAS. [Part » Another* still in reformation, Give dogs and bears a dispensation ? How will dissenting brethren relish it ? What will malignantst say ? videlicet, |->3| That each man swore to do his best, To dam and perjure all the rest ; And bid the devil take the hinmost, "W hicli at this race is like to win most. They'll say, our bus'ness to j eform 635 The church and state is but a worm ; For to subscribe, unsight, unseen. T' an unknown church's discipline, What is it else, but, before hand, T' engage, and after understand ? 640 For %vhen we swore to carry on The present reformation, According to the purest mode Of churches, best reform'd abroad.t AVhat did we else but make a vow C45 To do, we knew not what, nor how ? For no three of us will agree ^Vhere, or what churches these should be. And is indeed the self-same case With theirs that swore et caeteras :§ 650 * This was a common phrase in those days, particularly with llie zealous preachers, and is inserted in the solemn league and covenant. t That is, the king's party ; the parliament calling their op- ponents by that name. + The Presbyterians pretended to desire such a reformation as liad taken place in the neighboring churches ; the king offered to invite any chnrclies to a national synod, and could not even obtain an answer to the proposal. Instead of taking pattern by the best reformed churches, they would have had other reformed churches take pattern by them. They sent letters, and their covenant, to seventeen foreign churches; but they never produced the answer they received from any of them — a plain indication that protestants abroad did not ap])rove their practices. C> By the convocation, which sat in the beginning of 1640, all the clergy were required to take an oath in this form : " Nor " will I ever give my consent to alter the government of this '■ church by archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, et ctBtera." See this oath at length in Biographia Britannica, and Baxter's Life, p. 15. Dr. Ileylin, who was a member of the convocation, declared, that the words, " et ccetera," were an oversight, and in- tended to have been expunged before it was sent to the press : and beside, that the oath was rendered so determinate, and the words so restrained by the other part, that there could be no danger no mystery or iniquity in it. Life of Archbishop Laud; but such an oath could not be justified, as every oath ought to be Dliin and determinate. See Cleveland's Poem. p. 3.1. 655 660 Camtoii.] HUDIBRAS. 103 Or the French league, in which men vow'd To fight to tlie last drop of blood* These slanders will be thrown upon The cause and work we carry on, If we permit men to run headlong I T' exorbitances fit for Bedlam, \Rather than gospel-walking times,t Svhen slightest sins are greatest crimes. But we the matter so shall handle, As to remove that odious scandal. In name of king and parliament,! I charge ve all, no more foment This feud", but keep the peace between Your brethren and your countrymen ; And to those places straight repair Where your respective dwellings are : But to that purpose first surrender The fiddler, as the prime ofFender,§ Th' incendiary vile, that is chief Author, and engineer of mischief ; That makes division between friends, For prophane and malignant ends. Who swears et csetera, swears more oaths at once Than Cerberus, out of his triple sconce ; Who views it well, with the same eye beholds The old false serpent in his numerous folds Accurst et ctetera ! . ^ , . Then finally, my babes of grace, forbear, Et cffitera will be too far to swear; For 'tis, to speak in a familiar stile, A Yorkshire wea-bit longer than a mile. Mr. Butler here shows his impartiality, by bantering the laults "'i^TSrhoT/SLgue in Prance, 1576, was the original of the Scotch solenm league and c.venant: they are often conu,ai^^^^ together by Sir William Dugdale and others. See Satne iMe nip-pee, sometimes called the French Hudibras. „,,„,nr's r This is one of the cant phrases much used in our authoi s ^'T-The Presbyterians made a distinction I'f t^^'^^^^jjf.i^j^'j.g persop. politic, and his person natural ; when \hey foi ght aga^ ^^ ihe latter, it was in defence of the lormcr, alwa s "^epa alHe from the parliament. The couunission granted to ^he ea I o Essex was in the name of the king an. P'^'^l"^"^^"/;, j^" '' 5" the Independents got the upper hand the "^^0?^ f f/,,"^'^,:!" ' , omitted, and the commission of Sir Thomas Fairfax ran om> the name of the parliament. , . ,■ 5 Made thee, thou whelp of sin, to fancy Thyself, and all that coward rabble, T' encounter us- in battle able? How durst th', I say, oppose thy curship '"Gainst arms, authority, and worship, 9Go And Hudibras, or mo provoke, Though all thy limbs were heart of oak,+ And th' other half of thee as good To bear out blovv's as that of wood ? Could not the whipping-post preya'-l 965 With all its rhet'ric, nor the jail. To keep from flaying scourge thy skin. And ankle free from iron gin? Which now thou shalt — but first our care Must see how Hudibras doth fare.t 970 This said, he gently rais'd the Knight, * Thus Justice Silence, in Henry IV. Act v. " Who II I have •• been merry twice and once ere now." And the witch in Alac iteth. Act V, " Tsvice and once the hedge pig whin'd." t Thus Hector braves Achilles. Tov 5' iyu) avTtog zl^i, Koi d nvpl %£7paj JtoiKu; Et TTwpt x^^P'^S 'ioiKC, jxevos ^' aidiavi aidrjpcf, Horn. Iliad, lib. xx. 371. I Injitatiag Virgil's Quos ego — sed motes, &c. Canto II.] HUDIBRAS. 119 And set him on his bum upright : To rouze him from lethargic dump,* He tweak'd his nose, with gentle thump Knock'd on his breast, as if't had been 075 To raise the spirits lodg'd within. They waken'd with the noise, did fly From inward room, to window eye. And gently op'ning lid, the casement, Look'd out, but yet with some amazement. itSi} This gladded Ralpho much to see, Who thus bespoke the Knight: quoth he, Tweaking his nose, you are, great Sir, A self-denying conqueror ;t As high, victorious, and great, 985 As e'er fought for the Churches yet. If you will give yourself but leave To make out what y' already have ; That's victory. The foe, for dread Of your nine-worthiness.t is fled, 990 All, save Crowdero, for whose sake You did th' espous'd cause undertake ; And he lies pris'ner at your feet, To be dispos'd as you think meet, Either for life, or death, or sale, 995 The gallows, or perpetual jail ; For one wink of your pow'rful eye Must sentence him to live or die. His fiddle is your proper purchase, Won in the service of tlie Churches , lOOO And by your doom must be allow'd To be, or be no more, a Crowd : For tho' success did not confer Just title on the conqueror :§ Tho' dispensations were not strong i'J05 Conclusions, whether right or wrong ; * Compare this with the situation of Hector, who was stunned by a severe blow received from Ajax, and comforted by Apollo — Iliad. XV. V. 240. * Ridiculing the self-denying ordinance, by which the mem bers of both houses were obliged to quit their euii)loynionts, both civil and military ; notwithstanding which Sir Samuel Luke was continued governor of Newport Pagncl for some time. t Thrice worthy is a common ap[)ellation in romances; but, in ihe opinion of the squire, would Jiave been a title not equiva- lent to the knighfs der^crt. See the History of the Nine Worthies of the World; and Fresnoy on Romances. •J Success was pleaded by the Presbyterians as an evident oroof of the justice of their cause. 130 HUDIBRAS. [Part i Allho' out-goings did confirm* Aiid owning wero but a mere term ; Yet as the wicked have no riglit To th' creature,! tlio' usurp'd by might, mo The property is in the saint, From whom th' injuriously detaiii't ; Of him they hold their luxuries, Their dogs, their horses, whores, and dicef Their riots, revels, masks, delights, iO]5 Pimps, buffoons, fiddlers, parasites ; All which the saints have title to. And ought t' enjoy, if th' had their due. What we take from them is no more Than what was ours by right before ; 1020 For we are their true landlords still, And they our tenants but at will. At this the Knight bega.n to rouse, And by degrees grow valorous : He star'd about, and seeing none 1025 Of all his foes remain but one, He snatch'd his weapon that lay near him, And from the ground began to rear him, Vowing to make Crowdero pay I For all the rest that ran away. 1030 \ But Ralpho nov/ in colder blood, ('His fury mildly thus withstood : } Great Sii", quoth he, your mighty spirit ' Is rais'd too high ; this slave does merit To be the hangman's bus'ness, sooner 1035 Than from your hand to have the honour Of his destruction ; I that am So much below in deed and name. Did scorn to hurt his forfeit carcase. Or ill entreat his fiddle or case : IO40 Will you, great Sir, that glory blot In cold blood, which you gain'd in hot? Will you employ your c'onquering sword To break a fiddle, and your vrord? For tho' I fought and overcame, 1045 And quarter gave, 'twas in your name : For great commanders always own What's prosp'rous by the soldier done. * In some editions we rea;], — did not confirm. t It was a principle maintained by the Independents of those days, that dominion was founded in grace ; and, therefore, if a man were not a saint, or a godly man, he cculd have no right te nny lands or chattels. Canto u.J HUDIBRAS. 121 To save, where you have pe-.v'r to kill, Argues your pow'r above your will ; 1030 And that your will and pow'r have less Thau both might have of selfishness, This pow'r which now alive, with dread He trembles at, if he were dead, Would no more keep the slave in awe, lOjj Than if you were a knight of straw ; I'or death would then be his conqueror, Xot you, and free liim from that terror. If danger from his life accrue. Or honour from his death to you, lOGO 'Twere policy, and honour too. To do as you resolv'd to do : But, Sir, 'twou'd wrong your valour much, To say it needs, or fears a crutch. Great conqu'rors greater glory gain 1005 By foes in triumph led, than slain : Tlie laurels that adorn their brows Are puU'd from living, not dead boughs. And living foes ; the greatest fame Of cripple slain can be but lame : 1070 One half of him's already slain,* The other is not worth your pain ; Th' honour can but on one side light, . As worship did, when y'were dubb'd Knight.t Wherefore I think it better far IO75 To keep him prisoner of war ; And let him fast in bonds abide, At court of justice to be try'd : Where, if h' appear so bold or crafty, There may be danger in his safety ;t JOSO * This reminds me of the supplication of a lame musician in ttie Aulhology, p. 5, ed. II. Steph. HritGv fxH TtOvriKS, to S'l^jnav Xijxbs fAfyx^i, Hijadi' fi8 (iaciXtv, jiaaiiibv iijXLTOvov. t The honor of knighthood is conferred by the king's laying his sword upon the person's shoulder, and saying, " Arise, Sir ." t Cromwell's speech in the case of Lord Capel may serve to explain this line : he l)eg:in with high encomiums of his merit, capacity, and honor ; but when every one expected that he would have voted to save his life, he told them that the question oefore them was, whether they would preserve the greatest and most dangerous enemy that the cause had"? that he knew my Lofd Capel well, and knew him so firmly attached to t,hc royal interest, that he would never desert it, or acquiesce under any establishment contrary to it. — Clarendon. 122 HUDIBRAS. FPart r If any member there dislike His face, or to liis beard have pike ;* Or if his death will save, or yield Revenge or fright, it is reveal'd : Tho' he has quarter, ne'ertheless loa' Y' have pow'r to hang him when you please ; This has been often done by some Of our great conqu'rors, you know whom ; And has by most of us been held "\Vise justice, and to some reveal'd : ioo-t For words and promises, that yoke Tile conqueror, are quickly broke ; Like Sampson's cuffs, tho' by his own Direction and advice put on. For if we should fight for the cause i095 By rules of military laws, And only do what they call just. The cause would quickly fall to dust. Tliis we among ourselves may speak ; But to the wicked or the weak 1100 We must be cautious to declare Perfection-truths, such as these are.t * Doubtless, particular instances are here alluded to. It is notorious that the lords and others were condemned or pardoned, as their personal interests prevailed more or less in the house. A whimsical instance of mercy was Ihe pardon indulged to Sir John Owen, a Welsh s^entleman, who being tried, together with the lords Capel, Holland, Loughborough, and others ; Ireton, rather to insult the nobility than from any principle of compas- sion, observed that much endeavor had been used to preserve each of the lords, but here was a poor commoner, whom no one had spoke for; he therefore moved that he might be pardoned by the mere grace of the house. Sir John was a man of humor- ous intrepidity ; when he, with the lords, was condemned to be beheaded, he made his judges a low bow, and gave his humble thanks ; at which a by-stander, surprised, asked him what he meant 1 To which the knight, with a broad oath, replied, that, " It was a great honor to a poor gentleman of Wales to lose '• his head with such noble lords, for, in truth, he was afraid they '• would have hanged him." See Clarendon, Rnshworth, White- locke, and Pennant's Tour lo Wales, in 1773, page 264. The parliament was charged with setting aside the articles of capitu- lation agreed to by its generals, and killing prisc-ners after quarter had been granted them, on pretence of a revelation that such a one ought to die. See also the case of vhe surrender of Pen- dennis castle. t Truths revealed only to the perfect, or the initiated into the higher mysteries. ^Oiy^oiiai, oJs (piyns, lariv, iKas, e/caj iari 6io}}\oi. fA line made up from the Fragments of Oroheus and the Hymn V> Apollo of Callimachus.] Canto ii.] HUDIBRAS. l^a This said, the high outracreous mettle Of Kn.ght began to cool and settle. He lik'd the Squire's advice and soon dOj Resolv'd to see the bus'ness done ; And therefore charg'd him first to bind Crowdero's hands on nimp behind, And to its former j)I ace, and use, Tne wooden member to reduce ; ]ilO But force it take an oath before. Ne'er to bear arms against him more.* Ralpho dispatched with speedy haste, I And having ty'd Crowdero fast, He gave Su- Knight the enlT of cord, lilo To lead the captive of his sword ■ In triumph, while the steeds he caught, And them to further service brought. The Squire, in state, rode on before, And on his nut-brown whiniard bore 1120 The trophy-fiddle and the case, Plac'd on his shoulder like a mace. [ The Knight himself did after ride, > Leading Crowdero by his side ; And tow'd him, if he lagg'd behind, 1125 Like boat against the tide and wind. Thus grave and solemn they march on, Until quite thro'Jjie town they'd^gone ; At further end of which there stands An ancjent.castlei.that commandst 1133 TlTlidjacent parts: in all the fabrick You shall not see one stone nor a brick, But all of wood, by pow'rfal spe ll Of m agic made impregnable : Tiiere"s iTeltlier iron bar nor gate, ii:j5 Portcullis, chain, nor bolt, nor grate , And yet men durance there abide. In dungeon scarce three inches wide : Cromwell held, that the rules of justice were binding in or- dinary cases, but in extraordinary ones niijzht be' dispensed with. See Burnet. Clarendon hath a "similar observation; or Sir H. Vane — that he was above ordinances. * The poet making the wooden leg take an oath not to serve again against his captor, is a ridicule on those who obliged their prisoners to take an oath to that purpose. The prisoners taken at Brentford were thus sworn, but Dr. Downing and Mr. Mar- shall absolved them from this oath, and they immediately served again in the parliament army. f The stocks are here pictured as an enchanted castle, with infinite wit and humor, and in the true si)irit of burlesque ixietry 11 124 IIUDIBRAS. [Part i With roof so low, that under it They never stand, but lie or sit; ]140 And yet so foul, that whoso is in, Is to the middle-leg in prison ; In circle magical confin'd. With walls of subtle air and wind, Which none are able to break thorough, ii45 Until they're freed by head of borough. Thither arriv'd, the advent'rcus Knight And bold Squire from their steeds alight At th' outward Wall, near which there stands A Bastile, built t'imprison hands;* jijO v4]y strange enchantment made to fetter The lesser parts, and free the greater : For tho' the body may creep through, The hands in great are fast enow : And Avhen a circle 'bout the wrist 1155 Is made by beadle exorcist, The body feels the spur and switch, As if 't Vv^ere ridden post by v/itch. At twenty miles an hour pace. And yet ne'er stirs out of the place. neo On top of this there is a spire, On which Sir Knight first bids the Squire The fiddle, and its spoils, the case,t In manner of u trophy, place. That done they ope the trap-door gate, 1 165 And let Crowdero down thereat. 'Crowdero making doleful face, Like hermit poor in pensive place,t To dungeon they the wretch commit. And the survivor of his feet ; [170 But th' other, that had broke the peace. And head of knighthood, they release, Tho' a delinquent false and forged. Yet b'ing a stranger he's enlarged ;§ * A description of the whipping-post, t Suppose we read, His spoils, the fiddle and the case. I This was the beginning of a love-song, in great vogue about the year 1G50. § Dr. Grey supposes, very justly, that this may allude to the case of Sir Bernard Gascoign, who was condemned at Colchester with Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle, but respited from execution on account of his being an Italian, and a person of some interest in his own country. See Lord Clarendon's His- tory, vol. iii., p. 137. Canto ii.] HUDIBRAS. 125 While his comrade, that did no hurt, 1173 Is clapp'd up fast in prison for't : So justice, while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.* * Dat veniain corvis, vexal censura colmiibas. Juv. ii., 1. 03 The plays and poems of this date commonlv emled v/ith fi rjoral reflecliou PxVRT I. CANTO III. THE ARGUMENT.* The scatter'd rout return and rally, Surround the plane ;t.lie Knight flops sally, Aiid.is-iiiade pris'jaer: then tjiey seize Th' enchanted fort .hy-stoi-Hi, release Crou'derc^ aiidjniLtiiiB-isquii'e in's piaoe ; I should have first said Hudibras. •■*= The Author follows the example of Spenser, and the Italian poets, ill the division of his work into piirts and c:tntos. ^pensej contents himself with a short title to each division, as "The Legend of Temperance," and the like. Butler more fully ac- quaints his readers what they are to expect, by an argument in the same style with the poem ; and frequently convinces theni, that he knew how to enliven so dry a thing as a summary. Neither Virgil, Ovid, nor Statius wrote arguments in verse to their respective poems; but critics and grainmarians have taken Ihe pains to do it for theai- HUDIBRAS CANTO III. Ay me ! what perils do environ The man that meddles with cold iron !* What plaguy mischiefs and mishaps Do dog him still with after claps I For tho' dame Fortune seem to smile,t 5 And leer upon him for a while, She'll after shew him, in the nick Of all his glories, a dog-trick. This any man may sing or say 1' th' ditty call'd, What if a day U 10 For Hudibras, who thought lie 'ad won The field as certain as a gun, * A parody on the verses in Spenser's Fairy Queen : Ay me, how many perils do enfold Tlie virtuous man to make him daily fall. These two lines are become a kind of proverbial expression, partly owing to the moral reflection, and partly to the jingle of the double rhyme : they are applied sometimes to a man mor- tally wounded with a sword, and sometimes to a lady who pricks her finger with a needle. Butler, in his MS. Common-place .Book, on this passage, observes : " Cold iron in Greenland burns as grievously as hot." Some editions read, " Ah me," from tho Belgic or Teutonic. t OTj fxh SiSwaiv, oU ^' CKpaipttrai tvxv- To Tris TvxVi ~oi n€Ta(So\ag roAAuj ex^i Us TtoiKiXov rpayii' ig-i Kal irXdvov tvxV- Brnnck. Gnom. Poet. p. 242. t'ortuna sevo la;ta negotio, et Ludum insolentem ludere pertinax, Transmutat incertos honores, JMunc mihi, nunc alii benigna. llor. Carm. lib. iii. 29, 1. 49 t An old ballad, which begins : What if a day, or a month, or a year Crown thy delights. With a thousand wish't contentings ! Cannot the chance of a night or an hour, Cross thy delights. With as many sad turmentincs 1 128 IIUDIBIIAS. [Part i. And having routed the whole troop, ^\'ith victory was cock-a-hoop ;* Thinking; he 'ad done enough to purchase 15 Thanksgiving-day among the churches, \Vhereiii his mettle and hrave worth Might be explain'd by holder-fortb, And register'd by fame eternal. In deathless pages of diurnal ;t 2C Found in few minutes, to his cost, He did but count without his host ; And that a turn-stile is more certain Than, in events of war. Dame Fortune. For now the late faint-hearted rout, 25 O'erthrown and scatter'd round about, Chas'd by the horror of their fear. From bloody fray of Knight and Bear, All but tlie dogs, who, in pursuit Of the Knight's victory, stood to't, 39 And most ignobly sought to get The honour of his blood and sweat,! Seeing the coast was free and clear O' the conquer'd and the conqueror, Took heart again, and fac'd about, 35 As if they meant to stand it out : For now the half defeated bear, Attack'd by th' enemy i' th' rear, Finding tlieir number grew too great For him to make a safe retreat, iO Like a bold chieftain fac'd about ; But wisely doubting to hold out. Gave way to fortune and with haste Fac'd the proud foe, and fled, and fac'd, Retiring still, until he found 15 H' ad got the advantage of the ground ; And then as valiantly made head To check the foe, and forthwith fled, * This crowing or rejoicing. Cock-on-hoop signifies extrava pance : the cock drawn out of a barrel, and laid upon the hoop, while the liquor runs to waste, is a proper emblem of inconsid erate conduct. t The gazettes or newspapers, on the side of the parliament, were published daily, and called Diurnals. See Cleveland's character of a diurnai-maker." t An allusion to the complaint of the Preshyterian conmian- ders against the Independents, when the self-denying ordinance had brought in these and excluded the others. Both Butler and Slilton complain of not receiving satisfaction and reward fot their labor and expenses. This looks as if our poet had an alle- gorical view in some of his characters and passages. Canto hi.] HUDIBRAS. log Leaving no art untry'd, tier trick Of warrior stout and politic, 50 Until, in spite of hot pursuit, He gain'd a pass, to hold dispite On better terms, and stop the course Of the proud foe. With all his force He bravely charg'd, and for a while 55 Forc'd their whole body to recoil ; But still their numbers so increas'd, He found himself at length oppress'd. And all evasions so uncertain To save himself for better fortune, CO That he resolv'd, rather than yield. To die with honour in the field. And sell his hide and carcase at A price as high and desperate As e'er he could. This resolution 65 He forthwith put in execution. And bravely threw himself among Til' enemy i' th' greatest throng ; But what could single valour do Against so numerous a foe ? 70 Yet much he did, indeed too much To be believ'd, where th' odds were such ; But one against a multitude, Is more than mortal can make good : For while one party he opjjos'd 75 His rear was suddenly enclos'd, And no room left him for retreat. Or fight against a foe so great. For now the mastives, charging home, To blows and handy-gripes were come ; SO While maufiilly himself he bore. And, setting his right foot before. He rais'd himself to show how tall His person was above them all.- This equal shame and envy stirr'd 33 In th' enem}^ that one should beard So many warriors, and so stout. As he had done, and stav'd it out. Disdaining to lay down his arms. And yield on honourable terms. DC Enraged thus some in the rear Attack'd him, and some every where,* * Thus Spenser in his Fairy Queen : Like dastard curs, that having at a bay The savage beast, eniboss'd in weary chase 130 HUDIBRAS. [Part i Till down he fell ; yet fallincr fought, Aud, being down still laid about ; As Widdrington, ia doleful dumps, 95 Is said to fight upon his stumps.* But all, alas ! had been in vain, Aud he inevitably slain. If TruUa and Cerdon, in the nick, To rescue him had not been quick : 1 00 For Trulla, who was light of foot. As shafts wliich long-field Parthians shoot, t But not so light as to be borne Upon the ears of standing corn,t Dare not adventure on the stubborn prey, Ne bite before, but rome from phice to place To get a snatch, when turned is his face. * In the famous song of Che\'3'-chase : For Wjtherington needs must 1 wail, As one in doleful dumps. For when his legs were smitten of He fought upon his stumps. The battle of Chevy-chase, or Otterbourne, on the borders of Scotland, was fought on St. Oswald's day, August 5, 13S8, be- tween the families of Percy and Douglas — the song was proba- bly wrote much after that time, though long before 1588, as Hearne supposes. — The sense of the stanza is, I, as one in dole- ful dumps (deep concern) must lament Witherington. In the old copy of the ballad, the lines run thiis : For Wetharryngfon my harte was v/o That ever he slayne shulde be For when both his leggis weare hewyne in to He knyled and fought upon his kne. t Bishop Warburton offers an amendment here, which im- proves the sense, viz. longfiled, or drawn up in long ranks. But as all the editions read long-field, I was unwilling to alter it. Perhaps the poet maybe justified in the use of tBis epithet, from the account which Trogus gives of the Parthians. He says, " they were banished, and vaga.bond Scythians ; their name, in "the Scythian language, signifying banished. They settled in '•the deserts near Hyrcania; and spread themselves over vast "open fields and wide champaigns — 'immensaac profunda cam- "'porum.' They are continually on horseback: They fight, " consult, and transact all their business on horseback." Justin, lib. xli. [Bishop Warburton and Mr. Nash are wide a-field of their mark here. Lonrr-field is a term of archery, and a long-fielder is still a hero at a cricket match.] X Alluding to Camilla, whose speed is hj^perbolically described 67 Virgil, at the end of the seventh ^Eneid: Ilia vel intactce segetis per summa volaret Gramina, nee leneras cursu lajsisset aristas: Vel mare per medium fluctu suspensa turaenti. Ferret iter, celeres nee tingeret squore plantas. 'Xnto ill,] IIUDIBRAS. 131 Or trip it o'er ine water quicker 1 Oj Than witches, when their staves they liquor,** As some report, was got among The foremost of the martial throng ; Where pitying the vanquish'd bear. She called to Cerdon, who stood near, 110 Viewing the bloody fight ; to whom, Shall we, quoth she, stand still hum-drum, And see stout bruin, all alone. By numbers basely overthrown ? Such feats already he'as atchiev'd, ri In story not to be believ'd, And 'twould to us be shame enough. Not to attempt to fetch him off. I would, quoth he, venture a limb To second thee, and rescue him : 120 But then we must about it straight, Or else our aid will come too late : Quarter he scorns, he is so stout. And therefore cannot long hold or.t. This said, they wav'd their weapons round 125 About their heads, to clear the ground ; And joining forces, laid about So fiercely, that tli' amazed rout Turn'd tail again, and straight begun. As if the devil drove, to run. 1.30 Meanwhile th' approach'd th' place Avhere bruin Was now engag'd to mortal ruin : The conqu'ring foe they soon assail'd ; First Trulia stav'd and Cerdon taird,t Until their mastives loos'd their hold: 135 And yet, alas ! do what they could. The worsted bear came off with store Of bloody wounds, but all before : For as Achilles, dipt in pond, Was anabaptiz'd free from wound, HO Made proof against dead-doing steel All over, but the pagan heel ;| So did our champion's arms defend All of him but the other end, * Witches are said to ride upon broomsticks, and to licjuor, oh grease them, that thev may go faster. t Trulia put her staff Ijetwcen the dogs and the bear, in order to part them ; and Cordon drew the dogs away by their tails. + This is the true spirit of burlesque ; as the anabaptists, by their dipping, were made free from sin, so was Achilles by the same operation performed by his mother I'hetis, rendered free from wounds. 132 HUDIBRAS. [I^rt i liis head and ears, which in the martial 14a Encounter lost a leathern parcel ; For as an Austrian arciiduke once Had one ear, which in ducatooiis Is half the coin, in battle par'd Close to his head,* so bruin far'd ; 150 But tugg'd and pull'd on th' other side, Like scriv'ner newly crucify'd ;t Or like the late-corrected leathern Ears of the circumcised brethren.^ But gentle TruUa into th' ring 155 He wore in's nose convey'd a string, Vv'ith which slie march'd before, and led The warrior to a grassy bed, As authors write, in a cool shade, * Albert, archduke of Austria, brother to the emperor Ecdolph the Second, had one of his ears grazed by a spear, when he had taken off his helmet, and was endeavoring to rally his soldiers in an engagement with Prince Maurice of iVassau, ann. 1598 We read,iu an ancient song, of a difierent duke of that family : Richard Cceur de Lion erst king of this land, He the lion gored with his naked hand ; The false duke of Austria nothing did he fear. But his son he kill'd with a box on the ear Besides his famous acts done in the holy land. A ducatoon is the half of a ducat. Before the invention of milling, coins were frequently cut into parts: thus, there were quarter-ducats, and two-thirds of a ducat. t In those days lawyers or scriveners, if guilty of dishonest practices, were sentenced to lose their ears. In modern limes they seldom are so punished. +'rrynne, Bastwick, and Burton, stood in the pillory, and had their ears cut off, by order of the Star-Charnber, in 1G37, for writing seditious libels. They were banished into remote parts of the kingdom ; but recalled by the parliament in 1640. At their return the populace showed them every respect. They were met, near London, by ten thousand persons, who carried boughs and flowers. The members of the Star-chamber, con- cerned in punishing them, were fined in the sum of 4000/. for each. Prynne was a noted law3-er. Ke had been once pilloried be- fore ; and now lost the remainder of his ears : though, in I>drd Strafford's Letters, it is said Ihey were sewed on again, tnd grew as well as ever. His publication was a parnphlet entitled, News' from Ipswich. See Epistle of Hudibras toSidrophel, 1. 13. Baatwick was a physician. He wrote a pamphlet, in elegant jLalin, called Flagellum Episcoporum. He was the author, too, of a silly litany, full of abuse. Burton, minister of St. Matthew's, in Fridaj'-street, London, preached a sermon, Nov. 5, entitled, God and the king. This he printed ; and, being questioned about it, he defended it, enlarged, and dedicated it to the king himself. After his discharge, h(j preached and printed another seniion, entitled, The Protestation protested. Canto m.] IIUDIBRAS 133 Which eglantine and roses made : 16fl Close by a softly murm'iing stream, Where lovers used to loll and dream :* There leaving him to his repose, Secured from pursuit of foes, And wanting nothing but a song,t 16? And a well-tnn'd theorbo hung Upon a bough, to ease the pain His tugg'd ears sufFer'd, with a strain.! They both drew up, to march in quest Of his great leader, and the rest. 170 For Orsin, who was more renown'd For stout maintaining of his ground In standing fights, than for pursuit, As being not so quick of foot.§ Was not long able to keep pace .75 With others that pursu'd the chase, But found himself left far behind, Both out of heart and out of wind ; Griev'd to behold his bear pursu'd So basely by a multitude, 180 And like to fall, not by tlie prowess. But numbers, of his coward foes. He rag'd, and kept as heavy a coil as Stout Hercules for loss of Hylas ; Forcing the vallies to repeat 185 The accents of his sad regret :11 * Et fotum gremio Dea toUit in altos Idaliae luces, ubi mollis amaracus ilium Floribus, et dulci aspirans amplectitur umbra. Virgil, ^neid i. 69-2. And Johannes Secundus, Eleg. Cum Venus Ascaniuni. Mr. Butler frequently gives us specimens of poetical imagery, which lead us to believe that he might have ranked with the first class of elegant writers. t This is a banter upon some of the romance writers of those days. t In Grey's edition it is thus pointed : His tugg'd ears suffer'd ; with a strain They both drew up— But I should rather suppose the poet meant a well-tuned theorbo, to ease the pain with a strain, that is, with music and a song. § Thus Ajax is described by Homer : eio' Sv 'A';(^i'XXtjI pr]^)')vopi x^pj^ffftEv, ^ "Ell y' ahro'^abir}' ffoci 6' c'lVoff IcjtIv tpi^tiv. II. xiii. 3'i4. y Hercules, when he bewails the loss of Hylas : Volat ordine nullo C'uncta petens ; nunc ad ripas, dejectaque saxis 134 HUDIBRAS [Part i He beat his breast, and tore his hair, For loss of his dear cronj^ bear ; Flumina ; nunc notas nemoruin procurrit ad umbras : Rursus Hylan, et riirsus Hylan per longa reclamat Avia : responsant silvae, et vaga certat imago. Val. Flac. Argon, iii. 59;{. T/3(f fJLtv YXav avcTtv oaov BaOiig ^pvyt \aLfibi, Tpls ^' ap' TToii vjidKovaev dpaia 6' ikcto (p'jivu 'E| ijcaros. Theocritt.s, dyl. xiii. 5;-^. Echoes have frequently been employed by the poets. Rlr Butler ridicules this false kind of wit, and produces answer) which are sufficiently whimsical. The learned Erasmus com- posed a dialogue upon this subject: his Echo seems to have been an extraordinary linguist; for she answers the person, witli whom she converses, in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. " The conceit of making Echo talk sensiblj^," says Mr. Addison, Spectator, No. 59, "and give rational answers, if it could be •' excusable in any writer, would be so in Ovid, where he intro- " duces Echo as a nymph, before she was worn away into " nothing but a voice. Tlie passage relating her conversation with I\arcissus is very ingenious : Forte puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, Dixerat, Ecquis adest? el Adest, responderat Echo. Hie stupet : utquc aciem partes divisit in omnes ; Voce, Veni, clamat magna. Vocat ilia vocantem. Ilespicit : et nuUo rursus veniente, Quid, inquii, Me fugisi et totidem, quot dixit, verba recepit Perstat; et alternte deceptus imagine vocis Hue coiianuis, ait; nuUique libentius unquam Responsura sono, Coeamus, retulit Echo. Metamorph. iii. 379. A friend of mine, who boasted much of liis park and gardens in Ireland, among other curiosities mentioned an extraordinary Echo, that would return answers to any tiling which was said. Of what kind 7 — inquired a gentleman present. Why, says he, if 1 call out loud, How do you do, Coaner 1 the Echo immediately answers, Very well, tliank you, sir. Stout Hercules for loss of Hylas ; — Euripides, in his An- dromeda, a tragedy now lost, had a scene of this kind, which Aristophanes makes sport with in his Feast of Ceres. In the Anthologia, lib. iii. 6, is an epigram of Leonida?, and in the 4th book are six lines by Guaradas. See Brunck's Ania- lecta, vol. ii. a ^x^ (p'l^a fioi uvyKaTaivzadv ti. — (i tl • a 'Epw KoptcTKai' a 6i ii ov (piXel. — P (piXii. a npd^ai 6' b Kaipbg Kaipov oh ^epei — /? (pipei. a 'i'v ToLvvv avTu Xi^ov (I)j fpw. — (i £^w. a Kal -iGTiv avTu Kt^ixdT(x>v tv (5df. — P rv £6s' a A%a), Tl Xoi-uv, t} irddu tvx^^v] — (3 ru%£ri'. Echo ! I love, advise me somewhat : — What 1 Does Cloe's heart incline to love 1 — To love, &c. Martial ridicules the Latin authors of his time for this false wjt, and promises that none shall be found in his writings. The early French poets have fallen into this puerility. Joachim lie Bellay has an Echo of this kind, a few lines of which 1 will ranseribe : CA.NTO III.] HUDIBRAS. 13 j That Eclio, from the hollow ground, liis doleful wailings did resouad I'jO IMore wistfully, by many times, Than in small poets' splay-foot rhymes That make her, in their ruthful stories. To answer to int'rogatories. And most unconscionably depose 195 To things of which slie nothing knows ; And when she has said all she can say, 'Tis wrested to the lover's fancy. Quoth he, O whither, wicked Bruin, Art thou fled to my — Echo, ruin. 20u I thought th' hadst scorn'd to budge a step. For fear. Quoth Echo, Marry guep.* Am not I here to take thy part ? Then what has quail'd thy stubborn heart 11 Have these bones rattled, and this head ^O.j So often in thy quarrel bled ? Nor did I ever wince or grudge it. For thy dear sake. Quoth she, Mum hudget.\ Think'st thou 'twill not be laid i' th' dish§ Thou turn'dst thy back? Quoth Echo, Pish 210 To run from those th' hadst overcome Thus cowardly ? Quoth Echo, Mum. But what a-vengeance makes thee fly From me too, as thine enemy ? Or, if thou hast no thought of me, 215 Nor what I have endur'd for thee, Yet shame and honour might prevail Qui est I'auteur de ces maux avenus ? — Venus. Q.u'ctois-je avant d'entrer en ce passage 1 — Sajjo. Q,u'est-ce qu'aimer et se plaindre souvent 1 — Vunt. IJis-moi quelle est celle pour qui j'endure"?— Dun;. Sent-elle bien la douleur qui me point 1 — Point. * A sort of imprecation of Mary come up, praying the Virgin Mary to lielp; thongli some derive it otherwise. See Bishop Percy's Reiiques o*' Ancient Poetry, and v. lu of the Wanton Wife of Bath. t Quail, to cause to snrink, or faint; from A. S. cwealm, mors, cwellan, occidere. A qualm, deliquium animi, brevior mors. The word is frequently uied in ancient songs and ballads. X A term denoting silence. [I come to her in white, and cry mtim ; and she cries budget; and by that we know one another. — Merry Wives, Act v. sc. -'.] ^ [To lay in one's dish, to object a thing to a person, to make it an accusation against him. Last night you laij it, madam, in our dish. How that a maid of ours (whom me must check) Had broke your b tches leg. , .) Sir John Harr. Epigr. i. 37.) 136 HUDIBRAS. [Part i To keep thee thus from tuniuig tail : For who would grutch to spend his blood iu His honour's cause ? Quoth she, a Paddin, 220 This said, his grief to anger turn'd, Which in his manly stomach burn'd ; Thirst of revenge, and wrath, in place Of sorrow, now began to blaze. Ho vow'd the authors of his .voo '225 Should equal vengeance undergo ; And with their bones and flesh pay dear For what he suffer'd and his bear. This b'ing resolv'd, with equal speed And rage, he hasted to proceed 23b To action straight, and giving o'er To search for bruin any more, He went in quest of Hudibras, To find him out, where'er he was ; And if he were above ground, vow'd 235 He'd ferret him, lurk where he wou'd. But scarce had he a furlong on This resolute adventure gone, When he encounter'd with that crew Whom Hudibras did late subdue. 240 Honour, revenge, contempt, and shame, Did equally their breasts inflame. 'Mong these the fierce Magnano was, And Talgol, foe to Hudibras : Cerdon and Colon, warriors stout, 245 And resolute, as ever fought ; Whom furious Orsin thus bespoke : Shall we, quoth he, thus basely brook The vile affront that paltiy ass. And feeble scoundrel, Hudibras, 250 With that more paltry ragamuffin, Ralpho, with vaporing and huffing, Have put upon us, like tame cattle. As if th' had routed us in battle ? For my part it shall ne'er be said 255 I for tlie washing gave my head :* * That is, behaved cowardly, or surrendered at discretion : jeering obliquely perhaps at the anabapUstical notions of Ralpho. — Hooker, or Vowler, in his description of Exeter, v.'ritten aoout 1584, speaking of the parson of St. Thomas, who was hajiged during the siege, says, "he was a stout man, who woulf' no! " give his head for the polling, nor his beard for the wasb-'ng." Grey gives an apt quotation from Cupid's Revenge, by BeanmonJ and Fletcher, Act iv. 1st Citizen It holds, he dies this morning. Canto in.] HUDIBRAS I37 Nor did I turn my back for fear Of them, but losing of my bear, Which now I'm like to undergo ; For whether these fell wounds, or no, 260 He has receiv'd in fight, are mortal. Is more than all my skill can foretel ; Nor do I know what is become Of him, more than the Pope of Rome.* But if I can but find them out 265 That caus'd it, as I shall no doubt. Where'er th' in hugger-mugger lurk,t I'll make them rue their handiwork. And wish that they had rather dar'd To pull the devil by the beard.t 270 Quoth Cerdon, noble Orsin, th' hast Great reason to do as thou say'st, And so has ev'ry body here. As well as thou hast, or thy bear: Others may do as they see good ; 275 But if this twig be made of wood That will hold tack, I'll make the fur Fly 'bout the ears of that old cur, And th' other mongrel vermin, Ralph, That brav'd us all in his behalf. 280 Thy bear is safe, and out of peril, Tho' lugg'd indeed, and wounded very ill ; Myself and Trulla made a shift To help him out at a dead lift ; And having brought him bravely off, 285 Have left him where he's safe enough : There let him rest ; for if we stay. The slaves may hap to get away. This said, they all engag'd to join Their forces in the same design, 290 And forthwith pat themselves, in search Of Hudibras, upon their march : Where leave we them awhile, to tell What the victorious knight befell ; 234 Arriv'd, when Trulla'd won the day, To share in th' honour and the prey, And out of Hudibras his hide, With vengeance to be satisfy'd ; Which now they were about to pour 935 Upon him in a wooden show'r : averse to the French fashions. Pantaloons were a kind of loose breeches, commonly made of silk, and puffed, which gov ered the legs, thighs, and part of the iiody. They are represent- ed in some of Vandyke's pictures, and may be seen in the harle- (]uin entertainments. Port-cannons, were ornaments about She knees of the breeches ; they were grown to such excess in France, that Moliere was thought to have done good service, by laughing them out of fashion. " Mr. Butler, in his Genuine Re- mains, vol. ii. p. 83, says of the huffing courtier, he walks in his Port-cannons like one that stalks in long grass. In his Genuine Remains, our poet often derides the violent imitation of French fashions. In the second volume is a satire entirely on this sub- ject, which was a very proper object of ridicule, as after the Restoration, not only the politics of the court led to it, but, like- wise, an earnest desire among the old cavaliers of avoiding the formal and precise gravity of the times hnmedlately preceding. In the Pindaric Ode^to the memory of Du Val, a poem allowed to be written by our author : In France, the staple of new modes, Where garbs and miens are current goods, That serves the ruder northern nations. With methods of address and treat. Prescribes new garnitures and fashions, And how to drink, and how to eat, Xo out of fashion wine or meat : Conform their palates to the mode, And relish that, and not the food ; And, rather than transgress the rule, Eat kitchen-stuff, and stinking fowl ; X"or that which we call stinking here, Is but piquant, and haut-gout, there. Perriwigs were braught from France about the latter end of the reign of James the" First, but not much in use till after the Restoration. At first, they were of an immense size in large flowing curls, as we see them in eternal buckles in Westminster Abbey, and on other monuments. Lord Bolingbroke is said to be the first who tied them up in knots, as the counsellors wore them some time ago : this was esteemed so great an undress, that when hia lordship first went to court in a wig of this fashion, queen Anno was offended, and said to those about her, " this man will come " to me next court-day in his night-cap." * Dighted, from the Anglo-Saxon word digtan, to dress, fit out, polish. , . t Erst, adverb, superlative degree, i. e. first, from er, bclore 158 IIUDIBRAS. [Part .. But Trulla thrust herself between, And striding o'er his back agen, She brandiiih'd o'er her head his sword, And vow'd they should not break lier word ; 040 Sh' had given him quarter, and her blood, Or theirs, should make that quarter good. For she was bound, by law of arms, To see him safe from further harms. In dungeon deep Crowdero cast 945 By Hudibras, as yet lay fast, Where to the hard and ruthless stones,* His great heart made perpetiial moans ; Him she rcsolv'd that Hudibras Should ransom, and supply his place. 050 This stopp'd their fur}^, and the basting Which toward Hudibras was hasting. They thought it was but just and right, That what she had achiev'd in fight, She should dispose of how she pleas'd ; 955 Crowdero ought to be releas'd : Nor could that any way be done So well, as this she pitch'd upon : For who a better could imagine ? This therefore they resolv'd t' engage in. DGO The Knight and Squire first they made Rise from the ground where they were laid. Then mounted both upon their horses, But with their faces to the arses. Orsin led Hudibras's beast, 9G5 And Talgol that which Ralpho prest ; Whom stout I\Iagnano, valiant Cerdon, And Colon, waited as a guard on ; All ush'ring TriiUa, in the rear, With th' arms of either prisoner. 970 In this proud order and array, They put themselves upon their way, Striving to reach th' enchanted Castle, Where stout Crowdero in durance lay still. Thither w^itli greater speed than shows, 915 And triumph over conquer'd foes. Do use t' allow ; or than the bears, Or pageants born before lord-mayors,t * Thus Virgil : Montibus et silvis studio jactabat ir.ani. t I believe at the lord-mayor's show, bears were led in proces- Hlon, and afterwards baited for the diversion of the populace. Canto iii.l HUDIBRAS. 153 Are wont to use, they soon amv'd, In order, soldier-like contriv'd : t)8C Still marcliing in a warlike posture, As fit for battle as for muster. T.ie Knight and Squire they first unhorse. And, bending 'gainst the fort their force, They all advanced, and round about 9S5 Begirt the magical redoubt. Magnan' led up in this adventure, And made way for the rest to enter : For ho was skilful in black art, No less than he that built the fort,* 590 And with an iron mace laid flat A breach, which stra ^ht all enter'd at, And in the wooden dungeon found Crowdero laid upon the ground ; Him they release from durance base, 995 liestor'd t' his fiddle and his case, And liberty, his thirsty rage With luscious vengeance to assuage ; For he no sooner was at large. Bat Trulla straight brought on the charge, 1000 And in the self-same limbo put The Knight and Squire, where he was shut ; Where leaving them i' th' wretched hole,t Their bangs and durance to condole, Confin'd and conjur'd into narrow 1003 Enchanted mansion, to know sorrow, In the same order and array Which they advanc'd, they march'd away : But Hudibras, who scorn'd to stoop To fortune, or be said to droop, 1010 Cheer'd up himself with ends of verse, And sayings of philosophers. Quoth he, Th' one half of man, his mind, Is, sui juris, unconfin'd,t The procession of the mob to the stocks is compared to three things : a Roman triumph, a lord-mayor's show, and leailing iiears about the streets. * Man;nan() is before described as a blacksmith, or tinker. See Canto ii. I. 3?,n. t In the edition of 1704 it is printed in HocJdy hole, meanin;:, by a low pun, the place where their hocks or ankles were con- fined. Hockley Hole, or Hockley i' th' Hole, was the name of a place resorted to for vulgar diversions. t Our author here shows his learning, by bantering the stoic philosophy; and his wit, by comparing Alexander the Greal with Diogenes. u IfiO HUDIBRAS. [Part . And cannot be laid by the heels, i()r. What e'er the other moiety feels. 'Tis not restraint, or liberty,* That makes men prisoners or free : But perturbations that possess The mind, or equanimities. 102C The whole Avorld was not half so v/ide To Alexander, when he cry'd, Because he had but one to subdue,t As was a paltry narrow tub to Piogenes ; who is not said,t lO'J.'i For aught that ever I could read, To whine, put finger i' th' eye, and sob. Because h' had ne'er another tub. The ancients make two sev'ral kinds Of prowess in heroic minds, 1030 The active and the passive valiant. Both v.'hich are pari libra gallant ; For both to give blows, and to carry, In fights are equi-necessary : But in defeats, the passive stout lo.'jj Are always found to stand it out Most desperately, and to out-do The active, 'gainst a conqu'ring foe : Tho' we with blacks and blues are suggil'd./^ Or, as the vulgar say, are cudgel'd ; ] O-io * Quisnam igitur liber*? sapiens, sibique iniperiosus ; Uueni neque pauperies, neque mors, neque vincula terrent : Responsare ciipirtinibus, contemnere honores Fortis ; et in seipso toUis teres atqiie rotundus, Extern! ne quid valeat per Iseve niorari ; In queni nmnca riiit semper fortuna. Herat, lib. ii. Sat. vii. 85. KaKoj ic(Tiiui, (TWfj.aTog jxev rvxi, ^'^X'?? 6f KaKia' 6 filv yJp TO aMjxa XeXvjxivog, ri]v ii ^v)(i}V ceieixivos, iovXos' h 5' axi H ffw/xa deSsjiiios, rijv Se ^vx^iv XtXviiivoi, iXEvQcpos. Epict. p. 94. ed. Relandi. 1711. t IJnus Pell.-eo juveni non sufficit orbis : iEstiiat infelix angnsto liuiite niundi Juven. Sat. x. 1G8. t Dolia nudi Non ardent Cynlci: si freperis, altera fiet Cras donius, aut eadem plunibo commissa manebit. i^ensit Alexander, testa cum vidit in ilia Magtnuin habitalorem, quanto feiicior hie, qui Nil cuperet, (piam qui totum sibi posceret, orbem, I'assurus gestis a-quanda pericula rebus. Juven. Sat. xiv. 308, $ From suggilio, to beat black and bUic. Canto iu.] HUDIBRAS. 161 He that is valiant, and dares figlit, Though drubb'd, can lose no honour by't, Honour's a lease for lives to come, And cannot be extended from The legal tenant :* 'tis a chattel 1045 Not to be forfeited in battel.t If he that in the field is slain, Be in the bed of honour Iain,t He that is beaten may be said To lie in honour's truckle-bed.6 1050 For as we see th' eclipsed sun By mortals is more gaz'd upon Than when, adorn'd with all his light. He shines in serene sky most bright ; So valour, in a low estate, 1055 Is most admir'd and wonder'd at Quoth Ralph, How gi-eat I do not knov/ "We may, by being beaten, grow ; But none that see how here we sit. Will judge us overgrown with wit. lOGO As gifted brethren, preaching by A carnal hour-glass, || do imply Illumination, can convey Into them what they have to say. But not how much ; so well enough 10(35 Know you to charge, but not draw off. For who, without a cap and bauble,^ Having subdu'd a bear and rabble. And might with honour have come off, Would put it to a second proof: 1070 A politic exploit, right lit For Presbyterian zeal and wit.** * Vivit post funera virtus. t A man cannot be deprived of his honor, or forfeit it to the conqueror, as he does his arms and accoutrements. X '• The bed of honor," says Farquhar, " is a mighty larje ' lied. Ten thousand people may lie in it together, and never " feel one another." ^ The truckle-bed is a small bed upon wheels, which ^o&3 under the larger one, II This preacbmg by the hour gave room for many Jokes. A punning preacher, having talke(i a full hour, turned his hour- glass, and said: Come, my friends, let us take the other glass. The frames for these hour-glasses remained in many churches till very lately. TT Who but a fool or child, one who deserves a fool's cap, or a child's play-thing. ** Raipho, being chagrined by his situation, not only blames the misconduct of the knight, which had brought thcni^ into the scrape, but sneers at him f >r his religious principles. The iDrt*** 102 IIUDIBRAS. [PAP.r i Quoth Hiidibras, That cuckoo's tone. Ralpho thou always harp'st upon ; When tliou at any thing would'st rail, 1 075 Thou mak'st presbytery thy scale To take the height on't, and explain Toiwhat degree it is profane. AVllat s'ever'will not with thy — what d'ye c:j11 Thy light — jump right, thou call'st synodical. losn As if presbytery were a standard To size what s'ever's to be slander'd. Dost not remember how this day Thou to my beard wast bold to say, That thcu could'st prove bear-baiting equal 1085 With synods, orthodox and legal? Do, if thou canst, for I deny't. And dare thee to't, with all thy light.* Quoth Ralplio, Truly that is no Hard matter for a man to do, 1090 That has but any guts in's brains,t And could believe it worth his pains ; But since you dare and urge me to it, You'll find I've light enough to do it. Synods are mystical bear-gardens, 1095 Where elders, deputies, church- wardens. And other members of the court. Manage the Babylonish sport. For prolocutor, scribe, and bearv^ard. Do differ only in a mere word. HOC Both are but sev'ral synagogues Of carnal men, and bears, and dogs : Both antichristian assemblies. To mischief bent, as far's in them lies : Both stave and tail with fierce contests, 1 1 05 The one with men, the other beasts. The difF'rence is, the one fights with The tongue, the other with tlie teeth ; And that they bait but bears in this, In th' other souls and consciences; 1110 Where saints themselves are brought to stake, t jjenclents, at one time, were as inveterate against tlie Presbyte- rians, as both of them were against the church. For an expla. nation of some following verses, see the note on Canto i. 457. * The Independents were great pretenders to the light of the spirit. They supposed that all their actions, as well as th«if prayers and preachings, were immediately directed by it. t A proverbial expression fur one who has some share of com- xyon sense. % The Presbyterians, when in power, by raeans of their synods Canto hi.] IIUDIBRAS. 163 For gospel-light and conscience-sake ; Expos'd to scribes and presbytei-s, Instead of mastiff dogs and curs ; Than whom th' have less humanity, 1115 For these at souls of men will fly. This to the prophet did appear, Who in a vision saw a bear, Prefiguring the beastly rage Of church-rule, in this latter age :* . 130 As is demonstrated at full By him that baited the pope's bull.t Bears naturally are beasts of prey. That live by rapine ; so do they. What are their orders, constitutions, 1125 Church-censures, curses, absolutions, But sev'ral mystic chains they make, To tie poor Christians to the stake ? And then set heathen officers. Instead of dogs, about their ears.t 1 13C For to prohibit and dispense, To find out, or to make offence ; Of hell and heaven to dispose, To play with souls at fast and loose : To set what characters they please, 1 1 35 And mulcts on sin or godliness ; Reduce the church to gospel-order, By rapine, sacrilege, and murder : To make presbytery supreme. And kinors themselves submit to them :6 1140 assemblies, classes, scribes, presbyters, triers, orders, censures, curses, «S:c., &c., persecuted the ministers, both of the Independ- ents and of the Church of England, with violence and cruelty little short of the inquisition. Sir Ro^er L'Estrange mentions some strong instances of their persecuting tenets. * Daniel'vii. .5. " And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear; and it raised up itself on one side ; and it had three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh." t The baiting of the pope's bull was the title of a pamphlet written by Kenry Burton, rector of St. Matthew, Friday- street, and printed at London in 16i27. t Tacitus says of the persecutions under Nero, pereuntibiis addita ludibria, ut feraruni tergis contecti, laniatu canum interi- rcnt. Annal. xv. 44. ^ The disciplinarians, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, main- tained that kings ought to be subject to ecclesiastical censures, as well as other persons. This doctrine was revived by the Presbyterians afterwards, and actually put in practice by the Scots, in their treatment of Charles II. while he continued among them. The Presbyterians, in the civil war, mainUiineJ 164 IIUDIBRAS. [Part I, And force all people, tho' against Their consciences, to turn saints ; ]\Iust prove a pretty thriving trade. When saints monopolists are made : When pious frauds, and holy shifts, 1143 Are dispensationsT^nd gifts ; There godliness becomes mere ware, And ev'ry synod but a fair. J^ynods are whelps o' th' Inquisition, A mungrel breed of like pernicion,* 1150 And growing up, became the sires Of scribes, commissioners, and triers ;t Whose bus'ness is, by cunning slight. To cast a figure for men's light ; To find, in lines of beard and face, 1155 The physiognomy of grace ;t And by the sound and twang of nose. If all be sound within disclose. Free from a crack, or flaw of sinning, As men try pipkins by the ringing :§ 11 GO that princes must submit their sceptres, and throw down their crowns before the church, yea, to lick up the dust of the feet of the church. * The word pernicion, perhaps, is coined by our author: he means of like destructive efiect, from the Latin pernicies, though it is used elsewhere. t The Presbyterians had a set of officers called the triers,.vvho examined the candidates for orders, and the presentees to bene- fices, and sifted the qualifications of lay elders. See the preface to Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy. As the Presbyterians de- manded of the Church of England, What command, or example, have you for kneeling at the communion, for wearing a surplice, for lord bishops, for a penned liturgy, &lc., &c., so the Independ- ents retorted upon them : Where are your lay elders, your pres- byters, your classes, your synods, to be found in Scripture ? wliere your steeple houses, and your national church, or your tithes, or your metre psalms, or your two sacraments ? show us a conuuand or example for them. Dr. Hammond's View of the Directory. t The triers pretended great skill in these matters. If they disliked the flice or beard of a man, if he happened to be of a ruddy complexion, or cheerful countenance, they would reject him on these accounts. The precise and puritanical faces of those days may be observed in the prints of the most eminent dissenters. The modern reader may be inclined to think the dispute be- tween the knight and the squire rather too long. But if he considers that the great object of the poem was to expose to scorn and contempt those sectaries, and those pretenders to ex- traordinary sanctity, who had overturned the constitution i.i church and state ; and, beside that, such enthusiasts were then frequently to be met with ; he will not wonder that the author indulges himself in this fine strain of wit and humor. ^ They judged of man's inward grace by his outward com Canto in.] HUDIBRAS. 105 By black caps, underlaid with white,* Give certain guess at inward light ; Which Serjeants at the gospel wear,t To make the sp'ritual calling clear. The handkerchief about the neck, 1 1 fia — Canonical cravat of smeck,t From whom the institution came, When church and state they set on flame. And worn by them as badges then Of spiritual warfaring-men, — 1170 Judge rightly if regeneration Be of the newest cutin fashion : piexion. Dr. Echard says, "If a man had but a little blood in '* his cheeks, his condition was accounted very dangerous, and "■•f was almost an infallible sign of reprobation : and I will as * sure you," saj's he, " a very honest man, of a very sanguine " complexion, if he chance to come by an officious zealot's "house, might be put in the stocks only for looking fresh in a " frosty morning." pnlsa, dignoscere cautus Quid solidum crepet, et picta; tectoria linguae. Persius, Sat. v. 24. Many persons, particularly the Dissenters, in our poet's time, tvere fond of wearing black caps lined with white. See the print of Baxter and others. These caps, however, were not pe- culiar to the Protestant sectaries, nor always of a black color; master Drurie, a Jesuit, who, with a hundred of his auditors, lost his life, October 2G, 1623, by the sinking of the garret door where he was preaching, is thus described: "When he hat "read (his text) he sat down in the chaire, and put upon his " head a red quilt cap, having a linnen white one under it, turned "up about the brims, and so undertooke his text." — The doleful Evensong, by Thomas Good, 4to. This continued a fashion tut \nanv years after. t The coif, or black worn on the head, is the badge of a Ser- jeant at taw. t A club or junto, wiiich wrote several books against the king, consisting of five eminent holders forth, namely: Stephen Mar- shall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, INlatthew Newcomen and William Spurstow ; the initials of their names make ti;e word Suiectymnws : and, by way of distinction, they wore hand- kerchiefs about theirnecks, which afterwards degenerated into carnal cravats. Hall, bishop of Exeter, presented an humble remonstrance to the high court of parliament, in behalf of lituruy and episcopacy ; which was answered by the junto under this title, The Original of Liturgy and Episcopacy discussed by Smkctymnxjus ; John Milton is supposed to have been concerned in writing it.— For an account of Thomas Young, eee Warlon's notes on Milton.— The five counsellors of Charles II. in the year 1*570, Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, AshJey, Lauderdale, were called the Cabal, from the initials of their names.— Mr. .Mark Noble, in his Memoirs of the Cromwell P'amily, says, " VVhen '•Oliver resided at St. Ives, he usually went t<» church with a " piece of red flannel about his neck, as he was subject to an ia- 'tiammation in his throat," p. 105, note. 168 HUDIBRAS. [Pa:iti Sure 'tis an orthodox opinion, Timt grace is founded in dominion.* Great piety consists in pride ; 11 '35 To rule is to be sanctify'd : To domineer, and to controul, Both o'er the body and the soul, Is the most perfect disciphne Of church-rule, and by right divine. 1160 Bell and the Dragon's chaplains were More moderate than those by far :t For they, poor knaves, were glad to cheat, To get their wives and children meat ; But these will not be fobb'd off so, llSci They must have wealth and povv'er too ; Or else, with blood and desolation. They'll tear it out o' th' heart o' th' nation. Sure these themselves from primitive And heathen priesthood do derive, 1190 When butchers were the only clerks,t Elders and presbyters of kirks ; Whoso directory was to kill ; And some believe it is so still. § The only diff'rence is, that then 1195 They slaughter'd only beasts, now men. For them to sacrifice a bullock, Or, now and then, a child to Moloch, They count a vile abomination. But not to slaughter a whole nation. lijoo Presbytery does but translate The papacy to a free state, A common-wealth of popery, Where ev'ry village is a see As well as Rome, and must maintain liios A titiie-pig metropolitan ; V/here ev'ry presbyter, and deacon, Commands the keys for cheese and bacon :|| * The Presbyterians had such an esteem for power, that they thought those who obtained it showed a mark cf grace ; and that tliose only who had grace were entitled to power. t The priests, their wives, and children, feasted upon the pro visions ottered to the idol, and pretended that he had devoured them. See the Apocrypha. t Both in the heathen and Jewish sacrifices, the animal was frequently slain by the priests. ^ A banter on the directory, or form of service drawn ui' by the Presbyterians, and substituted for the common prayer. I', Daniel Burgess, dining with a gentlewoman of his coniire- pition, and a large uncut Cheshire cheese being brought to table, he asked where he should cut it She replied, Where yon Cai.to III.] HUDIBRAS. 167 And ev'ry hamlet's governed By's holiness, the church's head,* 1210 More haughty and severe in's place Thau Gregory and Boniface.t Such church must, surely, be a monster Witli many heads : for if we conster What in th' Apocalypse we find, 1215 According to th' Apostles' mind, 'Tis that the Whore of Babylon, With many heads did ride upon ;t Which heads denote the sinful tribe Of deacon, priest, lay-elder, scribe. [I'Zd Lay-elder, Simeon to Levi,§ please, Mr. Burgess. Upon which he ordered his servant to carry it to his own house, for he would cut it at home. • The gentlemen of Cheshire sent a remonstrance to the par- liament, wherein they complained, that, instead of having tuen- ly-six bishops, tliey were then governed by a numerous pres- bytery, amounting, with lay elders and otliers, to 40,000. This goveriiment, say hiey, is purely papal, for every minister exer- cises iftifial jurisdiction. Dr. Grey quotes from Sir John Birken head revived : But never look for health nor peace If once presbytery- jade us, When every priest becomes a pope. When tinkers and sosv-gelders. May-, if they can but 'scape the rope, Be princes and lay-elders. t The f'Tmer was consecrated in the year 1073, the latter elected in i294. Two most insolent and assuming popes, who wanted to i-iise the tiara above all the crowned heads in Chris 'tendom. Gregory the Seventh, commonly called Hildebrand, was the first Vv'ho arrogated to himself the authority to excom- municate and depose the emperor. Boniface the Third, was lie who assumed the title of universal bishop. Boniface the Eightl;, at the jubilee instituted by himself, appeared one day in the habit of a pope, and the next day in that of an emperor. He <^aused two swords to be carried before him, to show that he was invested with all ])ower ecclesiastical and temporal. t The church of Rome lias often been compared to the whore of Babylon, mentioned in the seventeenth chapter of the Reve- lation. The beast, which the whore rode upon, is here said to signify the Presbyterian establishment ; and the seven, or many lieads of the beast, are interpreted, by the poet, to mean their several officers, deacons, priests, scribes, lay-elders, &c. $ That is, lay-elder, an associate to the priesthood, for inter- ested, if not for iniquitous purjioses ; alluding to Genesis xlix. 5, 6. "Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty "are in their habitations : O, my soul, come not thou into their " secret ; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united "for in their anger they slew a man." Mr. Robert Gordon, in his History of the illustrious family of Gordon, vol. ii. p. VJ7, compares the solemn league and covenant with the holy league in France : he says they were as like as one egg to another, tha o;;o v\as nursed by the Jesuits, the other by the Scots Tresbyte- 168 HUDIBRAS. [Part . Whose little finger is as heavy As loins of patriarchs, prince-prelat6> And bishop-secular.* This zealot Is of a mungrel, diverse kind, 122* Cleric before, and lay behind ;t A lawless hnsey-woolsey brother,! Half of one order, half anotiier ; A creature of amphibious nature. On land a beast, a fish in water ; 1230 That always preys on grace, or sin ; A sheep without, a wolf within. This fierce inquisitor has chief Dominion over men's belief And manners ; can pronounce a saint 1235 Idolatrous, or ignorant. When superciliously he sifts. Through coarsest boulter, others gifts. § For all men live, and judge amiss, W^hose talents jump not just with his. 1210 He'll lay on gifts with hand, and place On dullest noddle light and grace, The manufacture of the kirk, Whose pastors are but th' handiwork Of his mechanic paws, instilling 1245 Divinity in them by feeling. From whence they start up chos-en vessels. Made by contact, as men get measles. So cardinals, they say, do grope At th' other end the new made popc.jl 12.»C Hold, hold, quoth Hudibras, Soft fire, They say, does make sweet malt. Good Squire, Festma lente, not too fast ; rians, Simeon and Levi. See Doughtie's Velitatianes Poleinicie, p. 74. * Such is the bishop and prince of Liege, and such are sev eral of the bishops in Germany. [1793.] t A trifling book called a Key to Hudibras, under the name of Sir Roger L'Estrange, pretends to decipher all the characters in the poem, and tells us that one Andrew Crawford was here in- tended. This character is supposed by others to have been designed for William Dunning, a Scotch presbyter. But, proba- bly, the author meant no more than to give a general represen- tation of the la^'-elders. t Lawless, because it was forbidden by the Leviticai law to wear a mixture of linen and woollen in the same garment. ^ A bolter is a sieve by which the millers dress their flour. li See, in Platina's Lives of the Popes, the well-known story of pope Joan, or John VIII. The stercorary chair, as appears by Eurchard's Diary, was used at the installations of Innocent VIII. and Sixtus IV. See Brequiiiny in account of MS. in the French king's library, Svo. 1769, vol. i. p. 21C. Canto m.l IIUDIBRAS. 1C9 For haste, the proverb says, makes waste. The quirks and cavils thou dost make 2:; j A.re false, and built upon mistake : \nd I shall bring you, with your pack Of fallacies, t' Elenchi back ;* And put your arguments in mood And figure to be understood. 1260 I'll force 5'ou by right ratiocinationt To leave your vitilitigation,; And make you keep to the question close, And argue dialecticdjj.§ The question then, to state it first, 12G5 Is, which is better, or which worst, Synods or bears. Bears I avow To be the worst, and synods thou. But, to make good th' assertion. Thou say'st th' are really all one, 1276 If so, not worst ; for if th' are idem. Why then, tantundem dat tantidem. For if they are the same, by course Neither is better, neither worse. But I deny they are the same, 1275 More than a maggot and I am. That both are animalia,l| I grant, but not rationalia : For though they do agree in kind. Specific difference we find i"^ i-igii * Elenchi are arguments which deceive under an appearance of truth. Tlie knight says he shall make the deception appa- rent. The name is given, by Aristotle, to those sylloglsni.s which have seemingly a fair, but in reality a contradictory con- clusion. A chief design of Aristotle's logic is to establish rules for the trial of arguments, and to guard against sophism : for in his time Zeno, rarmenides,and others, had set np a false meth- od of reasoning, whicli he makes it his business to detect and defeat. I The poet makes tio, in ratiocination, constitute but one syl lable, as in verse 1378, but in P. i. c. i. v. 78, he makes tio two sylialiles. i That is, your perverse humor of wrangling. Erasmus, in the J.ioria; encominm, has the following passage : " Etenim non de- " erunt fortasse vitilitigatores, qui calumnientur partim leviores "esse nugas quani ut thcologum deceant, partim mordaciores " quam ut Christiante conveniant modestiae." Vitilitigatores, i. e. obtrectatores et calum.niatores, quos Cato, novato verbo, a vitio et morbo litigandi vitilitigatores appellabat, ut testatur Plia in prajfat. historia; mundi. A That is, logically. |] Suppose we read : That both indeed are animalia. ^Between airrr.ate and inanimate things, as b( r.veen a ama 8 170 HL'DIBRAS. [Paut i And can no more make beard of these, Than prove my horse is Socrates.* Tliat synods are bear-gardens too, Thou dost affirm ; but I say, No : And thus I prove it, in a word, • 12B3 What s'ever assembly's not impovr'r'd To censure, curse, absolve, and ordain, Can be no synod : but Bear-garden Has no such pow'r, ergo 'tis none ; And so thy sophistry's o'erthrown. 1290 But yet we are beside the question Which thou didst raise the first contest on : For that was, Whetiier bears are better Than synod-men ? I say, Negatur. That bears are beasts, and synods men, 1295 Is held by all : they're better then, For bears and dogs on four legs go, As beasts ; but synod-men on two. 'Tis true, they all have teeth and nails ; But prove that synod-men have tails : 1300 Or that a rugged, shaggy fur Grows o'er the hide of presbyter ; Or that his snout and spacious ears Do hold proportion with a bear's. A bear's a savage beast, of all 1305 Most ugly and unnatural, Whelp'd without form, until the dam Has lickt it into shape and frame :t But all thy light can ne'er evict, :in(l a tree, there is a cenerical difference ; that is, they arc not of the same ftind cr genus. Between rational and sensitive crea- tures, as a man and a bear, there is a specifical difference : foi ihfrtigh they agree in the genus of animals, or living creatures, yet they differ in the species as to reason. Between two men, Plato and Socrates, there is a numerical difference : for, though they are of the same species as rational creatures, j-et they are not'one and tlie same, but two men. See Part ii. Canto i. 1. 150 * Or that my horse is a man. Aristotle, in his disputations, n-es the word Socrates as an appellative for man in general Trom thence it w^as taken up in the schools. t We must not expect our poet's philosophy to be strictly true ; it is suff.cient that it agree with the notions commonly handed down. Thus Ovid : Nee catulus partu, quern reddidit ursa recenti, Sed male viva caro est. Lambendo mater in artus Fingit ; et in formam, quantum capit ipsa, reducit. Metam. xv. 379. PHny, in his Natural History, lib. viii. c. 54, says : "Hi sunt Candida informisque caro, paulo muribus major, sine oculis tice pilo: ungues tantum prominent: hanc lambendo paula LA.NTO 111.] HUDIBRAS. 171 That ever synod-man was lickt, 1310 Or brought to any other fashion Than his own will and inclination. But thou dost further yet in this Oppugn thyself and sense ; that is, Thou would'st have presbyters to go 1.113 For bears and dogs, and bearwards too ; A strange chimaera* of beasts apd men, Made up of pieces het'rogene ; Such as in nature never met, In eodem subjecto yet. 1320 Thy other arguments are all Supposures hypothetical. That do but beg ; and we may chuse Either to grant them, or refuse. Much thou hast said, which I know when, 1325 And where thou stol'st from other men ; Whereby 'tis plain thy light and gifts Are all but plagiarj^ shifts ; And is the same that Ranter said, Who, arguing with me, broke my head,t 1330 And tore a handful of my beard ; The self-same cavils then I heard, When b'ing in hot dispute about This controversy, we fell out ; And what thou know'st I answer'd then 1335 Will serve to answer thee agen. Quoth Ralpho, Nothing but th' abuse Of human learning you produce ; Learning, that colaweb of the brain. Profane, erroneous, and vain :t 1340 ■• lim figurant." Eut this silly opinion is refuted by Brown in his V ulprar Errors, book iii. ch. 6. * ChiniEera was a fabulous monster, thus described by Homer : fl 6' ap erjv 6t1ov yfvogy ov6' avOpw-wv Iliad, vi. 180. Eustathius, on the passage, has abundance of Greek learnin-r Hesiod has given the chiniffira three heads. Theog. 319. t The ranters were a wild sect, that denied all doctrines of re' ligion, natural and revealed. With one of these the knight had entered into a dispute, and at last came to blows. See a ranter's character in Butler's Posthumous Works. Whitelocke says, the soldiers in the parliament army were frequently panishcil for being rangers. Nero clothed Christians in the skins of wild beasts; lint these wrapped wild beasts in the skins of Christians. 1 Dr. South, in his sermon preached in Wesln)instcr Abbey, 1092. says, speaking of the times al)nut .50 years before, Latin (inio them was a niortal crime, and (^Ireek lof>ke«l upon as a sin 15 172 IIUDIBRAS. LPart A Irado of knowledge as replete, As others arc with fraud and cheat ; ^gainst the Holy Ghost ; that all learning was then cried down, so that with them the best preachers were such as conld not read, and the ablest divines such as could not write : in all their preachments they so highly pretended to the spirit, that they hardly could spell the letter. To be blind, was with them the proper qualification of a spiritual fiuide, and to he book-learned, (as'they called it,) and to be irreligious, were almost terms con- vertible. None were thought fit for the ministry but tradesn.en Had mechanics, hecause none else v»ere allowed to have the spirit. Those only were accounted like St. Paul who could work with their hands, and, in a literal sense, drive the nail home, and l;e able to make a pulpit before they preached in it. The Independents and Anabaptists were great enemies to all human learning: they thought that preaching, and every thing else, Avas to come by insjiiration. When Jack Cade ordered lord Say's head to be struck off, ho Slid to him : "I am the besom that must sweep the court clean " of such filth as thou art. Thou hast most traiterously corrupt- I'.ed the youth of the realm, in erecting a grammar-school ; aiiJ" "whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books, but the "score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used ; and, "contrary to the king, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a "paper-mill. It will he proved to thy face, that thou hast men "about thee, that usually talk of a noun and a verb; and such "abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear." Henry VI. Part II. Act iv. sc. 7. In Mr. Butler's MS. 1 find the following reflections on this subject : "The modern doctrine of the court, that men's natural parts - are rather impaired than improved by study and learning, is ri diculously false ; and the design of it as plain as its ignorant nonsense — no more than what the levellers and Quakers found out before them : that is, to bring down all other men, whom they have no possibility of coming near any other way, to an equality with themselves ; that no man may be thought to re- ceive any advantage by that which they, with all their confi- dence, dare not pretend to. " It is true that some learned men, by their want of judgment and discretion, will sometimes do and say things that appear ri- diculous to those who are entirely ignorant: but he, who from hence takes measure of all others, is most indiscreet. For no one can make another man's want of reason a just cause for not improving his own, but he who would have been as little the better for it, if he had taken the same pains. "He is a fool that has nothing of philosophy in him ; but not so much so as he who has nothing else but philosophy. " He that has less learning than his capacity is able to manage, shall have more use of it than he that has more than he can master; for no man can possibly have a ready and active com- mand of that which is too heavy for him. Qui ultra facultates sapit, desipit. Sense and reason are too chargeable for the ordi- nary occasions of scholars, and what they are not able to go to the expense of: therefore metaphysics are better for their pur- poses, as being cheap, which any dunce may bear the expense of, and which make a better noise "in the ears of the ignorant than that which is true and right. Non qui plurima, sed qui utilia legerunt, eruditi habendi. " A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led Canto hi.] IIUDIBRAS. An art t' incumber gifts and wit, And render both for nothingr fit : though it be but by a dog ; but he that is bihul in his understand- ing, whicli is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as well as tlie best ; and scorns a guide. "IMen glory in that which is their infelicity. — Lenrning Gredc and Latin, to understand the sciences contained in them, which commonly proves no better bargain than he makes, who breaks his teeth to crack a nut, whicli has nothing but a maggot in it. lie that hath many langiiagcs to express his thoughts, biit no ihoughts worth express! ng,ls like one who can write a good hand, Init never the better sense; or one vrho can cast up any sums of money, but has none to reckon. "They who study mathematics only to fix their minds, and render them steadier to apply to other things, as there are many who profess to do, are as wise as those who think, by rowing in boats, to learn to swim. "He that has made an hasty march through most arts and sciences, is like an ill captain, who leaves garrisons and strong- holds behind him."' " The arts and sciences are only tools. Which students do their business with in schools : Although great men have said, 'tis more abstruse And hard to understand them, than their use. And though fney were intended but in order To better things, few ever venture further. But as all good designs are so accurst, The best intended often prove the worst ; Po what was meant t' improve the world, quits cross, Has turn'd to its calamity and loss. " The greatest part of learning's only meant For curiosity and ornament. And therefore most pretending virtuosos. Like Indians, bore their lips and flat their noses. When 'lis their artificial want of wit, That spoils their work, instead of mending it.' To prove by syllogism is hut to spell, A proposition like a syllable. "Critics esteem no sciences so noble, As worn-out languages, to vamp and cobble And when they had corrected all old copies, To cut themselves out work, made new and foppish, Assum'd an arbitrary power t' invent And overdo what th' author never meant. Could find a deei)er, subtler meaning out, Than th' innocentest writer ever thought. "Good scholars are but journeymen to nature, That shows them all their tricks' to imitate her: ThoiTgh some mistake the reason she proposes, An rejects a very just argument of Cicero's as sophistical, because it did not jump right with his rules." X Things totally different from each other. Canto m.l IIUDIBRAS. I75 Two things s' averse, they never yet, i37o But ill thy rambUng fancy, met. But I shall take a fit occasion T' evince thee by ratiocination. Some other time, in place more proper Than this w' are in : therefore let's stop here. J 380 And rest our weary'd bones awhile. Ah-eady tir'd v/ith other toil. PART II. CANTO L THE ARGUMENT. The Knight clapp'd by th' heels in prison, The last unhappy expedition,* Love brings his action on the case,t And lays it upon Hudibras. How he receives the lady's visit. And cunningly solicits his suit, Which she defers ; yet, on parole, Redeems him from th' enchanted hole. * In the author's corrected cnp}-, printed 1674, the lines stand thus ; but in the edition printed ten years before, we read : The knight, by damnable mag-ician, Being cast illegallrj in prison. In the edition of 1704 the old reading was restored, but we hB've in general used the author's corrected copy. t We n)ay observe how justly Mr. Butler, who was an able lawyer, applies all law terms. — An action on the case, is a gen- eral action given for redress of wrongs and injuries, done with- out force, and by law not provided against, in order to have sat- isfaction for damages. The author informs us, in his own note, at the beginning of this canto, that he had the fourth ^neis of Virgil in view, which passes from the tumults of war and the fatigues of a dangerotis voyage, to the tender subject of love. The French translator has divided the poem into nine cantos, and not into parts : but, as the poet published his work at three different times, and in his corrected copy continued the division into parts, it is taking too great a liberty for any commentator to alter that arrangement; especially as he might do it, as before observed, in imitation of Spenser, and the Italian and Spanisli poets, Tasso, Ariosto, Alonso de Ercilla, dec. <3C. H U D I B R A S CANTO I. 8ur now, t' observe romantiqr.e method, Let rusty steel av/hile be sheathed ; And all those harsh and rugged sounds* Of bastinadoes, cuts, and wounds, Exchang'd to love's more gentle style, S To let our reader breathe awhile : Tn which, that we may be as brief as Is possible, by way of preface. Is't not enough to make one strange,t That some men's fancies should ne'er change, ^0 But make all people do and say The same things still the self-same way ?t Some writers make all ladies purloin'd, And knights pursuing like a whirlwind : Others make all their knights, in fits 15 Of jealousy, to lose their wits ; Till drawing blood o' tli' dames, like v.-itches, They're forthwith, cur'd of their capriches.§ Some always thrive in their amours. By pulling plasters off their sores ;11 - 20 * Shakspeare says, " Our stern alarums chang'd to merry nieetinps. " Our dreadful marches to delightful measures." Richard III. Act i. sc. 1. T That is, to make one wonder : stravge, here, is an adjective ; Khen a man sees a new or unexpected object, he is said to be stranse to it: ? Few men have genius enough to vary their style ; both poets and painters are very apt to be mannerists. t\veen you. 183 IILDIBRAS, [Part i. AH wliich appeariiifT, on slie went To find the Knight in hmbo pent. lfl(. And 'twas not long before she found Him, and his stout Squire, in the pound ; Both coupled in enchanted tether, By further leg behind together : For as he set upon his rump, 103 His head, like one in doleful dump, Between his knees, his hands apply'd Unto his ears on either side. And by him, in another hole, Afflicted Ralpho, cheek by joul,* 11 C ►She came upon him in his wooden r.Iagician's circle, on the sudden, As spirits do t' a conjurer, ^Vhen in their dreadful shapes tli' appear. No sooner did the Knight perceive her, 115 But straight he fell into a fever, Inflam'd all over with disgrace, To be seen by her in such a place ; \7hich made him hang his head, and scowl, And wink and goggle like an owl ; 120 He felt his brains begin to swim. When thus the Dame accosted him : Tiiis place, quoth she, they say's enchanted, And with delinquent spirits haunted ; That here are ty'd in chains, and scourg'd, 125 Until their guilty crimes be purg'd : Look, there are two of them appear Like persons I have seen somewhere : Some have mistaken blocks and posts For spectres, apparitions, ghosts, 13C With saucer-eyes and horns ; and some Have heard the devil beat a drum :t But if our eyes are not false glasses. That give a wrong account of faces, That beard and I should be acquainted, 135 Before 'twas conjur'd and enchanted. For though it be disfigur'd somewhat, As if 't had lately been in combat, * That is, cheek to cheek ; sometimes pronounced jis: by jole ; luit here projierly written, and derived, from two Anglo-Saxon words, ceac, maxilla, and ciol, or ciole, guttur. t The story of ISlr. Mompesson's house being haunted by a drummer, made a great noise about the time cur author wrote The narrative is in Mr. Clanvil's book of Witchcraft. Canto i.] IIUDIBRAS. 183 It did belong t' a worthy Knight, Howe'er this gobhn is come by't. Hfc When Hudibras the Lady heard To take kind notice of his beard, And speak with such respect and lionour, Both of the beard and the beard's owner,* He thought it best to set as good 145 A face upon it as he cou'd, And thus he spoke : Lady, your bright And radiant eyes are in the right ; The beard's th' identique beard you kneWj The same numerically true ; 150 Nor is it worn by fiend or elf, But its proprietor himself. O heavens ! quoth she, can that be true ? 1 do begin to fear 'tis you ; Not by your individual whiskers, 155 But by your dialect and discourse, That never spoke to man or beast, In notions vulgarly exprest : * See the. dignity of the beard maintained by Dr. Bulwer in iiis Artificial Changeling, p. 196. He says, shaving the chin is i'.istly to be accounted a note of efleminacy, as appears by eu- nuchs, who produce not a beard, the sign of virility. Alexander and his officers did not shave their beards till they were effemi- nated by Persian luxury. It was late before barbers were in request at Home : they first came from Sicily 454 years after the foundation of Rome. Varro tells us they were introduced by Ticinius Mena. Scipio Africanus was the first who shaved his face every day: the emperor Augustus used this practice. See Pliny's Nat. Hist. b. vii. c. 59. Diogenes seeing one with a smooth shaved chin, said to him, " Hast thou whereof to accuse " nature for making thee a man and not a woman 1" — The Piho- dians and Byzantines, contrary to the practice of modern Rus- sians, persisted against their laws and edicts in shaving, and the use of the razor. — Ulnius de fine barbae humance, is of opinion, that the beard seems not merely for ornament, or age, or .sex, not for covering nor cleanliness, but to serve the otfice of the human soul. And that nature gave to mankind a beard, that it mighl remain as an index in the face of the masculine generative fac- ulty. — Beard-haters are by Barclay clapped on board the ship of fools : Laudis erat quandam barbatos esse parentes Atque sttpercilium mento gestare pudico Socratis exemplo, barbam nutrire solebant Cultores sophiie. False hair was worn by the Roman ladies. Martial says: Jurat capillos esse, quos emit, sues Fabulla nunquid ilia, Paulle, pejerat. And again : Ovid, de Art. Amandi, iii. 105: Fcemina procedit densissima crinibus cmptis; Prnque suis alios efficit chre suos : Nee pudor est emisse palam. 16" 184 IIUDIBRAS. [Part u But what malignant star, alas ! Has brought you both to this sad pass? ic.^ Quoth he, The fortune of the war, Which I am less afflicted for. Than to be seen with beard and face By you in such a homely case. Quoth she. Those need not be asham'd IGo For being honourably maim'd ; If he that is in battle conquer'd. Have any title to his own beard, Tho' yours be sorely lugg'd and tor.a, It does your visage more adorn 170 Than if 'tv ere prun'd, and starch'd and lauder'd, And cut sCjUare by the Russian standard.* A torn beard's like a tatter'd ensign, That's bravest which there are most rents in That petticoat, about your shoulders, 175 Does not so well become a soldier's ; And I'm afraid they are worse handled, Altho' i' th' rear, your beard the van led ;t And those uneasy bruises make My heart for company to ake, ■ 180 To see so worshipful a friend I' th' pillory set, at the wrong end. Quoth Hudibras, This thing call'd pain,t Is, as the learned stoics maintain, Not bad simpliciter, nor good, 185 But merely as 'tis understood. Sense is deceitful, and may feign As well in counterfeiting paui As other gross phaenomenas, In which it oft' mistakes the case. lOO But since th' immortal intellect, That's free from error and defect, * The beans in the reign of James I. and Charles I. spent as much time in dressing their beards, as modern beans do in dress- ing their hair ; and many of them kept a person to read to them while the operation was performing. It is well known what great difficulty the Czar Teter of Russia met with in obliging his subjects to cut off their beards. t The van is the fron or fure part of an army, and commonly the post of danger and honor ; the rear the hinder part. So that making a front in the rear must be retreating from the enemy. By this comical expression the lady signifies that he turned tail to them, by which means his shoulders sped worse than his beard. t Some tenets of the stoic philosophers are here burlesqued o'ith great humor C^NTO I.] HUDIBRAS. 163 Whose objects still persist the same, Is free from outward bruise or maim, Which nought external can expose 195 To gross material bangs or blows. It follows we can ne'er be sure Whether we pain or not endure : And just so far are sore and griev'd. As by the fancy is believ'd. 20U Some have been wounded v/ith conceit, And died of mere opinion straight ;* Others, tho' wounded sore in reason, Felt no contusion, nor discretion.t A Saxon Duke did grow so fat, 205 That mice, as histories relate, Ate grots and labyrinths to dwell in His postique parts, without his feeling ; Then how is't possible a kick Should e'er reach that way to the quick U Hio Quoth she, I grant it is in vain. For one that's basted to feel pain ; Because the pangs his bones endure. Contribute nothing to the cure ; Yet honour hurt is wont to rage 215 With pain no med'cine can assii:i-e. Quoth he. That honour's very squeamish That takes a basting for a blemish : * In Grey's note on this passage there are several stories of this sort ; of which the most remarkable is the case of the Chev- alier Jarre, "who was upon the scaflbld at Troyes, had his hair " cut off, the handkerchief before his eyes, and the sword in the " executioner's hand to cut off his head ; but the king pardoned " him : being taken up, his fear had so taken hold of him, that " he could not stand nor speak : they led him to bed, and opened " a vein, but no blood would come." Lord Stafford's Letters, vol. i. p. IGG. t As it is here stopped, it signifies, others though really and sorely wounded, (see the Lady's Answer, line Hi) felt no brui^e or cut: but if we put a semicolon after sore, and no stop alter reason, the meaning may be, others though wounded sore in body, yet in mind or imaginati'^n felt no bruise or cut. Discretion, here signifies a cut, or separation of parts. X Hejustly argues from this story, that if a man could be so gnawed and mangled in those parts, without his feeling it, a kick in the same place would not much hurt him. See Butler's Remains, vol. i. p. 31, where it is asserted, that the note in the old editions is by Butler himself. I cannot fix this story on any particular duke of Saxony. It may be i)aralleled by the case of an inferior animal, as related by a pretended eye-witness. — lu Arcadia scio me esse spectatum suem, quaj prje pinguedine car- nis, non modo surgere non posset ; sed etiam ut in ejus corj)ore sorex, excsa came, nidum fecissct, et nepcrissit mures. Varro, fl. 4. 12. i86 HUDI13RAS. [Pa^t ii For what's more honourable than scars. Or skin to tatters rent in wars ? 22(1 Some have been beaten till tliey know What wood a cudgel's of by th' blow ; Some kick'd, until they can feel whether A shoe be Spanish or neat's leather : And yet have met, after long running, 225 With some whom they have taught that cunning. The furthest way about, t' o'ercome, I' th' end does prove the nearest home By laws of learned duellists, They that are bruis'd with wood, or fists, 230 And think one beating may for once Suffice, are cowards and poltroons : But if they dare engage t' a second, They're stout and gallant fellows reckon'd Th' old Romans freedom did bestow, 235 Our princes worship, with a blov/ :* King Pyrrhus cur'd his splenetic And testy courtiers with a kick.t * One form of declaring a slave free, at Rome, was for the praetor, in the presence of certain persons, to give the slave a light stroke with a small stick, from its use called vindicta. * Tune mihi dominus, rerum imperils hominumque Tot tantisque minor ; quern ter vindicta qiiaterque Imposita haud uaquaiu misera formidine privet 1 Horat. Sat. ii. 7, 75. Vindicta, postquam meus a praetore recessi. Cur mihi uon liceat jussit quodcunque voluntas. Persius, v. 88. Sometimes freedom was given by an alapa, or blow with the open band upon the face or head : ■ quibus una duiritem Vertigo facit. Pers. v. 75. Uuos mammiittebant eos, Alapa percusses, circumageban et liberos confirmahant : from hence, perhaps, came the saying of a man's being giddj', or having his head turned with his good fortane. Verterit hunc dominus, momento turbinis exit Marcus Dania. Pers. v. 78. t It was a general belief that he could cure the spleen by sacrificing a white cock, and with his right foot gently pressing the spleen of the ])ersons, laid dov.n on their backs, a little on one side. Nor was any so poor and inconsiderable as not to receive the benefit of his royal touch, if he desired it. The toe of that foot was said to have a divine virtue, for after his death the rest of his body being consumed, this was found un- hurt and untouched by the fire. Yid. i'lularch. in Vita Pyrrhi, cub initio. Canto ] HUDIBRAS. 187 The Negus,* when some mighty lord Or potentate's to be restor'd, 240 And pardon'd for some great offence, With which he's willing to dispense, First has him laid upon his belly, Then beaten back and side, t' a jelly ;t That done, he rises, humbly bows, i45 And gives thanks for the princely blows ; Departs not meanly proud, and boasting Of his magnificent rib-roasting. The beaten soldier proves most manful, That, like his sword, endures the anvil, t 2:>o And justly's found so formidable. The more his valour's malleable : But he that fears a bastinado, Will run away from his own shadow :§ And though I'm now in durance fast, 25:» By our own party basely cast. Ransom, exchange, parole, refus'd, And worst than by the en'my us'd : In close catastall shut, past hope Of wit or valour to elope ; 200 As beards, the nearer that they tend To th' earth, still grow more reverend ; And cannons shoot the higher pitches, The lower we let down their breeches ; I'll make this low dejected fate 2G5 Advance me to a greater height.lT Quoth she. You've almost made m' in love With that which did my pity move. Great wits and valours, like great states, * Negus was kins of Abyssinia. t This story is told in Le Blanc's Travels, Part ii. ch. 4. t TvrrTscrQa'., iivSpos vnoixiveiv ttXtjyus, aV//wj/. See the character of a parasite in the Comic Fragments, Gnu dicta Poetarum apiitl Stobfeum. or with many faces, that they may have the greater lustre Doublets are cr^-stals joined together with a cement, green of red. in order t« resemble stones of that color. 203 HUDIBRAS. [Part n Others make poesies of her cheeks, COS Where red, and whitest colours mix ; In which the Hiy and the rose, For Indian lake and ceruse goes. Tl^.e snn and moon, by her bright eyes, Eclips'd and darken'd in the skies ; 010 Are bat black patches that she wears. Cut into suns, and moons, and stars,* By which astrologers, as well As those in heav'u above, can tell Wha' strange events they do foreshow, CIS Unto her nnder-world below.t Her voice the music of the spheres, So loud, it deafens mortal ears ; As wise philosophers have thought, And that's the cause we hear it not.l GOO This has been done by some, who those Th' ador'd in rhyme, would kick in prose ; And in those ribljons would have hung, Of which melodiously they sung.§ That have the hard fate to write best, 025 Of those that still deseiTe it least :|1 It matters not, how false or forc'd, So the best things be said o' th' worst ; * The ladies formerly were very fond of wearing a great num her of black patches on their faces, and, perhaps, might amuse themselves in devising the shape of them. This fashion is al luded to in Sir Kenelm Digby's discourse on the sympathetic l)')\vder, and uidiculed in the Spectator, No. 50. But the poet liere alludes to Dr. Bulwer's Artificial Changeling, p. 2G2, &c. t A double entendre. t "Pythagoras," saiih Censorinus, "asserted, that this world "is made according to musical proportion; and that the seven '• planets, betwixt heaven and earth, which govern the nativities " of mortals, have an harmonious motion, and render various " sounds according to their several heights, so consonant, that " they make most sweet melody, but to us inaudible, because of '•the greatness of the noise, w'aich the narrow passage of our " ears is not capable to receive." Stanley's Life of Pythagoras, p. :yxi. v3 Thus Waller on a girdle : Give me but what this riband bound. II Warburton was of opinion that Butler alluded to one of Jlr. Waller's poems on Saccharissa, where he complains of her un- kindness. Others suppose, that he alludes to Mr. Waller's poi'ms on Oliver Cromwell, and King Charles II. The poefs reply to the king, when he reproached him with having written best in praise of Oliver Cromwell, is known to everyone. " We •' poets," says he, "succeed better in fiction than in truth." !?m this passage seems to relate to ladies and love, not to kings and politics. Canto i.] HUDIBRAS. 203 It goes for nothing when 'tis said, Only the arrow's drawn to th' head, mo Whether it be the swan or goose They level at : so shepherds use To set the same mark on the hip. Both of their sound and rotten sheep : For wits that carry low or wide, 032 Must be aim'd higher, or beside The mark, which else they ne'er come uig!i, But when they take their aim awry.* But I do wonder you should chuse This way t'attack me with your muse. 040 As one cut out to pass your tricks on, With Fulham's of poetic fiction -.t I rather hop'd I should no more Hear from you o' th' gallanting score ; For hard dry bastings use to prove 045 The readiest remedies of love,t Next a diy diet ; but if those fail, Yet this uneasy loop-hol'd jail. In which y' are hamper'd by the fetlock. Cannot but put y' in mind of wedlock : GoC Wedlock, that's worse than any hole here. If that may serve you for a cooler T' allay your mettle, all agog Upon a wife, the heavier clog. * An allusion to gunnery. In Butler's MS. Common-p'.iie Ijonx 6ie the following lines : Infrenuity, or wit, Does only th' owner fit For nothing, but to be undone. For nature never gave to mortal yet, A free and arbitrary power of wit : But bound him to his good behaviour for't. That he should never'use it to do hurt. Wit does but divert men from the road, In which things vulgarly are understood ; Favours mistake, and ignorance, to own A better sense than commonly is known. Jlost men are so unjust, they look xipon Another's wit as enemy t' their own. t That is, with cheats or ijnpositions. Fulham was a can word for a folse die, many of them being made at that plac3 The high dice were loaded so as to come up 4, 5, 6, and the lo\t ones 1, 2 3. Frequently mentioned in Butler's Genuine Re n.ains. + 'Epwra Tau'tt At/irff, &c. See note on line 625. ■20i IIUDIBRAS. [i ART n Nor rather thank 5'our gentler fate,* Gr>a That, for a bruis'd or broken pate, Has freed you from those knobs that grow Mucli harder on the niarry'd brow ; But if no dread can cool your courage. From vent'ring on that dragon, marriage ; GG'Q \'et give me quarter, and advancet To nobler aims your puissance ; Level at beauty and at wit ; The fairest mark is easiest hil.i Quoth Hudibras, I am beforehand 6Gi In that already, with your command ;§ Fpr where does beauty and high wit But in your constellation meet ? Quoth she, What does a match imply, But likeness and equality ? 670 I know you cannot think me fit To be th' yokefellow of your wit ; Nor take one of so mean deserts, To be the partner of your parts ; A grace which, if I cou'd believe, 675 I've not the conscience to receive.]] That conscience, quoth Hudibras, Is misinform'd : I'll state the case. A man may be a legal donor Of any thing whereof he's owner, 680 And may confer it where he lists, * That is, and not rather : this depends upon v. 639,40,41,42. Ail the intermediate verses from thence to this beingr, as it were, in a parenthesis : the sense is. But I do wonder — t' attack me, and should not rather thank — t The widow here pretends, she would have him quit his pursuit of her, and aim higher ; namely, at beauty and wit. i The reader will observe the ingenious equivocation, or the double meaning of the word fairest. ^ Where one word ends with a vowel, and the next begins with a w, inmiediately followed by a vowel, or where one word ends with w, immediately preceded by a vowel, and the nest be- gins with a vowel, the poet either leaves them as two syllables, or contracts them into one, as best suits his verse ; thus in the passage before us, and in P. iii. c. i. v. 1561, and P. iii. c. ii. v. 339, these are contractions in the first case ; and P. iii. c. i. v. 804, in the latter case. !| Our poet uses the word conscience here as a word of twc syllables, and in the next line as a word of three : thus in Part i. c. i. V. 78, ratiocination is a word of five syllables, and in other places of four: in the first it is a treble rhyme. [In the first in- stance, conscience means only self-opinion ; in the second, Hu- dibras marks it as meaning knowledge, by making it a trisylla Me, (conscience,) and places it in ludicrous opposition to misin fcnned.J Canto i.] HUDIBRAS. 205 r til' judgment of all casuists : Then wit, and parts, and valour may Be ali'nated, and made away, By those that are proprietors, i-SS As I may give or sell my horse. Quoth she, I grant the case is true, And proper 'twixt your horse and you ; But whether I may take, as well As you may give away, or sell ? €90 Buyers, you know, are bid beware ; And worse than thieves receivers arc. How shall I answer hue and cry. For a roan-gelding, twelve hands high,* All spurr'd and switch'd, a lock on's hoof,t C96 A sorrel mane ? Can I bring proof Where, when, by whom, and what y' are sold for, And in the open market toll'd for ? Or, should I take you for a stray. You must be kept a year aud day, TOO Ere I can own you, here i' th' pound; Where, if ye're sought, you may be found ; And in the mean time I must pay For all your provender and hay. Quoth he. It stands me much upon 705, T' enervate this objection, And prove myself, by topic clear. No gelding, as you would infer. Loss of virility's averr'd To be the cause of loss of beard, t TIO That does, like embryo in the womb, Abortive on the chin become : This first a woman did invent, In envy of man's ornament : Semiramis of Babylon, 71.') Who first of all cut men o' th' stone, § * This is a severe reflection upon the knipht's aijilitics, his complexion, and his height, which the widow intimates was not iiKire than four feet. t There is humor in the representation which the widow makes of the knight, under the similitude of a roan peldinsr, supposed to be stolen, or to have strayed. Farmers often put locks on the fore-feet of their horses, to prevent their lieing stolen. t Pee the note on line 143 of this canto. ^ Mr. Butler, in hh own note, says, Semiramis teneios m;ires castravit omnium prima, and quotes Ammian. .Marcellinus. Hul the poet means to lau^h at Dr. IJnlwcr, who in his Artificial Changeling, scene 21,hns mnny strange stories; and in p'i;,'e 2Ui\ 206 HUDIBRA^. [Paki u To mar their beards, and laid foundation Of sow-geldering operation : Look on this beard, and tell me whether Eunuchs wear such, or geldings either ? '.'20 Next it appears I am no horse, That I can argue and discourse, Have but two legs, and ne'er a tail. Quoth she, That nothing v/ill avail ; For some philosophers of late here, 725 Write men have four legs by nature,* And til at 'tis custom makes them go Erroneously upon but two. As 'twas in Germany made good, B' a boy that lost himself in a wood ; 730 And growing down t' a man, was wont With wolves upon all four to hunt. As for your reasons drawn from tails,t We cannot say they're true or false. Till you explain yourself, and show 73c B' experiment, 'tis so or no. Quoth he. If you'll join issue on't,! I'll give you sat'sfact'ry account. So you will promise, if you lose, To settle all, and be my spouse. 74C That never shall be done, quoth she, To one that wants a tail, by me ; For tails by nature sure were meant, As well as beards, for ornament ;§ says, " NaUire gave to mankind a beard, that it might remain an " index in the lace of the masculine generative faculty." * Sir Kenelm Dlgby, in his book of Bodies, has the well-knovrn story of the wild German boy, who went upon all-four, was r)vergrown with hair, and lived among the wild beasts, the credi- bility and truth of which he endeavors to establish. See also Tatier, No. 103. Some modern writers are said to have the same conceit. The second line here quoted seems to want half a foot, but it may be made right by the old way of spelling four, I".)uer, or reading as in the edition of 1709 : Write that men have four legs by nature. T See Fontaine, Conte de la jument du compere Pierre. i That is, rest the cause upon this point. (-) Mr. Duller here alludes to Dr. Euhver's Artificial Change- ling, p. 410, where, besides the story of the Kentish m.en near llochester, he gives an account, from an honest young man ol Captain Morris's company, in Lieutenant-general Ireton's regi- .nent, " that at Cashell, in the county of Tipperary, in the prov- "ince of Munster, in Carrick Patrick church, seated on a rock, "stormed by Lord Inchequin, where there were near 700 put to " the sword, and none saved but the mayor's wife, and his son ; " there were found among the slain of' the Irish, when they " were stripped, diverse that had tails near a quarter of a yard Cavto ).] IIUDIBRAS. 207 And tho' the vulgar count them homely ; 74.1 In men or beast they are so comely, So gentee, alamode, and handsome, ril never marry man that wants cue : And 'till you can demonstrate plain, You have one equal to your mane, 7;;f I'll be torn piece-meal by a horse, Ere I'll take you for better or worse The Prince of Cambay's daily food Is asp, and basilisk, and toad,* Which makes him have so strong a breath. T5n Each night he stinks a queen to death ; Yet I shall rather lie in's arms Than your's, on any other terms. Quoth he. What nature can afford I shall produce, upon my word ; 'CO And if she ever gave that boon To man, I'll prove that I have one ; I mean by postulate illation,! When you shall offer just occasion ; But since ye've yet deny'd to give 705 My heart, your pris'ner, a reprieve, But make it sink down to my heel, I^et that at least your pity feel ; And for the sufferings of your martyr. Give its poor entertainer quarter ; 770 And by discharge, or mainprise, grant Deliv'ry from this base restraint. Quoth she, I grieve to see your leg Stuck in a hole here like a peg, And if I knew which way to do't, 775 Your honour safe, I'd let you out. That dames by jail-delivery Of errant knights have been set free,! " lony; : forty soldiers, thnt were eye-witnesses, testified Ihcsajiie " upon their oaths." He mentions likewise a similar tale o' njtiny other nations. * See Puichas's Pilgrim, vol. ii. p. 1495. Philosoph. Transac tions, l.wi. 314. Montaigne, b. i. E?say on Customs. A gross (Joiible entendre runs through the whole of tho widow's speech- es, and likewise those of the knight. See T. Wifton on English Poetry, iii. p. 10. t That is. by inference, necessary consequence, or presnni|>- tivc evidence. t These and the following lines are a banter upon romance writers. Our author keeps Don Quixote constantly in his eye, when he is aiming at this object. In Europe, the Spaniards and the French engaged lirst in this kin-'d, claw'd, and flaw'd, and " taw'd indeed." In the standard of ancient weights and meas- ures, we read : " the cyse of a tanner that he tanne ox leather, "and netes, and calves; — the cyse of a lawyer that he shall •• tawe none bnt shepes leather and deres." So the tawcr, or fell-monger, prepares soft supple leather, as of buck, doe, kid, sheep, lamb, for gloves, &c., which preparation of tawing diflers much from tanning. Johnson, in his Dictionary, says, '• To Uuv "i3 to dress white leather, commonly called alum leather, in " contradistinction from tan leather, that which is dressed wiih '' bark." [To beat and dress leather with alum. Nares.] TT This she instances from an Italian romance, entitled Florin and Biancafiore. Thus the lady menticns some illustrious ex- amples of the three nations, Spanish, French, and Italian, to induce the knight to give himself a scourging, according to Ihp established laws of chivalry and novelism. The adventures of Florio and Biancafiore, which make the principal subject of Bcccace's Philocopo, were famous long before Boccace, as he himself informs us. Floris and Blancaster are mentioned as illustrious lovers, by a Lansuedocian poet, in his Breviari d' Amor, dated in the year 1288: it is probable, however, that the story was enlarged by Boccace. See Tyrw^iilt on Chaucer, iv. 16l>. 212 HUDlIiRAS. [Partii Did not a certain lady whip, H83 Of late, her husband's own lordship ?* And tho' a grandee of tlie house, Claw'd liim with fundamental blows ; Ty'd him stark-naked to a bed-post. And firk'd his hide, as if sh' liad rid post ; P96 And after in the sessions court, Where whipping's judg'd, had honour for't ? This swear you will perform, and then. I'll set you from th' enchanted den, And the magician's circle, clear. 895 Quoth he, I do profess and swears And will perform what you enjoin. Or may I never see you mine. * Lord Munson, of Bury St. Edmimd's, one of the king's judges, being suspected by his lady of changing his political principles, was by her, together with the assistance of her maids, tied naked to the bed-post, and whipped till he promised to behave better. Sir Williani Waller's lady, Mrs. May, and Sir Henry Mildmay's lady, were supposed to have exercised the same au- thority. See History of Flagellants, p. 34C, 8vo. I meet with the following lines in Butler's MS. Common-place Book : Bees are governed in a monarchy, By some more noble female bee. For females never grow elfeminate. As men prove often, and subvert a state. For as they take to men, and men to them, It is the safest in the worst extream. The Gracchi were more resolute and stout, Who only by theii mother had been taught. The ladies on both sides were very active daring the civil- wars ; they held their meetings, at which they encouraged one another in their zeal. Among the MSS. in the museum at Ox- ford is one entitled Diverse remarkable Orders of the Ladies, at the Spring-garden, in parliament assembled: together with cer- tain votes of the unlawful assembly at Kate's, in Covent-carden, both sent abroad to prevent misinformation. Vesper. Veneris Martii 25, 1647. One of the orders is : " That whereas the lady " Norton, door-keeper of this house, complayned of Sir Robert Har- " ley, a member of the house of commons, for attempting to deface " her, which happened thus : the said lady being a zealous Inde- " pendent, and fond of the saints, and Sir Robert Harlcy having " found that she was likewise painted, he pretended that she came "within his ordinance against idolatrj-, saints painted, crosses, "&c. ; but some friends of the said door-keeper urging in her " behalf, that none did ever yet attempt to adore her, or worship " her, she was justified, and the house hereupon declared, that "if any person, by virtue of any power whatsoever, pretended " to be derived from the house of cummons, or any other court, "shall go about to impeach, hinder, or disturb any lady from "painting, worshipping, or adorning herself to the best advau " tage, as''rtlso from planting of hairs, or investing of teeth," &c., &c. Another order in this mock parliament was, that they send a messenger to the assembly of divines, to inquire what is meant by the words due benevolence. Canto i.] HUDIBRAS. 213 Amen, quoth she, then turn'd about, And bid her squire let him out. 900 But ere an artist could be found T' undo the charms another bound, The sun grew low and left the skies, Put down, some write, by ladies' eyes. The moon puU'd off her veil of light.* D05 That's hides her face by day from sight. Mysterious veil, of brightness made. That's both her lustre and her shade,! And in the night as freely shone, As if her rays had been her own : 910 For darkness is the proper sphere Where all false glories use t' appear. The twinkling stars began to mustre, And glitter with their borrow'd lustre, While sleep the weary'd world reliev'd, 915 By counterfeiting death reviv'd.J Our vot'ry thought it best t' adjourn His whipping penance till the inorn. And not to carry on a work * This, and the eleven followinj; lines, are very just and beautiful. t The rays of the sun obscure the moon by day, and enlijihten it by night. This passage is extremely beautiful and poetical, showing, among many others, Rlr. Butler's powers in serious poetry, if he had chosen that path. t There is a beautiful modern epigram, which I do not cor- rectly remember, or know where to find. It runs nearly thus : Somne levis, quanquam certissinia mortis imago, Consortem cupio te tamen esse tori. Alma quies optata veni, nam sic sine vita Vivere quam suave est, sic sine morte mori. vitvos Tu i.iiKpu Tov QavuTov fjiv^/ipia. Gnomici Toeta-, 915, 243. V7;v05 (3porci(j)v Tzavs'^ip irdvoiv. Athena?. 1. x. p. 419. vTTVOs -TTicpvKs au)[iaTos cwTTjpia. Crunclc. Analcct. 2^3. This canto in general is »'.:=mitablefor wit and pleasantry: the character of Iludibras is well preserved ; his manner of address appears to be natural, and at the same time has strong marks of singularity. Towards the conclusion, indeed, the conversation becomes obscene ; but, excepting this blemish, I think the whole canto by no means inferior to any part of the performance. I'ha critic will remark how exact our poet is in observing times and seasons ; he describes morning and evoning, and one day only i3 passed since the opening of the poem. 214 HUDIBRAS. [Part ii Of such importance, in the dark, 920 With erring haste, but rather stay, And do't i' tli' open face of day : And in the mean time go in quest Of uext retreat, to take hie rost PART IT. CANTO IL THE ARGUMENT. The Knight and Sqnire in hot disputflj, Within an ace of falling out, Are parted with a sudden fright Of strange alarm, and stranger siglit J With which adventuring to stickle, They're sent away in nasty pickle. HUDIBRAS CANTO II. *Tis strange liow some men's tempers suitj Like ba\Td and brandy, with dispute,* That for their own opinions stand fast. Only to have them claw'd and canvast. That keep their consciences in cases, t As fiddlers do their crowds and bases,! Ne'er to be ns'd but when they're bent To play a fit for argument.^ Make true and false, unjust and just. Of no use but to be discust ; Dispute and set a paradox, Like a straight boot, upon the stocks, And stretch it more unmercifully. Than Helmont, Montaigne, White, or Tully,i! * That is, how some men love disputuig, as a bawd loves brandy. t A pun, or jeii de mots, on cases of conscience. t That is, their fiddles and violoncellos. '^ The old phrase was, to play a fit of mirth : the word fit often occurs in ancient ballads, and metrical romances: it is generally applied to music, and signifies a division or part, for the conve- nience of the performers; thus in the old poem of John the Reeve, the first part ends with this line. The first fitt here find we ; afterwards it siRnified the whole part or division : thus Chaucei concludes the rhyme of Sir Thopas : Lo ! lordes min, here is a fit ; If ye will any more of it. To tell it woU I fond. The learned and insenions bishop of Dromore, (Dr. Percy.) thinks the word fit originally signified a poetic strain, verse, or poem. |l Men are too apt to subtilize when they labor in defence of a fivorite sect or system. Van Helmont was an eminent phy- sician and naturalist, a warm opposer of the princijiles of Aris- totle and Galen, and iinreasonahly attached to chemistry He was born at Brussels, in 1.588, and died 1GG4. Micb.ael de Mon taigne was born at Perigord, of a good family, 1533, died 1592. Canto ii.] IIUDIBRAS. 217 So th' ancient Stoics in the porch, 15 With fierce dispute maintain'd their church. Beat out tlieir brains in fight and study, To prove that virtue is a body,* That honinn is an animal, Made good with stout polemic brawl : 20 In which some hundreds on the place lie was fancifully educated by his father, waked every morninj; with instruments of irusic, taught Latin by conversation, and Greek as an amusement. His paradoxes related only to common life; for he had little depth of learning. His essays contain abundance of whimsical reflections on matters of ordinary oc- currence, especially upon his own temper and qualities. He was counsellor in the parliament of Bourdeaux, and njayor of the same place. Thomas White was second son of Richard White, of Essex, esquire, by Mary his wife, daughter of Edmund Plow- den, the great lawyer, in the reign of Elizabeth. He was a zealous champion for the church of Rome and the Aristotelian philosophy. He wrote against Joseph Glanville, who printed at London, 1665, a book entitled. Scepsis Scientifica, or Confessed Ignorance the Way to Science. Mr. White's answer, which de- fended Aristotle and his disciples, was entitled. Scire, sive Scep- tices et Scepticorum a jure Disputationis exclusio. This pro- duced a reply from Glanville, under the title of. Scire, tuum ni- hil est. White published several books with the signatures of Thomas Albius, or Thomas Anglus ex Albiis. His Dialogues de ]Mundo, bear date 1G4-2, and are signed, autore Thoma Anglo e generosa Albiorum in oriente Trinobantum prosapii oriunllo. He embraced the opinions of Sir Kenelm Digby. For Tullij some editions read Lnlly. Raymond Lully was a Majorcan, born in the thirteenth century. He is said to have been extreme- ly dissolute in his 3-outh ; to liave turned sober at forty; in his old age to have preached the gospel to the Saracens, and suflered martyrdom, anno 1315. As to his paradoxes, prodiit, says San- derson, e media barbarie vir magna professus, R. Liillus, qui opus logicum quam specioso tit-ulo insignivit, artem magnam commentus : cujas ope pollicetur trimestri spatio hominem, quamvisvel ipsa literarum elementa nescientem, totam encyclo- pffidiam perdocere ; idque per circulos et triangulos, et literas al- phabeti sursura versum revolutas. There is a summary of his scheme in Gassendus de Usu Logics, c 8 ; Alsted Encyclop. tom. iv. sect. 17. He is frequently mentioned in Butler's Re- mains, see vol. i. 131, and in the character of an hermetic phi- losopher, vol. ii. pp. 232, 247-55L But I have retained the word Tuliy with the author's corrected edition. Mr. Butler alluded, I suppose, to Cicero's Stoicorum Paradoxa, in which, merely for the exercise of his wit, and to amuse himself and liis friends, he has undertaken to defend some of the most extravagant doc- trines of the porch : Ego vero ilia ipsa, qua2 vix in gyninasiis et in otio stoici probant, ludens conjeci in communes locos. * The stoics allowed of no incorporeal substance, no medium between body and nothing. With them accidents and qualities, virtues and vices, tiie passions of the mind, and every thing else, was body. Animam constat animal esse, cum ipsa efficiat nt simus animalia. Virtus autem nihil aliud estquani animus tai- itcr se habens. Ergo animal est. See also Seneca, epistle 113, and Plutarch on Superstition sub initio. 218 HUDIBRAS FPaiit j, Wore slain outriglit,* and many a face Rclrencli'd of nose, and eyes, and beard, To maintain what their sect averr'd. AH which the kniglit and squire in wrath, 2.'> Had like t' have suffer'd for their faith ; Each striving to make good liis own. As by the sequel sliall be shown. The sun had long since, in the lap Of Thetis, taken out his nap, 30 » And like a lobster boil'd, the morn I From black to red began to turn ;t When Hudibras, whom thoughts and aching 'Twixt sleeping kept all night and waking, Began to rouse his drowsy eyes, Sj And from his couch prepar'd to rise ; Resolving to dispatch the deed He vow'd to do with trusty speed : But first, with knocking loud and bawling, * Wc meet with the same account in the Remains, vol. ii. 242. "This had been an excellent course for the old rounii- " headed stoics to find out whether bonum was corpus, or virtue "an animal; about which they had so many fierce encounters "in their stoa, that about 1400'lost their lives on the place, and " far many more their beards, and teeth, and noses." The Gre- cian history, I believe, does not countenance these remarks. Diogenes Laertius, in his life of Zeno, book vii. sect. 5, says, that this philosopher read his lectures in the stoa or portico, and hopes the place would be no more violated by civil seditions: for, adds he, when the tliirty tyrants governed the republic, 1400 citizens were killed there. Making no mention of a philosojjhi- cal brawl, but speaking of a series of civil executions, which look place in the ninety -fourth olympiad, at least a hundred years before the foundation of the stoical school. In the old an- notations, the words of Laertius are cited differently. " In por ■ " ticu (stoicorum schola Athenis) discipulorum seditionibus, " mille quadringenti tviginta cives interfecti sunt." But from whence the words " discipulorum seditionibus" were picked up, I know not: unless from the old version of Ambrosius of Caniai- doli. There is nothing to answer them in the Greek, nor do they ajipear in the translations of Aldobrandus or Meibomius. Xen- ophon observes, that more persons were destroyed by tlie tyran- ny of the thirty, than had been slain by tlie enemy in eight en- tire years of the Peloponnesian war. Both Isocrates and .^s- chines make the number fifteen hundred. Seneca De Tranquil, thirteen hundred. Lysias reports, that three hundred were con- demned by one sentence. Laertius is the only writer that rej)- resents the portico as the scene nf the'r sufierings. This, it is true, stood in the centre of Athens, in or near the forum. Perhaps, also, it might not be far from the desmoterion, oi prison. t Mr. M. Bacon says, this simile is taken from Rabelais, whc c.-iUs l^e lobster cardlnalized, from the red habit assumed by th« clergy- of that rank. Canto u.j HUDIBRAS. 210 He rows'd the squire, in truckle lolling ;* 40 And after many circumstances, Which vulgar authors in romances, ]3o use to spend their time and wits on, To make impertinent description, They got, with much ado, to horse, 45 And to the castle bent their course. In VA hich he to the dame before To suffer whipping-duty swore :t Where now arriv'd, and half unharnest, To carry on the '.vork in earnest, 59 He stopp'd and paus'd upon the sudden, And with a serious forehead plodding, Sprung a ncAv scruple in his head, Which first ho scratch'd, and after said ; Whether it be direct infringing 55 An oath, if I should wave this swinging, t And what I've sworn to bear, forbear. And so b' equivocation swear ;§ Or whether 't be a lesser sin To be forsworn, than act the thing, ( 9 Are deep and subtle points, which must, T' inform my conscience, be discust ; In which to err a little, may To errors infinite make way : And therefore I desire to know 5-3 Thy judgment, ere we farther go. Quoth Ralpuo, Since you do injoin't, I shall enlarge upon the point ; And, for my own part, do not doubt Th' affirmative may be made out. 70 }3at first, to state tlie case aright. For best advantage of our light ; Aad thus 'tis, whether "t be a sin, To claw and curry our own skin>* Greater or less thaij to forbear, 75 And that you are forsworn forsvrear. * Sec Don Quixote, Part ii. ch. 20. A tniclde-bed is a little bed on wheel?, which runs under a lar|[,'cr bed. t In some ot the early editions, it is duly swore, the sense being in which he before swore to the dame to sutTer whipping duly. 1 From the Anj^lo-Saxon word swingan, to beat, or whip. Vi The equivocations and mental reservations ot" the Jesuits wore loudly complained of, and by none more than by the sec- taries. When these last came into power, the royalists had toa often an oj^portunity of bringing the same charge against thetu. See Sanderson De Jar. Oblig. pr. ii. 55, 11. 19 220 HIJDIBRAS. fPAkr u But first, o' th' first : The inward man, And outward, like a clan and clan. Have always been at daggers-drawing And one another clapper-clawing:* fcC Not that they really cufFor fence, But in a spiritual mystic sense ; Which to mistake, and make them squabble, In literal fray's abominable ; 'Tis heathenish, in frequent use, 85 ^^'^ith pagans and apostate jews. To offer sacrifice of bridewells,t Like modern Indians to their idols ,-t A And mongrel Christians of our times, / That expiate less with greater crimes, 90 I And call the foul abomination, ) Contrition and mortification. Is't not enough we're bruis'd and kicked. By sinful members of the wicked ; Our vessels, that are sanctify'd, 95 Profan'd, and curry'd back and side ; But we must claw ourselves with shameful And heathen stripes, by their example ? Which, were there nothing to forbid it. Is impious, because they did it: 100 This therefore may be justly reckon'd A heinous sin. Now to the second ; That saints may claim a dispensation To swear and forswear on occasion, I doubt not ; but it will appear 1 05 With pregnant light: the point is clear, •" Oaths are but words, and words but wind, Too feeble implements to bind ; And hold with deeds proportion, so As shadows to a substance do.§ 110 Then when they* strive for place, 'tis fit Tlie weaker vessel should subyiit. Although your church be opposite To oui-s, as Black Friars are to White, * The clans or tribes of tbe Highlanders of Scotland, have sotuotimes kept up an hereditary prosecution of theii- quarrels lor many generations. The doctrine which the Independents and other" sectaries held, concerning the inward and outward man, is frequently alluded to, and frequently explained, in these notes. t "Whipping, the punishment usually inflicted in houses of correction. i That is. the fakirs, dervises, bonzes, of the east. § Ikj-^oi epyov oKid, was an aphorism of Democritus. Canto ii.l HUDIBRAS 221 In rule and order, yet I grant 115 Vou are a reformado saint ;* And what the saints do claim as due, Yoa may pretend a title to : But saints, whom oaths or vows oblige, Know little of their privilege ; 120 Farther, I mean, than carrying on Some self-advantage of their own : For if the devil, to ser\'e his turn. Can tell truth ; why the saints should scorn, When it serves theirs, to swear and lie, 125 I think there's little reason why : Else h' has a greater power than they, WJiich 'twere impiety to say. We're not commanded to forbear. Indefinitely, at all to swear; 130 But to swear idly, and in vain, Witliout self-interest or gain. For breaking of an oath and lying. Is but a kind of self-denying, A saint-like virtue ; and from hence 13r» Some have broke oaths by providence : Some, to the glory of the Lord, Perjur'd themselves, and broke tl:c!r word :1 And this the constant rule and practice Of all our late apostles' acts is. 1 10 Was not the cause at first begun With perjury, and carried on? Was there au oath the godly took, But in due time and place they broke ? * That is, a saint volunteer, as bein?r a Presbyterian, for the Independents were the saints in pay. See P. iii. c. ii. 1. 91. t Dr. Owen had a wonderful knack of attributing all the pro- ceedings of his own party to the direction of the spirit. "The " rebel army," says South, " in their several treatings with the "king, being asked by him whether they would stand to sutli '• and such agreements and jiromises, still answered, that they "would do as the spirit should direct them. Whereupon that " blessed prince would frequently condole his hard fate, that he " had to do with persons to whom the spirit dictated one thing " one day, and commanded the clean contrary the next." So the history of independency : when it was first moved in the house of commons to proceed capitally against the king, Crom- well stood up, and told them, that if any man moved this with design, he should think him the greatest traitor in the world ; nut, since providence and necessity had cast them upon it, he ^hould pray God to bless their counsels. Harrison. Carew, and others, when tried for the part they took in the kind's deatli. professed they had acted out of conscience to the Lord. ;22 HUDIBRAS. [1^\ut Did we not bring our oaths in first, J 4a Before our plate, to have them burst, And cast in fitter models, for The present use of church and war? Did not our worthies of the house, Before they broke the peace, break vows? i50 For having freed us first from both Th' alleg'ance and suprem'cy oath ;* Did they not next compel the nation To take, and break the protestation ?t To swear, and after to recant, i 53 The solemn league and covenant?! To take th' engagement, and disclaim it,§ Enforced by those who first did frame it ? Did they not swear, at first, to fight|| * Though they did not in formal and express terms abrogate these oulhs till after the king's death, yet in etiect they vacated and annulled them, by administering the king's power, and sub- stituting other oaths, protestations, and covenants. Of these last it is said in the Icon Basilike, whoever was the author of it, " Every man soon grows his own pope, and easily absolves him- '•' self from those tics, which not the command of God's word, or " the laws of the land, but only the subtilty and terror of a party " cast upon them. Either superfluous and vain, when they are " sufficiently tied before ; or fraudulent and injurious, if by such ■' after ligaments they lind the impostors really aiming to dissolve '• or suspend their forn^er just and necessary obligations." t In the protestation they promised to defend the true reformed religion, expressed in the doctrine of the Church of England ; whtch yet in the covenant, not long after, they as religiously vowed to change. i And to recant is but to cant again, saj's Sir Robert L'Estrange. In the solemn league and covenant, (called a league, because ii was to be a bond of amity and confederation between the king- doms of England and Scotland; and a covenant, because they jiretended to make a covenant with God,) they swore to defend the person and authority of the king, and cause the world to be- hold their fidelity; and that they v.'ould not, in the least, dimin- ish his just power and greatness. The Presbyterians, who in some instances stuck to the covenant, contrived an evasion for this part of it, viz. : that they had sworn to defend the person and authority of the king in support of religion and public liberty. Now, said they, we find that the defence of the person and au- thority of the king is incompatible with the sufiport of religion and liberty, and therefore, for the sake of religion and liberty, we are bound to op[)Ose and ruin the king. But the Independ- ents, who were at last the prevailing party,"utteriy renounced the covenant. Mr. Goodwin, one of their most eminent preachers, asserted, that to violate this abominable and cursed oath, out of conscience to God, was a holy and blessed perjury. § After the death of the king a new oath was prepared, which they called the Engngenient; the form whereof was, that every man should engage and swear to be true and faithful to the gov L'rnnient then established. iJ Cromwell, though 'n general a hypocrite, v.-as very siacejo Canto ii.] HUDIBRAS 223 For the king's safety, and his riglit? IGC And after march'd to find him out. And charg'd him home with horse and foot ? And yet still had the confidence To swear it was in his defence ? Did they not swear to live and die 16^ With Essex, and straight laid him by ?* If that were all, for some have swore As false as they, if th' did no more.t Did they not swear to maintain law. In which that swearing made a flaw ? 17C For protestant religion vow, That did that vowing disallow ? For privilege of parliament, In which that swearing made a rent ? And since, of all the three, not one 75 Is left in being, 'tis well known.t Did they not swear, in express words. To prop and back the house of lords ?§ when he first mustered his troop, and declared that he would not deceive ihem l»y perplexed or involved e.\j)ressions, in his commission, to fight for king and parliament; but he would as soon discharge his pistol upon the king as upon any other person. * When the parliament first took up arms, and the earl of Essex was chosen general, several members of the house stood up and declared that they would live and die with the earl of Essex. This was afterwards the usual style of addresses to par- liament, and of their resolutions. Essex continued in great esteem with the party till September, 1644, when he was de- feated by the king, in Cornwall. But the principal occasion of his being laid aside was the subtle practice of Cromwell, who in a si^eechto the house had thrown out some oblique reflections on the second fight near Newbery, and the loss of Donington castle; and, fearing the resentment of Essex, contrived to pass the self-denying ordinance, whereby Essex, as general, and most of the Presbyterians in office, were removed. The Presbyterians in the house were superior in number, and thought of new- modelling the army again ; but in the mean time the earl died. t Essex, it was loudly said by many of his fri«*nds, was poi soned. Clarendon's History, vol. iii. b. 10. t Namely, law, religion, and privilege of parliament. ^ When the army began to present criminal information against the king, in order to keep the lords quiet, who might well be supposed to be in fear for their own privileges and honors, a message was sent to them promising to maintain their privileges of peerage, &c. But as soon as the king was behead- ed, the lords were discarded and turned out. February the first, two days after the king's death, when the lords sent a message to the commons for a committee to consider the way of settling the nation ; the commons made an order to consider on the mor row whether the messenger should be called in, and whether the house should take any coL'nizance thc.-cof. February the fifth the lords sent again, but their lucsscngers were nol c-iJled 824 HUDIBRAS. [^art a Ana after tnm'd out the wliolo house-full Of peers, us dang'rous and unuscful. 180 So Cromwell, with deep oaths and vows, Swore all the commons out o' th' house ;* Vow'd that the red-coats would disband. Ay, marry wou'd they, at their command ; And troli'd them on, and swore and swore, 155 Till th' army turn'd them out of door. This tells us plainly what they thought. That oaths and swearing go for nought ; And that by them tlr were only meant To serve for an expedient.!" 198 What was the puMic faith found out for,1 But to slur men of what they fought for ? The public faith, which ev'ry one Is bound t' observe, yet kept by none : And if that go for nothing, why 195 Should private faith have such a tie ? ill : and it was debated, by the commons, whether the house of lords should be continued a court of judicature ; and the nest day it was resolved by them, that the house of peers in parlia- ment was useless, and ought to be abolished. Whitelock. * After the king's party was utterly overthrown, Cromwell, who all along, as it is supposed, aimed at the supreme power, persuaded the parliament to send part of their army into Ireland, and to disband the rest : which the Presbyterians in the house were forward to do. This, as he knew it would, set the army in a iiuitiny, which he and the rest of the commanders made show to take indignation at. And Cromwell, to make the parliament secure, called God to witness, that he was sure the army would, at their first command, cast their arms at their feet ; and again solemnly swore, that he had rather himself and his whole i'aiu- ily should be consumed, than that the army should break out into sedition. Yet in the mean time he blew up the flame ; and getting leave to go down to the army to quiet them, immediately joined with them in all their designs. By which arts he so strengthened his interest in the army, and incensed them against the parliament, that with the help of the red-coats he turned them all out of doors. Bates Eleuch. Mot. and others. t Expedient was a term often used by the sectaries. . When the members of the council of state engaged to approve of what should be done by the conmions in parliament for the future, it was ordered to draw up an expedient for the members to sub- scribe. t It was usual to pledge the public faith, as they called it, by which they meant the credit of parliament, or their own prom- ises, for moneys borrowed, and many times never repaid, A re- markable answer was given to the citizens of London on soine occasion : "In truth the subjects may plead theproperty of their "goods against the king, but not against the parliament, to whom "it appertains to dispose of ail thegoodsof the kingdom." Their own partisans, Milton and Lilly, complain of not being repaid the money they had laid out to support the cause. Canto iij HUDIBRAS. 035 Oatlis were not purpos'd more than law, To keep the good and just iii awe,* But to confine the bad and shiful. Like mortal cattle in a pinfold. 200 A saint's of th' heav'nly realm a peer ; And as no peer is bound to swear, But on the gospel of his honour. Of which he may dispose as owner, It follows, tho' the thing be forgery, '205 And false, th' affirm it is no perjury, But a mere ceremony, and a breach Of nothing, but a form of speech, And goes for no more when 'tis took. Than mere saluting of the book. 2^0 Suppose the Scriptures are of force. They're but commissions of course,t And saints have freedom to digress, And vary from 'em as they please ; Or misinterpret them by private 215 Instructions, to all aims they drive at. Then why should we ourselves abridge. And curtail our own privilege ? Quakers, that like to lanthorns, bear Their light within them, will not swear ; 220 Their gospel is an accidence. By which they construe conscience. t And hold no sin so deeply red, As that of breaking Priscian's head.§ The head and founder of their order, 22."i That stirring hats held worse than murder :ll * "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous " man, but (or the lawless and disobedient.'' 1 Timothy i, 9. t A satire on the liberty the parliament officers tools, of vary- ing from their commissions, on pretence of private instructions. t That is, they, the (luakers, interpret scripture altogether literal, and make a point of conscience of using the wrong num- ber in grammar: or, it may mean that grammar is their scripture, by which they interpret right or wrong, lawful or unlawful. § Priscian was a great grammarian about the year 528, and when any one spoke flilse grammar, he was said to break Pris- cian's head. The Quakers, we know, are great sticklers for plainness and simplicity of speech. T/iou is the singular, ijou the plural ; consequently it is breaking Priscian's head, it is false grammar, quoth the Quaker, to use you in the singular number: George Fox was another Priscian, witness his Battel- d"or. II Some think that the order of Quakers, and not Priscian, Is here meant; but then it would be holds, not held: I therefore »m inclined to think that the poet humorously supposes that Prii( ian, whc received so man" Wows on the head, was much 226 HUDIBRAS. [Pari n The?e thinking they're oblig'd to troth In swearing, will not take an oath ; Like mnles, who if they've not the will 1 keep their own pace, stand stock still ; 230 Bnt they are weak, and little know What free-born consciences may do. 'Tis the temptation of the devil That makes all human actions evil : For saints may do the same things by 235 The spirit, in sincerity. Which other men are tempted to, And at the devil's instance do ; And yet the actions be contrarj^, jjust as the saints and wicked vary. 240 For as on land there is no beast But in some fish at sea's exprest ;* So in the wicked there's no vice, Of which the saints have not a spice ; And yet that thing that's pious in 245 The one, in th' other is a sin.t averse to taking off his hat; and therefore calls him the founder of Ciuakerism. This may seem a far-fetched conceit ; but a similar one is employed by Mr. Butler on another occasion. " You may perceive the Quaker has a crack in his skull," says he, " by the great care he takes to keep his hat on, lest his sickly "brains, if he have any, should take cold." Remains, ii. 352; i. 391. April 20, 1649, nearly at the beginning of Quakerism, Ever.ard and Winstanley, chief of the Levellers, came to the general, and made a large declaration to justify themselves. While they were speaking, they stood with their hats on; and being demanded the reason, said, "he was but their fellow- " creature." "This is set down," says Whifelocke, " because it " was the beginning of the appearance of this opinion." So ob- stinate were the Quakers in this point, that Barclay makes the following declaration concerning it: "However small or foolish " this may seem, yet, I can say boldly in the sight of God, we be- " hooved to choose death rather than do it, and that for conscience " sake." There is a story told of William Penn, that being admit- ted to an audience by Charles II., he did not pull otf his hat ; when the king, as a gentle rebuke to him for his ill manners, took off his own. On which Penn said, " Friend Charles, why dost not thou "keep on thy hat 7" and the king answered, "Friend Penn, it is " the custom of this place that no more than one person be cov- "ered at a time." * Thus Dubartas : So many fishes of so many features, That in the waters we may see all creatures, Even all that on the earth are to be found. As if the world were in deep waters drown'd. But see Sir Thomas Brown's Treatise on Vulgar Errors, book lii. chap. 24. t Many held the antinomian principle, that believers, or pel* Caxto h.] HUDIBRAa 32? 1st not ridiculous, and nonsense, A saint should be a slave to conscience ? That ought to be above such fancies, As far as above ordinances 1* 25C She's of the wicked, as I guess,- B' her looks, her language, and her dress And tho', like constables, we search For false wares one another's church ; Yet all of us hold this for true, 235 No faith is to the wicked due. For truth is precious and divine, Too rich a pearl for carnal swine. Quoth Hudibras, All this is true, Yet 'tis not fit that all men knew 260 Those mysteries and revelations ; And therefore topical evasions Of subtle turns, and shifts of sense. Serve best with th' wicked for pretence, Such .as the learned Jesuits use, 265 And presbytcrians, for excuset sons res!enerste, cannot sin Though they commit the same acts, which are styled and are sins in others, j-et in them they are no sins. Because, say they, it is not tlie nature of the ac- tion that derives a quality upon the person ; but it is the antece- dent quality or condition of the person tlaat denominates his ac- tions, and stamps them good or bad : so that they are those only who are previously wicked, that do wicked actions; but be- lievers, doing the very same things, never commit the same sins. * Some sectaries, especially the Muggletonians, thought them- selves so sure of salvation, that they deemed it needless to con- form to ordinances, human or divine. t On the suliject of Jesuitical evasions we may recite a story from Mr. Foulis. He tells us that, a little before the death of Queen Elizabeth, when the Jesuits were endeavoring to set aside King James, a little book was written, entitled, a Treatise on Equivocation, or, as it was afterwards styled by Garnet, pro- vincial of the Jesuits, a Treatise against Lying and Dissimula- tion, which yet allows an excuse for the mostdirect falsehood, by their law of directing the intention. For example, in time of the plague a man goes to Coventry ; at the gates he is examined upon oath whether he came from London: the traveller, though he directly came from thence, may swear positively that he did not. The reason is, because he knows himself not infected, and does not endanger Coventry; which he s\ii)poses to answer tho final intent of the demand. At the end of this book is an allow- ance and commendation of it by Blackwell, thus : Tractatus ist» valde doctus et vere plus et catholicus est. Certe sac. scriptura- rum, patrum, doctorum, scholasticorum, canonistarum, et opti- marum rationum praesidiis plenissime firmat equitatcm cquivo- cationis, ideoque dignissimus qui typis propagetur ad consoiatio- Dsm afflictorum catholicoruin, et omnium piorum instruciionem. Ua censeo Georgius Blackwcllus arrhiprcsbiter Anglite et proto- 228 HUDIBRAS. [Part u Against the protestants, when th' happen To find their churches taken napping ; As thus : a breach of oath is duple, And either way admits a scruple, 270 And may be, ex parte of the maker, More criminal than the injur'd taker ; For he that strains too far a vow, Will break it, like an o'er bent bow : And he that made, and forc'd it, broke it, 275 Not he that for convenience took it. A broken oath is, quatenus oath. As sound t' all purposes of troth. As broken laws are ne'er the worse. Nay, 'till they're broken, have no force. 280 What's justice to a man, or laws, That never comes within their claws ? They have no povv'r, but to admonish ; Cannot control, coerce, or punish, Until they're broken, and then touch . 285 Those only that do make them such. Beside, no engagement is allow'd. By men in prison made, for good ; For when they're set at liberty, They'ra from th' engagement too set free. 290 The rabbins write, when any jew Did make to god or man a vow,* notarius apostolicus. On the second leaf it has this title : A Treatise against Lying and_ E£audiilent Dissimnlatio n. newly overseen by the Author, and publlshea tor the Defence of Inno- cency, and for the Instruction of Ignorats. The MS. was seized by Sir Edward Colve, in Sir Thomas Tresham's chamber, in the Inner Temple, and is now in the Bodleian library, at Oxford. MS. Laud. E. 45, with the attestation in Sir Edw^ard Coke's handwriting, 5 December 1605, and the following motto: O.i quod mentitur occidit animam. An instance of the parliament- arians shifting their sense, and explaining away their declara tion, may be this : When the Scots delivered up the king to the parliament, they were promised that he should be treated with safety, liberty, and honor. But when the Scots afterwards found reason to demand the prrformance of that promise, they were answered, that the promise was formed, published, and employed according as the state of aflairs then stood. And yet these promises to preserve the person and authority of the king had been made with the most solemn protestations. We protest, say they, in the presence of Almighty God, which is the strongest bond of a Christian, and by the public faith, the most solemn that any state can give, that neither adversity nor success shall ever cause us to change our resoljitions. * There is a traditional doctrine among the Jews, that if any person has made a vow, which afterwards he wishes to recall, Ue may go to a rabbi, or three other men, and if he can prove to Canto a] HUDIBRAS. 225 Which afterwards he found untoward, And stubborn to be kept, or too hard ; Any three other jews o' th' nation 295 INIight free him from the obHgation : And have not two saints power to use A greater privilege than three jews ?* The court of conscience, which in man Should be supreme and sovereign, ;iOC Is't fit should be subordinate To ev'ry petty court i' th' state, And have less powder than the lesser. To deal with perjury at pleasure ? Have its proceedings disallow'd, or 3tS Allow'd, at fancy of pie-powder ?t Tell all it does, or does not know, For swearing ex officio ?t Be forc'd t' impeach a broken hedge. And pigs unring'd at vis. franc, pledge ?§ .110 them that no injury will be sustained by any one, they may free him from its obligation. See Remains, vol. i. 3C0. * Mr. Butler told Mr. Veal, that by the two saints he meant Dr. Downing and Mr. Marshall, who, when some of the rebels had their lives spared on condition that they would not in future bear arms against the king, were sent to dispense with the oath, and persuade them to enter again into the service. Mr. Veal was a gentleman commoner of Edmund Hall during the troubles, and was about seventy years old when he gave this account to Mr. Coopey. See Godwin's MS. notes on Grey's Hudibras, in the Bodleian library, Oxford. t The court of pie powder takes cognizance of such disputes 3 As if they felt the cause, not heard it '! And as they please make matter o' fact Run all on one side as they're packt? Nature has made man's breast no windores, To publish what he does within doors ;* 370 Nor what dark secrets there inhabit, Unless his own rash folly blab it. If oaths can do a man no good In his own bus'ness, why they shou'd. In other matters, do him hurt, 375 I think there's little reason for't. He that imposes an oath makes it. Not he that for convenience takes it: Then how can any man be said To break an oath he never made ? J80 These reasons may perhaps look oddly To th' wicked, tho' they evince the godly ; But if they will not serine to clear My honour, I am ne'er the near. (Honour is like that glassy bubble, 3S5 That finds philosophers such trouble : Whose least part crack'd, the whole does fly, And wits are crack'd to find out why.t * ]Momus is said to have found fault with the frame of man, because there were no doors nor windows in his breast, through «\'hich his thoughts might be discovered. See an ingenious paper on this subject in the Guardian, vol. ii. A'o. lOG. Mr. Bat- ier spells windore in the same manner where it does not rhyme. Perhaps he thought that the etj-mology of the word was wind- door. t The drop, or bubble, mentioned in this simile, is made cf ordinary glass, of the shape and about twice the size describeJ in the margin. It is nearly solid. The thick part, at D or E, will bear the stroke of a hammer; but if you break off the top in the slender and sloping part at B or C, the whole will burst with a noise, and be blown about in powder to a considerable distance. The first establishers of the Royal Society, and many philosophers in various parts of Europe, found it diffi- cult to explain this phenomenon. ]\Ionsieur Rohalt, in his Physics, calls it a kind of a miracle in nature, and says, (part i. c. xxii. § 47:) "Ed. Clarke lately "discovered, and brought it hither from Holland, "and which has travelled through all the universi- " ties in Europe, where it has raised the curiosity, " and confounded the reason of the greatest part of ■'• the philosophers :" he accounts for it in the follow- ing manner. He says, that the drop, when taken hot from the fire, is suddenly emersed in some appropriate liquor, (cold water he thinks will break it,)* by which means the pores * Here he is mistaken. Canto ii.] HUDIBRAS. 335 Quoth Ralpho, Honour's but a word, To swear by only in a lord :* 3i)0 In other men 'tis but a huff To vapour with, instead of proof ; That like a wen, looks big and swells, Insenseless, and just nothing else. Let it, quoth he, be what it will, 365 It has the world's opinion still. But as men are not wise that run The slightest hazard, they may shun, There may a medium be found out To clear to all the world the doubt ; 400 And that is, if a man may do't, By proxy whipp'd, or substitute.t Though nice and dark the point appeal Quoth Ralph, it may hold up and clear. That sinners may supply the place 405 Of suffering saints, is a plain case. Justice gives sentence, many times. On one man for another's crimes. Our brethren of New England use Choice malefactors to excuse, t 410 on the oiitsirle are closed, and the substance of the f^lass con- densed ; while the inside not cooling so fast, the pores are left wider and wider from the surAice to the middle : so that the air being let in, and finding no passage, bursts it to pieces. To prove the truth of his explication, he observes, that if you break off the very point of it at A, the drop will not burst : because that patt being very slender, it was cooled all at once, the pores were equally closed, and there is no passage for the air into the wider pores below. If you heat the drop again in the fire, and let it cool gradually, the outer pcres will be opened, and made as large as the inner, and then, in whatever part you break it, there will be no burstinff. He gave three of the drops to three several jewellers, to be drilled or filed at C D and E, but when they had worked them a little way, that is, beyond the pores which were closed, they all burst to powder. * Lords, when they give judgment, are not sworn : they say only upon my honor. t Mr. Murray, of the bed-chamber, was whipping boy to king Charles I. Burnet's History of his own Times, vol. i. p. 244. 1 This story is asserted to be true, in the notes subjoined by Mr. Butler to the early editions. A similar one is related by Dr. Gre^', from Morton's' English Canaan, printed 1037. A lusty 3'oung fellow was condemned to be hanged for stealing corn ; bui it was proposed in council to execute a bed-rid old man in the offender's clothes, which would satisfy appearances, and pre- serve a useful member to society. Dr. Grey mentions likewise a letter from the committee of Stafford to speal^er henthall, dated Aug. 5 , 1645, desiring a respite for Henry Steward, a soldier under ihe governor of Hartlebury castle, and offering two Irishmen to be executed in his stead. Ralpho calls them his brethren of Nev/ England, because the inhabitants there were generally In- •^34 HUDIBRAS. [PAarn And baiig the guiltless in their stead ; Of whom the cliurches have less need. As lately 't happen'd : in a town There liv'd a coblcr, and but one, That out of doctrine could cut use, 115 And mend men's lives as well as shoes. /This precious brother having slain, I In times of peace, an Indian, Not out of malice, but mere zeal, Because he was an infidel, -120 The mighty Tottipottimoy* Sent to our elders an envoy. Complaining sorely of the breach Of league, held forth by brother Patch, Against the articles in force 425 Between both churches, his and ours ; For Vv'hich he crav'd the saints to render Into his hands, or hang th' offender ; But they maturely having weiglrd They had no more but him o' th' trade, 430 A man that serv'd them in a double I Capacity, to teach and cobble, i Resolv'd to spare him ; yet to do \ The Indian Hoghan Moghan too t Impartial justice, in his stead did 435 Hang an old weaver that was bed-rid : Then wherefore may not you be skipp'd. And in your room another whipp'd ? For all philosophers, but the sceptic,! Hold whipping may be sympathetic. li'^ It is enough, quoth Hudibras, Thou hast resolv'd, and clear'd the case ; ♦ And canst, in conscience, not refuse, From thy own doctrine, to raise use :t I know thou wilt not, for my sake, 4 45 Be tender-consciene'd of thy back : dspendcnts. In the eccleaiasiical constitution of that province, modelled according to Robinson's platform, there was a co-ordi- nation of churches, not a subordination of one to another. John rie Laet says, primos colonos, uti et illos qui postea accesserunt, potissimum aut oinnino fuisse ex eorum hominum secta, quos iu Anglia Brownistas et puritanos vocant. * I don't know whether this v.-as a real name, or an hnitatioa only of North American phraseology : the appellation of an in- tiividual, or a title of office. t The skeptics held that there was no certainty of sense ; and o.msequently, that men did not always know when they felt any tliing. !f A favorite expTession of the sectaries of those days. Canto ii.J HUDIBRAS. 235 Then strip thee of thy carnal jerkin, And give thy outward fellow a ferking ; For when thy vessel is new hoop'd, All leaks of sinning will be stopp'd. 450 Quota Ralpho, You mistake the matter, For in all scruples of this nature, No man includes himself, nor turns The point upon his own concerns. As no man of his own self catches 455 The itch, or amorous French aches ; So no man does himself convince. By his own doctrine, of his sins : And though all cry down self, none means His own self in a literal sense : 4G0 Besides, it is not only foppish, But vile, idolatrous, and popish. For one man out of his own skin To frisk and whip another's sin ;* As pedants out of school boy's breeches 465 Do claw and curry their own itches. But in this case it is profane. And sinful too, because in vain ; For we must take our oaths upon it You did the deed, when I have done it. 470 Quoth Hudibras, That's answer'd soon ; Give us the whip, we'll lay it on. Quoth Ralpho, That you may swear true, 'Twere properer that I whipp'd you ; For when with your consent 'tis done, 475 The act is really your own. Quoth Hudibras, It is in vain, I see, to argue 'gainst the grain ; Or, like the stars, incline men to What they're averse themselves to do : 480 For when disputes are weary'd out, 'Tis interest still resolves the doubt : But since no reason can confute ye, I'll try to force you to your duty ; For so it is, howe'er you mince it ; 485 As, e'er we part, I shall evince it, And curry,t if you stand out, whether You will or no, your stubborn leather Canst thou refu^ to bear thy part * A banter on the popish doctrine of satisfactions, t Coria perficere : or it may be derived from the Welsh knru, to leat or pound. This scene is taken from Don Quixote. 236 IfUDIBUAS. rPART ii, I' th' public uork, base as thou art ? 490 To higgle thus, for a few blows, To gain thy Knight an op'lcnt spouse, Whose wealth his bowels yearn to purehase, Merely for th' int'rest of the churches ? And when he has it in his claws, 403 Will not be hide-bound to the cause : Nor shalt thou find him a curmudgin,* If thou dispatch it without grudging : If not, resolve, before we go, That you and I must pull a crow. .ICO Ye'ad best, quoth Ralpho, as the ancients Say wisely, have a care o' th' main chance. And look before you, ere you leap ; For as you sow, y'are like to reap : And were y' as good as George-a-green,t jCj I should make bold to turn agen : Nor am I doubtful of the issue In a just quarrel, as mine is so. Is't fitting for a man of honour To whip the saints, like Bishop Bonner?} 510 A knight t' usurp the beadle's office, For which y' are like to raise brave trophies ? But I advise you, not for fear. But for your own sake, to forbear ; And for the churches,^ which may chance 515 From hence, to spring a variance, And raise among themselves new scruples, Whom common danger hardly couples, Remember how in arms and politics. We still have worsted all your holy tricks :|| 3J0 Trepann'd your party with intrigue. * Perhaps from the French coeur ni^chant. t A valiant hero, perhaps an outlaw, in the time of Richard the First, who conquered Roliin Hood and Little John. He is the same with the Finder of Wakefield. See Echard's Historv of England, vol. i. 2-26. The Old Ballads; Ben Jonson's play of the Sad Shepherd; and Sir John Suckling's Pccms. t Bishop of London in the reign of queen Mary: a man of profligate manners and of brutal character. He sometimes whipped the Protestants, who were in custody, with his own hands, till he was tired with the violence of the exercise. Hume's History of Mary, p. 378; Fox, Acts and Monuments ed. 157G, p. 1937. <5 It 'J/as very common for the sectaries of those days, however attentive they might be to their own interest, to p'retend that they had nothing in view but the welflire of the churches. ll'The Independents and Anabaptists got the army on theii \ide, and overpowered the Presbyterians. IBlES.. d B^MHISS., Canto ii.] HUDIBRAS. 337 And took your grandees down a peg' ; New-modell'd the army, and cashier'd All that to Legion Smec adher'd ; Made a mere utensil o' your church, 52i And after left it in the larch ; A scaffold to build up our own, And when v.-' had done with 't, puU'd it down ; O'er-reach'd your rabbins of the synod, And snapp'd their canons with a why-not :* 530 Grave synod-men, that where rever'd For solid face, and depth of beard, Tlieir classic model prov'd a maggot, Their direct'ry an Indian pagod ;t « And drown'd their discipline like a kitten, 535 On which they'd been so long a sitting ; Decry'd it as a holy cheat, Grown out of date, and obsolete. And all the saints of the first grass,t -lis casting foals of Balaam's ass. 5-iO At this the Knight grew high in chafe, § And staring furiously on Ralph, He trembl'd, and look'd pale with ire, Like ashes first, then red as fire. Have I, quoth he, been ta'en in fight, 545 And for so many moons lain by't, And when all other means did fail. Have been exchang'd for tubs of ale ?j| * Some editions read, " capbch'd your rabbins," that is, blind- folded; but this word does not agree so well with the squire's simplicity of expression. Why-not is a fanciful term used in Butler's Remains, vol. i. p. 178: it signifies the ol)liging a man to yield his assent; the driving him to a non plus, when he knows not what to answer. It may resemble quidni in Latin, a.nd Ti /Li^v in Greek. t The directory was a book drawn up by the assembly of di- vines, and published by authority of parliament, containing instructions to their ministers for the regulation of public wor- ship. One of the scribes to the asseu biy, who executed a great yart of the work, was Adoniram Bytield, said to have been a broken apothecary. He was the father of Byfield, the salvola- liie doctor. X The Presbyterians, the first sectaries that sprang up and op- posed the established church. $ Talibus exarsit dictis violentia Turni. JEneid. xi. 37G. II Mr. Butler, in his own note on these lines, says, " The kni?ht •"' was kept prisoner in Exeter, and after several changes pro- " posed, but none accepted of, was at last released for a barrel "of ale, as he used upon all occasions to declare," It is proba- 238 HUDIBRAS. [1'art d Not but they thought me worth a ransom, JVIuch more consid'rable and handsome ; 550 But for their own sakes, and for fear They were not safe, when I was there ; Now to be baffled by a scoundrel, An upstart sect'ry, and a mungrel,* Such as breed out of peccant humours 553 Of our own church, hke wens or tumours, And like a maggot in a sore, Woud that which g;ive it hfe devour ; It never shall be done or said : With that he seized upon his blade ; 5G0 And Ralpho too, as quick and bold, Upon his basket-hilt laid hold. With equal readiness prepar'd, To draw and stand upon his guard ; When both were parted on the sudden, 565 With hideous clamour, and a loud one. As if all sorts of noise had been Contracted into one loud dia ; Or that some member to be chosen, Had got the odds above a thousand ; 3741 And, by the greatness of his noise, Prov'd fittest for his country's choice. This strange surprisal put the Knight And wrathful Squire, into a fright ; And tho' they stood prepar'd, with fatal 575 Impetuous rancour to join battle, Both thought it was the wisest course To wave the fight, and mount to horse ; And to secure, by swift retreating, Themselves from danger of worse beating ; 58S Yet neither of them Vv'ould disparage, By utt'ring of his mind, his courage. Which made them stoutly keep their ground, With horror and disdain wind-bound. And now the cause of all their feart 685 ble from hence that the chaiacter of Hudibras was in some of its features drawn from Sir Samnel Luke. * Knights errant sometimes condescended to address their squires in this polite language. Thus Don Quixote to Sancho: " How now, opprobrious rascal ! stinking garlic-eater ! sirrah, I " will take you and tic your dogship to a tree, as naked as your "mother bore you." t The poet does not suflTer his heroes to proceed to open vio- lence : but ingeniously puts an end to the dispute, by introducing thsm to a new adventure. The drollery of the following si-eua ts inimitable. Canto n.] IIUD1BRA8. 239 By slow degrees approacli'd so near. They might distinguish different noise Of horns, and pans, and dogs, and boys, And kettle-drums, whose sullen dub Sounds like the hooping of a tub : 580 But when the sight appear'd in view, They found it was an antique shew ; A triumph, that for pomp and state, Did proudest Romans emulate :* For as the aldermen of Rome 595 Their foes at training overcome, And not enlarging territory, As some, mistaken, write in story ,+ Being mounted in their best array, Upon a car, and who but they ? 600 And foUow'd with a world of tall lads. That merry ditties troll'd, and ballads,t Did ride with many a good-morrow, Crying, hey for our town, tiiro' the borough ; So when this triumph drew so nigh, C05 They might particulars descry, They never saw two things so pat, In all respects, as this and that. First he that led the cavalcate. Wore a sow-gelder's flagellet, G19 On which he blew as strong a lcvet,§ * The skimmington, or procession, to exhibit a woman who had beaten her husband, is humorously compared to a Roman triumph; the learned reader will be pleased by comparing lliis description with the pompous account of ^milius's triumph, a^5 described by Plutarch, and the satirical one, as given by Juvenal in his tenth satire. t The buildings at Rome were sometimes extended without the ceremony of describing a pomcerium, which Tacitus and Gellius declare no person to have had a right of extending, but such a one as had taken away some part of the enemy's coun- try in war; perhaps line 598 may allude to the London trained bands. Our poet's learning and ideas here crowd upon him S5 fiist, that he seems to confound together the ceremonies of en larging the pomoerium, of a triumph at Rome, and other cere- monies, with a lord mayor's show, exercising the train bands, and perhaps a borough election. + The vulgar, and the soldiers themselves, had at triumphal processions the liberty of abusing their general. Their invec- tives were conmionly conveyed in metre. Ecce Caesar nunc triun)phat, qui subegit Gallias. Nicomedes non triumphat, qui subegit Ciesarem. Suetonius in .lulio, 4D. ^ Levet is a lesson on the trumpet, scnnded morning and evening, Mr. Bacon says, on shipboard. It is derived from the 240 IIUDIBRAS. [PMir v. As well-feed lawyer on his brev'ate, When over one another's heads They charge, three ranks at once, like Sweads :* Next pans and kettles of all keys, cia From trebles down to double base ; And after them upon a nag, That might pass for a fore -hand stag, A cornet rode, and on his staff, A smock display'd did proudly wave, 620 Then bagpipes of the loudest drones, With snuffling broken-winded tones ; Whose blasts of air in pockets shut, Sound filthier than from the gut. And make a viler noise than swine 63B In windy weather, when they whine. Next one upon a pair of panniers. Full fraught with that which, for good manners, Shall here be nameless, mix'd with grains, Which he dispens'd among the swains, C30 And busily upon the crowd At random round about bestow'd. Then mounted on a horned horse, One bore a gauntlet and gilt spurs, Ty'd to the pommel of a long sword 635 He held revers'd the point turn'd downward. Next after, on a raw-bon'd steed. The conqueror's standard-bearer rid, And bore aloft before the champion A petticoat display'd, and rampant ;t 64C Near whom the Amazon triumphant, Bestrid her beast, and on the rump on't Set face to tail, and bum to bum. The warrior whilom overcome ; Arm'd with a spindle and a distaff, 645 Which, as he rode, she made him twist off; French reveiller, a term used for the morning trumpet among the fh-agoons. * This and the proceeding lines were added by the author in 1671. He has departed from the common method of spelling the word Swedes for the sake of rhyme: in the edition of 1689, af- ter his death, it was printed Sweeds. The Swedes appear to have been the first that practised firing by two or three ranks at a time : see Sir Robert Monro's Memoirs, and Banff's Young Artillery-man. Mr. Cleveland, speaking of the authors of the Diurnal, says, "They write in the posture that the Swedes give "tire in, over one another's heads." t AUud'mg to the tern)s in which heralds blazon coats of uins. Canto II. J HUDIBRAS. 211 And when he loiter'd, o'er her shoulder Chastised the reformado soldier. Before the dame, and round about, March'd whifflers, and staffiers on foot.* <;50 With lackies, grooms, valets, and pages. In fit and proper equipages ; Of whom some torches bore, some links. Before the proud virago-minx. That was both madam and a don,t CfM Like Nero's Sporus,t or pope Joan ; And at fit periods the whole rout Set up their throats with cjam'rous shout. The knight transported and the squire, Put up their weapons and their ire ; 0(30 And Hudibras, who us'd to ponder. On such sights with judicious wonder. Could hold no longer, to impart His animadversions, for his heart. * " A mighty whifler.'' See Shakspeare's Henry V. Act v and Hanmer's note. Vifleur, in Lord Herbert's Henry VHI Staffier, from estafette, a courier or e.xpress. [Mr. Douce in his Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 506, says: " Some errors " have crept into the remarks on this word which require correc- " tion. It is by no means, as Ilannier had conceived, a corrup- " tion from the French huissier. He was apparently misled by *' the resemblance which the office of a whiffler bore in modern " times to that of an usher. The term is undoubtedly borrowed " from whiffle, another name for a fife or small flute ; for whifflers " were originally those who preceded armies or processions as " fifers or pipers. Representations of them occur among the " prints of the magnificent triumph of Maximilian I. In a note " on Othello, Act iii. so. iii., Mr. Warton had supposed that " whiffler came from what he calls ' the old French viffleur ;'' but " it is presumed that that language does not supply any such " word, and that the use of it in \\\e quotation from Rymer's "■ fmdcra is nothing more than a vitiated orthography. In jiro- " ce5S o/<«7ne the term w/i/^ec, which had ahcays been used in " the sense of a fifer, came to signify any person who went be- " fore in a procession. Jlinsheu, in his Dictionary, 1617, defines " him to be a club or statf-bearer." Mr. Douce has not afforded us an instance of whiffler used as ^ fifer. Warton carries up the use of the word as an huissier to 1554, and certainly Shakspeare could have had no idea of its fipivg meaning when he wrote : "Behold, the English beach " Pales in the flood with men, with wives, and boys, "Whose shouts and claps out-voice the deep-mouth' d sea, " Which, like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king, " Seems to prepare his way : " The whifflers who now attend the London companies in proces- sions are freemen carrying staves.] t A mistress and a master. i See Suetonius, in the life of Nero. 24g HUDIBRAS. iPari n Quotli he, in all my life till now, 665 I ne'er saw so profane a show ; It is a paganisli invention, Which lieatheu writers often mention: And he, who made it, had read Goodwin, I warrant him, and understood him : 670 With all the Grecian Speeds and Stows,* That best describe those ancient shows ; And has observ'd all fit decornms We find describ'd by old historians :t For, as the Roman conqueror, 675 That put an end to foreign war, Ent'ring the town in triumph for it, Bore a slave with him in his chariot ;i So this insulting female brave Carries behind her here a slave : 6S0 And as the ancients long ago, When they in field defy'd the foe, Hung out their mantles della guerre, § So her proud standard-bearer here. Waves on his spear, in dreadful manner, 685 A Tyrian petticoat for banner. Next links and torches, heretofore Still borne before the emperor : * Speed and Stowe wrote chronicles or annals of England, and are well known English antiquaries. By Grecian Speeds and Stows, he means, any ancient authors who have explained the antiquities and customs of Greece: the titles of such books were often, Tu izuTpia, of such a district or city. Thus Diccearchus wrote a book entitled, Trsoi rod rJjs 'KWddo? (3iov, wherein he gave the description of Greece, and of the laws and cus- toms of the Grecians : our poet likewise might allude to Pau- sanias. t The reader will, perhaps, think this an awkward rh^'me ; but the very ingenious and accurate critic, Dr. Loveday, to whom, as veil as to his learned father, I cannot too often repeat my ac- knowledgments, observes in a letter with which he honored me, that in English, to a vulgar ear, unacquainted w'ith critical dis- quisitions on sounds, m and n sound alike. So the old sayings, among the common people taken for rhyme : A stich in time Saves nine. Tread on a worm, And it will turn. Frequent instances of the propriety of this remark occur in H'l dibras ; for example : men and them, exempt and innocent. i curru servus portatur eodem. Juv. Sat. x. 42 $ Tunica coccinea solebat pridie quam dimicandum esset su pm prffitoriuin poni, quasi admonitio et indicium futura) pugn» Llptius iu Tacit. Canto ii.] IIUDIBRAS. 213 And, as in antique triumphs, eggs Were borne for mystical intrigues ;* GOO There's one, with truncheon, hke a ladle, That carries eggs too, fresh or adie : And still at random, as he goes, Among the rabble-rout bestows. Quoth Ralpho, You mistake the raattei ; C93 For all th' antiquity yon smatter Is but a riding us'd of course, When tlie grey mare's the better horse ; Wlien o'er the breeches greedy women Fight, to extend their vast dominion, / 700 And in the cause impatient Grizel Has drubb'd her husband with ball's pizzle. •<.->. wCTV And brought him under covert-baron, To turn her vassal with a murrain ; When wives their sexes shift, hke hares,t rOo And ride their husbands like night-mares ; And they, in mortal battle vanquish'd, Are of their charter disenfranchis'd, And by the right of war, like gills,| Conderan'd to distaff, horns, and v/heels : ' 10 For. when men by their wives are cow'd, Their horns of course are understood. Quoth Hudibras, Thou still giv'st sentence Impertinently, and against sense : * In the orgies of Bacchus, and the games of Ceres, eggs were carried and had a mystical import. See Banier, vol. i. b. ii. c. 5, and Rosinus, lib. v. c.'14. I'ompa producebatur cum deoruni signis et ovo. In some editions it is printed anfeci, and means mimic. t Many have been the vulgar errors concerning the sexes and copulation of hares: but they being of a very timid and modest nature, seldom couple but in the night. It is said that the doe hares have tumors in the groin, like the castor, and that the buck hares have cavities like the hyena. Besides, they are said to be retromingentjWhich occasioned the vulgar to make a confusion in the sexes. When huntsmen are better anatomists and philo- sophers, we shall know more of this matter. See Brown's Vul- gar Errors, b. iii. c. 27. But our poet here chiefly means to ridi- cule Dr. Bulwer's Artificial Changeling, p. 407, who mentions the female patriarch of Greece, and pope Joan of Rome, and likewise the boy Sporus, who was married to the en)peror Nero: upon which it was justly said by some, that it had been happy for the empire, if Domilius, his father, had had none other but such a wife. See what Herodotus says concerning the men of Scythia, in his Thalia. t Cill, scortillun), a common woman: in the Scots and Irish dialect a girl ; there never was a Jack but there was a Gill. See Kelly's Scotch Proverbs, page 310. Sec also Chaucer's Miller's Tale, and Gower, C(mfoss. Amant. and G. Douglas's Prologue, page 4."-. 21 244 HUDIBRAS;. [Pakt il 'Tis not the least disparagement 715 To be defeated by th' event, Nor to be beaten by main force ; That does not make a man the worse, Altho' his siioiilders, willi battoon, Be claw'd, and cudgell'd to some tune ; 720 A tailors prentice lias no hard Measure, that's bang'd with a true yard ; But to turn tail, or run away, And without blows give up the day ; Or to surrender ere the assault, T-j That's no man's fortune, but his fault ; And renders men of lionour less Than all th' adversity of success ; And only unto such this shew Of horns and petticoats is due. 730 There is a lesser profanation, Like that the Romans call'd ovation :* For as ovation was allow'd For conquest purchas'd Vv'ithout blood ; So men decree those lesser shows 735 For vict'ry gotten without blows, By dint of sharp hard words, which some Give battle with, and overcome ; These mounted in a chair-curule, Which moderns call a cucking stool,t 740 March proudly to the river side, And o'er the waves in triumph ride ; Like dukes of Venice, who are said The Adriatic sea to wed ;t And have a gentler wife than those 745 For whom the state decrees those sliows.§ * At the greater triumph the Romans sacrificed an ox ; at the lesser a sheep. Her.-ce the name ovation. Plutarch, in the life of Marcellns, " Ovandi, ac non triumphandi causa est, quum aut "bella non rite indicta neque cum justo hostc gcsta sunt; aut " hostinin nomen huniile et non idoneum est, ut servorum, pirata- " rumque ; aut dcditipne repente facta, impulverea, ut dici solet, " incruentaque victoria obvenit." Aulus Gellius, v. 6. t The custom of ducking a scolding woman in the water, was common in many places. I remember to have seen a stool of this kind near the bridge at Evesham in Worcestershire, not above eight miles from Strensham, the place of our poet's birth. The etymology of the term I know not: some suppose it should be written chnking-stool, others ducking-stool, and others derive it from the French, coquine. I This ceremony is performed on Ascension-day. The doge throws a ring into the sea, and repeats the words, " Despousa- '•' nius te. mare, in signum veri et perpetui dominii." <; Than the Roman worthie.-, who were honored with ova Canto ii.] IIUDIBRAS. 045 But both are heathenish, and come From til' whores of Babylon and Rome, And by the saints should be withstood As antichristian and lewd ; T.JO And we, as such should now contribute Our utmost strugglings to prohibit. This said, they both advanc'd, and rode A dog-trot through the bawling crowd T' attack the leader, and still prest T.j.'i 'Till they approach'd him breast to breast, : Tiien Hudibras, with face and hand, Made signs for silence ;* wiiich obtained, What means, quoth he, this devil's procession With men of orthodox profession ? 7:i0 'Tis ethnique and idolatrous, From heathenism deriv'd to us. Does not the whore of Bab'lon ride Upon her horned beast astride,t Like this proud dame, who either is 7G5 A type of her, or she of this ? Are thiugs of superstitious function. Fit to be us'd in gospel sun-shine ? It is an antichristian opera Much us'd in midnight times of popery ; 770 A running after self-inventions Of wicked and profane intentions ; To scandalize that sex for scolding, To whom the saints are so beholden. Women, who were our first apostlesjt 77;» lions. Mr. Butler intimates that the sea is less terrible than a scolding wife. * Erffo ubi commota fervet plebecnia bile, Fert animus calidaj fecisse silentia turbce Majestate manus. Tersius, Sat. iv. G. t See Revelation, xvii. 3. + The autlior of the Ladies' Callinjr observes, in his prefoce, ' It is a memorable attestation Christ gives to the piety of women, by making them the first witnesses of his resurrection, the " prime evangelists to proclaim these glad tidings ; and, as a " learned man speaks, apostles to the apostles." Some of the Scotch historians maintain, that Ireland received Christianity from a Scotch woman, who first instructed a queen there. But our poet, I suppose, alludes to the zeal which the ladies showed for the ^ood cause. The case of Lady Monson was mentioned above. The women and children worked with their own hands, in fortifying the city of London, and other towns. The women of the city went by comimnies to fill up the quarries in the great nark, that they might not harbor an enemy ; and being called to- gether with a druin, marched into the park with mattocks and spades. Annals of Coventrj-, MS. 1G43. 24G IIUDIBRAS. [Part ii Wilhout whose aid w' had all been lost else ; Women., that left no stone untum'd In which the cause might be concern'd ; Broue snout's from promontory tail. He made a planetary gin, Which rats would run their own heads in, And come on purpose to be taken Without th' expence of cheese or bacon : 2m With lute-strings he would counterfeit Maggots, thc.t crawl on dish of meat :* Quote moles and spots on any place O' th' body, by the index face ;t Detect lost maidenheads by sneezing,! 283 Or breaking wind of dames, or pissing ; Cure warts and corns, with application Of med'cines to th' imagination ; Fright agues into dogs, and scare, With rhymes, the tooth-ach and catarrh ;§ 290 Chase evil spirits away by dint * The small strings of a fiddle or lute, cut into short- pieces, and strewed upon warm nicat, will contract, and appear like live maggots. t " Some physiognomers have conceited the head of man to "be the moderof the whole body ; so that any mark there will " have a corresponding one on some part of the body." See Lilly's life. t Dcmocritus is said to have pronounced more nicely on the maid servant of Hippocrates. " Puella^que vitium snlo aspectu " deprehendit.'" Yet the eyes of Democritus v.ere scarcely jnore acuic and subtle than the ears of Albertus Magnus : " nee minus " vocis mutationem ob eandem fere causam : quo tantum signo "ferunt Aibertum Magnum, ex museo sun, puellam, ex vinopoiio " vinum pro hero deportantem, in itinete vitiatam fuisse depre- '' hendisse ; qubd, in reditu subinde, cautantis ex acuta ir gravi- " orem mutatam vocem agnovisset." Gasper a Reics, in elysio jucund. question, campo. Lilly professed this art, and said no woman, that he famd a maid, ever twitted him with his being mistaken. $ Butler seems to have raked together many of the baits for human credulity which his reading could furnish, or lie had ever heard mentioned. These charms for looth-ache and couchs were well known to the common peojile a few years since. The word abracadabra, for fevers, is as old as Sammouicus. Haui liaut hista pista vista, were recommended for a sprain by Cato. [Cato prodidit luxatis membris carmen auxiliare. Plin. Hist. Nat xxviii.] Homer relates, that the sons of Autolycus sto{)ped the bleeding of Ulysses's wou.id by a charm. Sec Odyss xix. 457, and Ba?aes' Kotes and Scholia : in-dotO.7 V ii>i.ia KiAaivov 254 HUDIBRAS. TPart q Of sickle, horseshoe, hollow flint ;* Spit fire out of a walnut-shell, Which made the Roman slaves rebel ;"f And fire a mine in China here, 253 With sympathetic gunpowder. He knew whats'evers to be known, But much more than he knew would own. What med'cine 'twas that Paracelsus Could make a man with, as he tells us ;| 300 What figur'd slates are best to make. On wat'ry surface duck or drake :§ What bowling-stones, in running race Upon a board, have swiftest pace ; Whether a pulse beat in the black 305 List of a dappled louse's back :i] * These concave implements, particularly the horse-shoe, we have often seen nailed to the threshold of doors in the country, in order to chase away evil spirits. t Lucius Florus, Livy, and other historians, give the following account of the origin of the servile war. There was a great number of slaves in Sicily, and one of them, a Syrian, called Eunus, encouraged his companions, at the order of the gods, as he said, to free themselves by arms. lie filled a nutshell with fire and sulphur, and holding it in his mouth, breathed out liames, when he spoke to them, in proof of his divine commission. By this deception he mustered more than 40,0f!0 persons. t That philosopher, and others, thought that man might be generated without connection of the sexes. See this idea ridi- culed by Rabelais, lib. ii. ch. 27. " Et celeberrimus Athanasius " Kircherus, libro secundo munui subterranei prajclare et solidis " rationibus, refutavit stultitiam nugatoris Paracelsi, qui (de gen- "erat. rerum naturalium, lib. i.) copiose admodiun docere voluit "ridiculam mcthodum generandi homunciones in vasis chemi- '• corum." P. 38, Franc. Redi de general, insectorum. The poet probably had in view Buhver's Artificial Changeling, who at page 490, gives a full accpunt of this matter, both from Paracel- sus and others. ^ The poet, by mentioning this play of children, means to in- tin'iate that Sidrophel was a smatterer in natural philosophy, knew something of the laws of motion and gravity, though all he arrived at v.'as but childish play, no better than making ducks and drakes. il See Sparrmann's "Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, vol. ii. p. 231. It was the fashion with the wits of our author's time to ridicule the transactions of the Royal Society. Mr. Butler here indulges his vein by banterin.g their microscopic discoveries. At present every one must be inclined to adopt the rentimcnt ol Co jvley : IMischief and true dishonor fall on those Who would to laughter or to scorn e.\pose So virtuous and so noble a design. So hurnr-.n for its i-.se, for knowledge so divine. The thingb v/liich these proud men despise, and call Impertinent, and vain, and small, Canto iii.J HUDIBRAS. 265 If systole or diastole move Quickest when he's in wrath, or love ;* When two of them do run a race, Whether they gallop, trot, or pace ; il Q How many scores a flee will jump, Of his own length, from head to rump,+ Which Socrates and Chterephon In vain assay'd so long agone ; Whether his snout a perfect nose is, 315 And not an elephant's proboscis :t How many difF'rent specieges Of maggots breed in rotten cheeses ; And which are next of kin to those Engendered in a chandler's nose ; 3£0 Or those not seen, but understood, That live in vinegar and wood.§ A paltry wretch he had, half staiVd, Those smallest things of nature let me know, Rather than all their greatest actions do ! The learned and ingenious Bishop Hurd delivers his opinion «. this passage in two lines from Pope : But sense survived when merry jests were past, For rising merit will buoy up at last. * Systole the contraction, and diastole the dilatation, of the ictiit, are motions of that organ by means of which the circula- tio-.i of the blood is effected. The passions of the mind have a sensible influence on the animal economy. Some of them, fear and sorrow, chill the blood and retard its progress. Other pas- sions, and especially anger and love, accelerate its motion, and cause the puise to beat with additional strength and quickness. t Arjitophanes, in his comedy of the Clouds, Act i. sc. 2, in troduces a scholar of Socrates describing the method in which Socrates, and his friend Chaerephon, endeavored to ascertain how many Jengths of his own feet a flea will jump.— t/'i'AXa*' ordffof f fiWoiTO Toiig avTrig rdoag, quot pedes suos pulex salta- ret. They did not measure, as our author says, by the length of the body ; they dipped the feet of the flea in melted wax, which presently hardened into shoes ; these they took off, and meas- ured the leap of the flea with them. It is probable that this representation had been received with pleasure by the enemies of Socrates. In the banquet of Xenophon the subject is taken up by one of the company : aAX' eI~£ hoi, Trduovs \pvWa -rrddai ijjov dnix^t. Tavra yap ce (pad ytwyLtT^tiv — and is dismissed by Socrates with a kind of cool contempt. Plato somewhere alludes to the same jest. A flea had jumped from the forehead of Chaj- rephon to the head of Socrates, which introduced the inquiry. X Microscopic inquirers tell us that a flea has a proboscis, somewhat like that of an elephant, but not quite so largo. § The pungency of vinegar is said, by some, to arise from tha bites of animalcules which are contained in it. For these dis- coveries see Hook's micographical observations. 26 o IIUDIBRAS. [rART i. That him in place of Zany serv'd,* Hight Whachum, bred to dash and cxaw, 3-22 Not wine, but more unwholesome law ; To make 'twixt words and lines huge gaps,t Wide as meridians in maps ; To squander paper, and spare ink, Or cheat men of their words, some think 33'» From this by merited degrees He'd to more high advancement rise; To be an under-conjurer. Or journeyman astrologer : His bus'ness was to pump and wheedle, 3,35 And men with their own keys unriddle ;t To make them to themselves give answers. For which they pay the necromancers ; To fetch and carry intelligence Of v/hom, and what, and where, and whence, 340 And all discoveries disperse Among th' whole pack of conjurers ; What cut-purses have left with them, For the right owners to redeem, And what they dare not vent, find out, 34d To gain themselves and th' art repute ; Draw figures, schemes, and horoscopes. * A Zp.ny is a buffoon, or Merry Andrew, designed to assist the quack, as the ballad-singer does the cut-purse or piclvpocket. Some ha\'e supposed this character of Wliachuni to liave been intended for one Tom Jones, a foolisli Welshman. Others think it was meant for Richard Green, wlio published a pamphlet en- titled " Hudibras in a snare." The word zany is derived by some from the Greek aavvag, a fool, r^avvos ; (see Eustaih. ad, Odyss. xxii. and Meursii Glossar. Gra!co-barb.,) by others from the Venetian Zani, abbreviated from giovanni. t As tlie way of lawyers is in their l)ills and answers in chan eery, where they are paid so much a sheet. I JMenci^enius, in his book de Charlataneria Eruditorum, ed Amst. 1747, p. 192, tells this story: Jactabat empiricus quidani; se ex solo urincc aspectu non solum de morbis omnibus, sed etde illorum causis, qua,>cunque demum ills fuerint. sive natura, siva sors tulisset, certissime cognoscere ; interim iile ita instruxerat servulos suos, tit callide homines ad se accedentes explorarent, et de his, quce comperta haberent, clam ad se referrerit. — Acce dit mulier paupercula cum lotio niariti, quo vix viso, maritus tuus, inquit, per scalas domus infausto casu decidit. Tuni ilia admiral)unda, istudne, ait, ex urina intelligis 1 Imo vero, inquit empiricus, et nisi me omnia fallunt, per quindecim scalte gradus delapsus est. At cum ilia, utique viginti se numerasse referret, hie velut indignatus qua^rit: num oninem secum urinam attulis- set : alque, ilia negante, quod vasculum materiam omnem non caperet: itnque, ait, etfadisti cum urina quinque gradus illos, qui niihi ad numerum deerant.— I wonder this story escaped Dr, Grey. Ci-\.To in.] liUDIBRAS. 267 Of Newgate, Bridewell, brokers' shops, Of thieves ascendant in the cart,* And find out all by rules of art : SJR Which w^ay a serving-man, that's run Vy ith clothes or money away, is gone ; Who pick'd a fob at holding-forth, And where a watch, for half t!ie worth, jMay be redeem'd ; or stolen plate 355 Restor'd at conscionable rate. Beside all this, he serv'd his master In quality of poetaster, And rhymes appropriate could make To ev'ry month i' th' almanack ; 3&(; When terms begin, and end, could tell, With their returns, in doggerel ; When the exchequer opes and shuts, And sowgelder with safety cuts ; When men may eat and drink their fill, 3.35 x\nd when be temp'rate, if they will ; When use, and when abstain from vice. Figs, grapes, phlebotomy, and spice. And as in prisons mean rogues beat Hemp for the service of the great,! 370 So Whachum beat his dirty brains T' advance his master's fame and gains, And like the devil's oracles, Put into dogg'rel rhymes his spells,! Vv'hich, over ev'ry month's blank page ST.'i I' th' almanack, strange bilks presage.§ He Avould an elegy compose On maggots squeez'd out of his nose ; In lyric numbers wa-ite an ode on His mistress, eatuig a black-pudding ; 330 And, when imprison'd air escaped her, It puft him with poetic rapture : His sonnets charm'd th' attentive crowd, By wide-mouth'd mortal troll'd aloud. That, circled with his long-ear'd guests, 385 * Ascendant, a term in astrology, is here equivocal. t Petty rogues in Briiiewell pound hemp ; and it may happen ^.lat the produce of their labor is employed in halters, in which greater criminals are'hanged. + Plutarch has a whole treatise to discuss the question, why Apollo had ceased to deliver his oracles in verse : which brings on an incidental inquiry why his language was often bad, and his verses defective. ., 'Ci I Vijk is a Gothic word, signifying a cheat or fraud: it sigiu fiesTTkewise to baulk or disapjioint 23 ofiS IIUDIBRAS. [Part n Like Or])lieas, lock'd among the beasts : A carman's horse could not pass by. But stood ty'd up to poetry : No porter's burden pass'd along, But serv'd for burden to his song 394 Each window like a pill'ry appears, With heads thrust tin-o' nail'd by the ears ; All trades run in as to the siglit Of monsters, or their dear delight, The gallow-tree,* when cutting purse 335 Breeds bus'ness for heroic verse, Which none does hear, but would have hung T' have been the theme of such a song.t Those two together long had liv'd. In mansion, prudently contriv'd, 400 Where neither tree nor house could bar The free detection of a star ; And nigh an ancient obelisk Was rais'd by him, found out by Fisk, On which was written not in words, 403 But hieroglyphic mute of birds,t Many rare pithy saws, concerning^ The worth of astroloaric learninfi : * Thus Cleveland, in his poem entitled the Rebel Scot : A Scot when from the gallow-tree got loose, Drops into Styx, and turns a Soland goose, t The author perhaps recollected some lines in Sir John Den ham's poem on the trial and death of the earl of Stratford : Such was his force of eloquence, to make The hearers more concern'd than he that spake ; Each seem'd to act that part he came to see, And none was more a looker on than he ; So did he move our passions, some were known To wish, for the defence, the crime their own. When Mars and Venus were surprised in Vulcan's net, and the deities were assembled to see them, Ovid says : aliquis de dis non tristibus optet Sic fieri turpis Metamorph. lib. iv. 187. J Fisk was a quack physician and astrologer of that time, and an acquaintance of William Lilly, the almanac maker and prog nosticator. " In the year 16G3,'' says Ijilly in his own life, " I " became acquainted with Nicholas Fisk, licentiate in physic, " born in Sutiblk, fit for, but not sent to, the universitj*. Stiidy- "ing at home astrology and physic, which he afterwards prac- '•' tised at Colchester :" He had a pension from the parliament; And during the civil war, and the whole of the usurpation, prog nosticated on that side. [Mute. The dung of birds. Todd in his edition of Johnson, with this passage quoted.] C Pithy, that is, nervous, witty, full of sense and meaning, like a proverb. Saw that is, say, or saying, from A. S. Douglas Canto hi.] HUDIBRAS. 269 From top of tliis there hung a rope, To which he fasten'd telescope ;* 41 d Tlie spectacles with which the stars He reads in smallest characters. It happened as a boy, one night. Did fly his tarsel of a kite.t The strangest long-wing'd hawk that flies 413 That, like a bird of Paradise, Or herald's martlet, has no legs.J Xor hatches young ones, nor lays eggs ; His train was six yards long, milk white. At th' end of Vv'hich there hung a light, 420 Enclos'd in lanthorn made of paper. applies it to any saying, (p. 143, v. 52,) and once in a bad sense to indecent language : Nu rist with sleath, and many unseemly saw Q,uhare schame is loist. P. 90, v. 15. * Refracting telescopes were formerly so constructed as to re- quire such an awkward apparatus. Hugenius invented a teles- cope without a tube. The object glass was fixed to a long pole, and its axis directed towards any object by a string, which pass- ed down from the glass above to the eye-glass below. He pre- sented to the Royal Society an object glass of one hundred and twenty-three feet focal distance, with an apparatus belonging to it, which he had made himself. It is described in his Astroco- pia conipendiaria tubi optici moliniine liberata, Hague, 1C84. t Tiersel, or tiercelet. as the French call the male hawk, which is less in the body by a third part than the female, from whence it hath the name. Lord Bacon says it is stronger and more courageous than the female. t The bird of Paradise, or the Pica Paradissa of Linnaeus. The manucodiata of Edwards and Ray. The Portuguese first saw them in Gilolo, Papua, and New Guinea : many idle fables have been propagated concerning these birds, among which are to be reckoned, that they have no feet, pass their lives in the air and feed on that element: but it is found that the feet are cutoff, that the birds may dry the better, and the scapular feath- ers prevent their sitting on trees in windy weather. Natural- ists describe many species, but the Paradisa>a apodo^or greater bird of Paradise is generally al)out two feet in length. See La- tham, Syn.ii. 47, Index, i. 104, and Essay on India, by John Keinholii Forster, p. 17. Martlets are painted by the heralds without legs, or with very short ones, scarcely visible. In Le Blanc's Travels, p. 11.5, we are told of the birds of Paradise, that they are kept in a cage in the Sultan's garden, and are thought by Europeans to have no legs. Lord Bacon has the following passage in his Works, fid. vol. iv. p. 325 : '• The second reason " that made me silent was, because this suspicion and rumour "of undertaking settles upon no person certa'n: it is like the " birds of paradise, that they have in the Indies, that have no " feet, and therefore never light upon any place, liut the wind " carries them away. .And such a thing I take this rumour to " be." Pliny, in his Natura History, has a chapter de Apodibus;, lib. X. ch. Sd: 2T0 IIUDIBRAS. [Part li Tiiat fai ofT like a star did appear : Tills Sidrophel-by chance cspy'd, And with amazement staring wide : Bless us, quoth he, what dreadful wonder 425 Is that appears in heaven yonder ? A comet, and without a beard I Or star, that ne'er before appear'd ! I'm certain 'tis not in the scrowl Of all those beasts, and fish, and fowl,* 430 With which, like Indian plantations, The learned stock the constellations ;t Nor those that, drawn for signs, have been To th' houses where the planets inn.t It must be supernatural, 435 Unless it be that cannon-ball That, shot i' the air, point-blank upright. Was borne to that prodigious height, That, learn'd philosophers maintain. It ne'er came backwards down again, § 440 But in the airy regions yet Hangs, like the body o' Mahomet :1| * Astronomers, for the help of their memory, and to avciJ civing names to every star in particular, have divided them into constellations oi companies, which they have distinguished by the names of several beasts, birds, fishes, &c., as they fall with- in the compass which the forms of these creatures reach to. Rutler, in his Genuine Remains, vol. i. page 9, says : Since from the greatest to the least, All other stars and constellations Have cattle of all sorts of nations. This distribution of the stars is very ancient. Tully mention? it from Aratus, in nearly the same terms which are used in our astronomical tables. The divisions are called houses by the as- trologers. t Cosmographers, in their descriptions of the world, when they found many vast places, whereof they knew nothing, are used to fill the same with an account of Indian plantations, strange birds, beasts, &:c. So historians and poets, says Plutarch, eml>roider and intermix the tales of ancient times with fictions and fabulous discoveries. t Signs, a pun between signs for public houses, and signs or constellations in the heavens. Aratus and Eratosthenes. — The Ca*.asterismoi of the latter, printed at the end of Fell's Aratus, are nearly as old as Aratus himself. See also Hall's Virgidemi- arum, book ii. Sat. vii. v. 29. § Some foreign philosophers directed a cannon against the lenith; and, having fired it, could not find where the ball fell from whence it was conjectured to have stuck in the moon ites O-irtes imagined that the ball remained in the air. II The improbable story of Mahomet's body being suspenderf in ail iron chest, between two great loadstones, is refuted by Mr Sandys and Dr. Prideaux. Canto m,] HUDIBRAS. 271 For if it be above the shade, That by the earth's round bulk is made, 'Tis probable it may from far, 445 Appear no bullet, but a star. This said, he to his engine flow, Plac'd near at hand, in open view. And rais'd it, till it leveli'd right Against the glow-worm tail of kite. ;* 458 Then peeping thro', Bless us ! quoth he, It is a planet now I see ; And, if I err not, by his proper Figure, that's like tobacco-stopper,t It should be Saturn : yes, 'tis clear 4oC 'Tis Saturn ; but what makes him thers ? He's got between the Dragon's tail, And farther leg behind o' th' Whale ;t Pray heav'n divert the fatal omen, For 'tis a prodigy not common, 4G0 And can no less than the world's end, Or nature's funeral, portend. With that, he fell again to pry Thro' perspective more wistfully. When, by mischance, the fatal string, 4G5 That kept the tov%''ring fowl on wing, Breaking, down fell the star. Well shot. Quoth Whachum, who right wisely thought He' ad leveli'd at a star, and hit it ; But Sidrophe!, more subtle-witted, 470 Cry'd out. What horrible and fearful Portent is tliis, to see a star fall ! It threatens nature, and the doom Will not be long before ih come ! * The luminous part of the glow-worm is the tail. t This alludes to the symbol which astronomers use to Jenote the planet Saturn ( ^ ), and astrologers use a sign not much un- like it. It is no wonder Sidrophel should be puzzled to know for certain whether it was Saturn or not, as the phases of Saturn are very various and extraordinary, and long perplexed the as- tronomers, wha could not divine the meaning of such irregular- ity: thus Ilevelius observes, that he appears sometimes vwna- gphcrical, sometimes trispherical, sphcrico-ansated, dliptico-an- »afe(Z, and sphcrico-cuspidated ; but Huygenr. reduced all these phases to three principal ones, round, hrachiatcd, and ansatrd. See Chambers's Dictionary, art. Saturn. t Sidropliel, the star-enzer, names any two constellations he can think of : or rather the poet dcsigns'to make him blunder, by fixing on those which are far distant from each other, on different sides of the equator; and also by lalkins of the whale's hinder leg. On some old globes the whale is described with legs. 07-2 HUDIBRAS. [Part n When stars do fall, 'tis plain cnouo^h 4~3 The day of judgment's not far off; As lately 'twas reveal'd to Sedgwick,* And some of us find out by niagick : Tlien, since the time we have to live In this world's sljorten'd, let us strive 488 To make our best advantage of it, And pay our losses with our profit. This feat fell out not long before The Knight, upon the forenanrd score. In quest of Sidrophel advancing, 4.'^5 Was now in prospect of the mansion ; Whom he discov'ring, turn'd his glass, And fouiid far off 'twas Hudibras. Whachum, quoth he, Look yonder, some To try or use our art are come : 430 The one's the learned Knight ; seek out, And pump 'em what they come about. Whachum advanc'd, witli all submiss'ncss T' accost 'em, but mucli more their business : He held the stirrup, while the Knight 495 From leathern bare-bones did alight ; And, taking from his hand the bridle, Approaeh'd the dark Squire to m^riddle. He gave him first the time o' th' day,t And welcom'd him, as he might say: 500 He ask'd him whence they came, and whither Their business lay ? Quoth Ralpho, Hither. Did you not lose ?| — Quoth Ralpho, Nay. Quoth Whachum, Sir, I meant your way ? Your Knight — Quoth Ralpho, Is a lover, 505 And pains intol'rable doth suffer ; For lovers' hearts are not their own hearts, Nor lights, nor lungs, and so forth downwards. * Will. Sedgwick wa?! a whimsical fanatic preacher, settled by tho parliament in the city of Ely. He pretended much to reve- lations, and was called the ajjostie of the Isle of Ely. He gave out tliat the approach of theday of judgment had been disclosed to him in a vision : and going to the house of Sir Francis Russel, in Cambridgeshire, \\ here he found several gentlemen, he warned them all to pre];aro themseives, for the day of judgment would be some day in ihe next week. t He bade him good evening : see line 540. + He supposes they came to inquire after som.ething stolen or strayed ; the usual case with people when they apply to the cunning man. In these lines we must observe the artfulness oi Whachum, who pumps the squire concerning the knighfs busi- ness, and afterwards relates it to Sidrophel in the presence of |?cth of them. Canto hi.] HUDlBR^iS. 275 Vv^hat time? — Quoth Ralpho, Sir. too long, Three years it otF and on has Imng — 51ti Quoth he, I meant what time o' tli' day 'tis. Quoth Ralpho, between seven anti eight 'tis, Why then, quoth Whachum, my small art Tells me the Dame has a hard heart, Or great estate. Quoth Ralph, A jointure, 515 Which makes him have so hot a mind t' her. Mean- while the Knight was making water, Before he fell upon the matter : Which having done, the Wizard steps in. To give him a suitable reception ; 520 But kept his business at a bay, Till Whachum put him in the way ; Who having now, by Ralpho's light, Expounded th' errand of the Knight, And what he came to know, drew near, 525 To whisper in the Conj'rer's ear. Which he prevented thus : What was't. Quoth he, that I was saying last,* Before these gentlemen arriv'd? Quoth Whachum, Venus you retriev'd, "jSO In opposition with I\Iars, And no benign and friendly stars T' allay the efFect.t Quoth Wizard, So: In Virgo? ha! Quoth Whachum, No :t Has Saturn nothing to do in it ;§ 535 One tenth of 's circle to a minute ! 'Tis well, quoth he — Sir youll excuse This rudeness I am forc'd to use ; It is a scheme, and face of heaven. As th' aspects are dispos'd this even, 340 * To prevent the suspicion which miiiht be created by whis- pering, he causes Whachum to relate his intelligence aloud, in tiie cant terms of his own profession. t There should be no comma after the word retriev'd ; it here sisnifies found, observed, from the French retrouver. Venus, the goddess of love, opposes and thwarts Mars, the god of war, and there is likely to be no accord between them. By which he gives him to understand, that the knight was in love and had small hopes of success. t Is his mistress a virgin 1 No. ^ Saturn, Kpovog, was the god of time. The wizard by these words inquires how long the love ati'air had been carried on. Whachum replies, one tenth of his circle to a minute, or three years; one tenth of the thirty years in which Saturn finishes his revolution, and exactly the time which the knight's court- Bhip had been pending. 274 IIUDIBRAS. [Paut a I was contemplating upon When you arriv'd ; but now I've done. Quoth Hudibras, If I appear Unseasonable iit coming here At such a time, to interrupt 545 Your speculations, which I hcp'd Assistance from, and come to use, 'Tis fit that I ask your excuse. By no means, Sir, quoth Sidrophe!, The stars your coming did foretel ; 550 I did expect you here, and knew, Before you spake, your business too.*' Quotii Hudibras, Make that appear. And I shall credit whatsoe'er You tell me after, on your word, 555 Howe'er unlikely, or absurd. You are in love. Sir, with a widovr, Quoth he, that does not greatly heed you. And for tlaree years has rid your wit And passion, without drawing bit ; 5G0 And now your busmess is to know If you shall carry her, or no. Quoth Hudibras, You're in the right, But how the devil you come by't I can't imagine ; for the stars, 565 I'm sure, can tell no more than a horse : Nor can their aspects, tho' you pore Your eyes out on 'em, tell you more Than tJi' oracle of sieve and sheers,t That turns as certain as the spheres : ' 570 But if the Devil's of your counsel. Much may be done, my noble donzel :t '■*' In some editions we read, Enoio before 3'ou speak. t "Put a paire of sheeres in tlie rim of a sieve, and let two " persons set the tip of each of their forefint'ers upon the upper " part of the sheers, holding it with the sieve up from the ground "steddilie, and ask Peter and Paul whether A. B. or C. hath "stolne the .hing lost, and at the nomination of the truilty per- "son the sieve will turn round." Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft, book xii. ch. xvii. p. 2G2. The KoaKivdjxavTis, or diviner by a sieve, is mentioned by Theocritus Idyll, iii. 31 The Greek prac- tice differed very little from that which has been stated above. They tied a thread to the sieve, or fixed it to a pair of shears, which they held between two fingers. After addressing them- selves to the j^ods, they repeated the names of the suspected persons ; and he, at whose name the sieve turned round, was adjudged guilty. Potter's Gr. Antiq. vol. i. p. 3o2. X A sneering kind of appellation : donzel Iwjing a diminutive from don. Buller says, in his character of a squire of Dames, C*Nro iii.J liUDIBRAS. 275 And 'tis on this account I come, To know from you my fatal doom. Quoch Sidrophcl, If you suppose, jT.** Sii- Knight, that I am one of those, [ might suspect and take the alaniij Your business is but to inform :* But if it bi', 'tis ne'er the near, You have r. wrong sow by the ear : ___ . :-)8k For I assure you, for my part, I only deal by rules of art ; Sucli as are lawful, and judge by Conclusions of astrology ; But for the devil ; know nothing by him, 533 But only this, that I defy him. Quoth he, Whatever others deem ye, I understand your metonymy ;t Your words of second-hand intention, t When things by wrongful names you mention ; 590 (tol- ii. p. 37D,) "he is donzel to the damzels, and gentleman " lisher daily waiter on the ladies, that rubs out his time in ma- " ki:.^ legs and love to them." The word is likewise used in Ben Jonson's Alchymist. [''Donzel del Phcho. A celebrated " hero of romance in the Mirror of Knighthood, &:c. Donzel is " froiii the Italian, danzcllo, and means a squire, or young man ; " or, as Florio says, ' A damosell, a bacheler,' &c. He seems al- " ways united with Rosiclear. " Defend thee powerfully, marry thee sumptuously, and keej: " thee in despite of Rosiclear or Donzel del Phebo. " Malcontent, O. PI. iv. 9-2. " Donzel del Phebo and Rosicleer ! are you there 1 " The Bird in a Cage, O. PI. viii. 248. " So the Captain in Philaster calls the citizens in insurrection "with him, 'My dear Donsels:' anil presently after, when Phi- " laster appears salutes him by the title of " jMy royal Rosiclear ! " We are thy myrmidons, thy iriiards, thy roarers. " Philaster, v. p.'l(JU-7." — Xares's Glossary.] * At that time there was a severe inquisition against conjurers, witches, &c. See the note on line 143. In Rymer's Fopdera, vol. xvi. p. GG6, is a special pardon from king James to Simon ■Read, for practising the black art. It is entitled, De Pardonatio- ne pro Simone Read de Invocatione, et Conjuratione Cacodeemo- nuni. He is there said to have invoked certain wicked si)irits in the year 1603, in the parish of St. George, &'outhwark, particular- ly one such spirit called Heavelon, another called Faternon, and a third called Cieveton. t Metonymy is a figure of speech, whereby the cause is put for the effect, the subject for the adjunct. t Terms of second intention, among the schoolmen, denote ideas which have been arbitrarily adopted fur purposes of science in opposition to those which are connected with sensible ob- jects. 270 IIL'DIBRAS. '^Pawi u The mystic- sense of all your terms, That arc indeed but magic charms ^ To raise the devil, and mean one thing, And that is downriglit conjuring ; And in itself more v/arrantable*' HQt Than cheat or canting to a rabble, Or putting tricks upon the moon, Which by confed'racy are done. Your ancient conjurers were wont To make her from her sphere dismount.t eOO And to their incantations stoop ; They scorn'd to pore thro' telescope. Or idly play at bo-peep with her. To find out cloudy or fair weather, Which ev'ry almanac can tell 605 Perhaps as learnedly and well As you yourself — Then, friend, I doubt You go the furthest way about : Your modern Indian magician Makes but a hole in th' earth to piss in,+ 610 And straight resolves all questions by't, And seldom fails to be i' th' right. The Rosy-crucian way's more sure To bring the devil to the lure ; Each of 'em has a several gin, 615 To catch intelligences in.§ Soine by the nose, with fumes, trepan 'em, As Dunstan did the devil's grannam.H * The knight has no faith in astrology ; but wishes th>! conju- rer to own plainly that he deals with the devil, and then he will hope for some satisfaction from him. To show what may be done in this way, he recounts the great achievements of sorcer- ers. t So the witch Canidia boasts of herself in Horace : Polo Deripere lunam vocibus possim meis. The ancients frequently introduced this fiction. See Virgil, Eclogue viii. 69. Ovid's Metamorphoses, vii. 207. Propertius, Luok i. elegy i. 10. and Tihullus, book i. elegy ii. 4\. t "The king presently called to his Bongi to clear the air; the conjuror immediately made a hole in the ground, wherein he uriiied." Le Blanc's Travels, p. 93. The ancient Zabii used to dig a hole in the earth, and fill it with blood, as the means of forming a correspondence with demons, and obtaining their fa- vor. § To secure demons or spirits. 1"! The chymists and alchymists. In the Remains of Butler, vol. ii. p. 235, we read : "These spirits they use to catch by the noses with fumigations, as St. Dunstan did the devil, by a pair of longs." The story of St. Dunstan taking the devil by the nose with a pair of hot pincers, has been frequently related. St. Dunstan lived Canto iii.J HUDIBRAS. 277 Otliers with characters and words Catch 'em, as men in nets do birds ;* (32y pow'rful art, to understand ; Which, how wc have perform'd, all agep 7ii5 Can speak th' events of our presages. Have we not lately in the moon. Found a nev/ world, to th' old unknown ? Discover'd sea and land, Columbus And iMr-gellan could never compass? 730 I\Iade mountains with our tubes appear, And cattle grazing on them there 1 Qucth Kudibras, You lie so ope. That I, without a telescope. Can find your tricks out, and descry 735 "Where you tell truth, and wlicre you lie : For Anaxagoras long agone, Saw hills, as well as you, i' th' moon,t * Anno ante Christum 97, bubone in iirbe vise, urbs lustrata. Bubono in cupitolio supra deoruni simulacra viso, cum piaretur, taurus victima exanimis concidit. Julius Obsequens, No. 44-45, et Lycostlienos, jip. ¥M, 195. t It appears from many passages of Cicero, and other authors, that the determinations of the aujrurs, aruspices, and the sybil line books, were commonly contrived to jjromote the ends of {rovernment, or to serve the purposes of the chief managers in tlic commonwealth. t See Burnet's Archsolog. cap. x. p. 144. Anaxagoras of Clazomene, vvas the first of the Ionic philosophers who main- tained tlial the several parts of tlie universe were the works of a supreme intelligent being, and consequently did not allow tlio sun and moon to be gods. " On this account he was accused of imi)iety, and thrown into prison ; but released by Pericles. Plu- tnrch in Nicia: "Are they not dreams of human vanity," says Montaigne, " to make the moon a celestial earth, there to fancy '■mountains and vales as Anaxagoras did." And see Plutarch de riacitis philosophorum, I'iog. Laert. and Plato dc Icgibus. The 284 IIUDir.llAS. [Part u. And held the sun was but a piece Of red hot iron as big as Greece ;* "7 50 Believ'd the hcav'ns were made of stone, Because the sun had voided one ;1 And, rather than he would recant Th' opinion, suffer'd banishment. But what, alas ! is it to us, 745 Whether i' th' moon, men thus or thus Do eat their porridge, cut their corns. Or whether they have tails or horns? What trade from thence can you advance, But what we nearer have from France ? . 75fi What can our travellers bring home, That is not to be learnt at Rome ? What politics, or strange opinions. That are not in our own dominions ? What science can be brought from tljcnce, 7.35 In which we do not here commence ? What revelations, or religions. That are not in our native regions ? Are sweating-lanterns, or screen-fans^t poet miffht probably have Bishop Wil kins in view, who inain- ttined that the moon was an habitable world, and proposed schemes for flyinjr there. Speaking; of Anaxagoras, Monsieur Chevreau says: "We "may easily excuse the ill humour of one who was seUioni of " the opinion of others : who maintained that snow was black, "because it was made of water, which is black; who took the "heavens to be an arch of stone, which rolled about continual- "ly; and the moon a piece of inflamed earth; and the sun " (which is about 434 times bifrf matrimony Under hedges 1 Or witches simpling, and on gibbets Cutting from malefactors snippets ?t Or from the pill'ry tips of ears b2o Of rebel-saints and perjurers ? world, like a man employed in study and contemplation. Since the owl, however, is usually considered as a moping, drowsy bird, the poet intimates that the ixnowledge of these skeptic3 is obscure, confused, and indifrested. The meaning of the whole passage is this : — There are two sorts of men who are great ene- mies to the adv^ancement of science. The first, bigoted divines, upon hearing of any new discovery in nature, apprehend an at- tack upon religion, and proclaim Iniuliy that the capitoi, i. e. the faith of the church, is ia danger. The others are self-sufficient philosophers, who lay down arbitrary principles, and reject every truth vi'hich does not coincide with them. * The poets tliought the stars were not made only to light robbers. See the beautiful address to Hesperus : "EccTTcps, TUS iparas %pu(7£ov (pdoi ^Acpnoyevdag, &c. Urunk. /;«? ovK fVt ^wpav 'Epxouat, ov6' 'iva ivktos bSoiTtopiovT^ £i'ox^';ffw, 'AAA' ipduiy &c. Bi.-.n. ii. 39-2. Brunk. An. vol. i. I\Icr,ch. Idyl. vii. a.-: cording to the O.xford edit, of Bion and Moschus. E typ. Clar. 1748. Sidrophel argues, that so-many luminous bodies could never have been constructed for the sole purpose of alfording a little light, in the absence of the sun. Ills reasoning does not con- tribute much to the support of astrology ; but it seems to favor the notion of a plurality of worlds. t Collecting herbs, and other requisites, for their enchant- ments. See Shakspeare's Macbeth, Act. iv. 26S IlLDIBRAS. [Vm^t u Only to stand by, and look on, But not know what is said or done ? Is there a constellation there That was not bora and bred up here?* R3fi And therefore cannot be to learn In any inferior concern? Were they not, during all their lives, I\Iost of 'em pirates, whores, and thieves ? And is it like Ihey have not still, 835 In their old practices, some skill ? Is there a planet that by birth Does not derive its house from earth ? And therefore probably must know What is, and hath been done below? 840 Who made the Balance, or whence came The Bull, the Lion, and the Ram ? Did not we here the Argo rig, I\Iake Berenice's periwig ?t Whose liv'ry does the coachman wear ? 845 ■**' Or who made Cassiopeia's chair ? And therefore, as they came from hence. With us may hold intelligence. Plato deny'd the world can be Govern'd without geometry,+ 850 For money b'ing the common scale Of things by measure, weight and tale. In all th' affairs of church and state, 'Tis both the balance and the weight : Then much less can it be without 855 Divine astrology made out. That puts the other down in worth. As far as heaven's above earth. * Astronomers, both ancient and modern, have divided the heavens into certain figures, representing animals and other ob jects. Eratosthenes, the scholiast on Aratus, and Julius Hy- ginus, mention the reasons which determined men to the clioice of these particular figures. See Sir Isaac Newton's Chronology of the Greeks, p. 83. t The constellation called coma Berenices. Berenice, the wife of Ptolemy Euergetes, king of Egypt, in consequence of a vow, cut off and dedicated some of her beautiful hair to Venus, on the return of her husband from a military expedition. And Conon, the mathematician, paid her a handsome compliment, by forming the constellation of this name. Callimachus wrote a poem to celebrate her aliection and piety : a translation of it by Catullus is still preserved in the works of that author. t Plato, out of fondness for geometry, has employed it in all liis systems. He used to say that the Deity did yeajyeTpttn, play the geometrician: that is, do everything by weight and vueasure. Canto hi.] IIUDIBRAS. 2S9 These reasons, quoth the Knigiit, I jrraiit , Are something more significant Biia Than any tluit tlie learned use Upon this subject to produce ; And yet they're far from satisfactory, T' estabh'sh and keep up your factory Th' Egyptians say, the sun has twice* diM Shifted his setting and his rise ; Twice has he risen in tlie Avest, As many times set in the east ; But whether that be true or no, The devil any of you know. S70 Some hold, the lieavens, like a top, Are kept by circulation up,t And were 't not for their wheelingf round ■^ * The Egyptian priests informed Herodotus that, in the space of 11340 years, the sun had foiir times risen and set out of its usual course, rising twice where it now sets, and setting twice where it now rises — gVSa re vvv Karahvtrai, evOcvrcv 6ig tTzav- TzWaC Koi £v6ev, &c. Herodotus, Euterpe, seu lib. ii. 140. A learned person supposes this account to l)e a corrupt tradition of the miraculous stop, or recession of the sun, in the times of Joshua and Hezekiah. Others suppose that what the priests told him for a chronical, was mistaken by Herodotus for an as- tronomical phenomenon ; and that the particulars, which he has recorded in the words tvda and ivBiuTsv, related only to the time of the day or year, and not to the place or quarter of the heav- ens. The Egyptian year consisted of no more than 3G0 days ; and therefore the day in their calendar, which was once the sununer solstice, would in 730 years become their winter solstice ; and, in 1461 years, it would come to their summer solstice again. This Censorinus tells us was really the case. So that the four revolutions would happen in a much shorter time than the ]>riests had assigned for them. Dr. Long explodes the whole for an idle story, invented by the Egyptians to su|)purt their vain pretensions to antiquity ; and fit to pass only among persons who have no knowledge of astronomy. Indeed no others would believe that the cardinal points were entirely changed, or the rotation of the 3arth inverted. See Spenser, Fairy Queen, b. v. c. i. stanz. t "> md 8, &c. And if to those Egyptian wlsards old (Which in star-read were wont have best insight) Faith may be given, it is by them told That since the time they first fooke the Sunnes hight, F