HUDIBRAS.

IN THREE PARTS.'

PART II. CANTO II.

THE ARGUMENT.

The Knight and 9quire in hot dispute,
Within an ace of falling out,

Are parted with a sudden fright

Of strange alarm, and stranger sight;
With which atve turing to stickle,
They 're sent away in nasty pickle.

'Tis strange how some men's temper suit
(Like bawd 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,
As fiddlers do their crowds and bases;
Ne'er to be us'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;

v. 2. (Like bawd and brandy.)] Brandee in all editions to 1704, inclusive.

Dispute, and set a paradox,

Like a strait boot, upon the stocks,
And stretch'd it more unmercifully

Than Helmont, Montaigne, White, or Tully.
So th' ancient Stoics, in their porch,
With fierce dispute maintain'd their church,
Beat out their brains in fight and study,
To prove that virtue is a body,
That bonum is an animal,

Made good with stout polemique brawl;
In which some hundreds on the place
Were slain outright, and many a face
Retrench'd of nose, and eyes, and beard,
To maintain what their sect averr'd.

All which the Knight and Squire, in wrath,

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Had like t' have suffer'd for their faith;

Each striving to make good his own,
As by the sequel shall be shown.
The sun had long since, in the lap

Of Thetis, taken out his nap,

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V. 14. Mountaygn, or, Mountaign---and Tulty.] In all editions to 1704, inclusive. Altered to Montaign and Lully, in 171e, or 1716.

V. 7.29.] Several of the books in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey begin with describing the morning; so also does Mr. Butler take care to let the world know at what time of the day (which he exactly describes) these momentous actions of his hero were transac.ed. The morning's approach, the Knight's rising, and rousing up his Squire, are humorously described.

And, for my own part, do not doubt
Th' affirmative may be made out.
But first to state the case aright,

For best advantage of our light;

And thus 't is; Whether 't be a sin
To claw and curry your own skin,
Greater or less, than to forbear,
And that you are forsworn forswear,

But first o' th' first: The inward man,

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And outward, like clan and clan,

Have always been at daggers-drawing,
And one another clapper-clawing;
Not that they really cuff or fence,

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But in a spiritual mystique sense;

Which to mistake, and make 'em squabble

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In literal fray, 's abominable:

'Tis Heathenish, in frequent use
With Pagans and apostate Jews,
To offer sacrifice of Bridewells,
Like modern Indians to their idols:
And mongrel Christians of our times,
That expiate less with greater crimes,
And call the foul abomination
Contrition and mortification.

Is 't not enough we 're bruis'd and kicked,
With sinful members of the Wicked;

Qur vessels that are sanctify'd,
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:
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

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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.

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Then when they strive for place, 't is fit

And what the saints do claim as due,
You may pretend a title to:

But Saints, whom oaths and vows oblige,
Know little of their privilege;

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Further (I mean) than carrying on

Some self-advantage of their own:

For if the devil, to serve his turn,

Can tell truth, why the Saints should scorn,

When it serves theirs, to swear and lie,

I think there's little reason why :..

Else he 'as a greater power than they,
Which 't were impiety to say,
We're not commanded to forbear,
Indefinitely, at all to swear;
But to swear idly, and in vain,
Without self-interest or gain:

For breaking of an oath and lying,
Is but a kind of self-denying,

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v. 136. When it was first moved in the House of Commons to proceed capitally against the King, Cromwell stood up and told them, "That if any man moved "this with design, he should think him the greatest "traitor in the world; but since Providence and ne"cessity had cast them upon it, he should pray to "God to bless their counsels." And when he kept the King close prisoner in Carisbrook Castle, contrary to vows and protestations, he affirmed The Spirit "would not let him keep his word." And when, contrary to the public faith, they murdered him, they pretended they could not resist the motions of the Spirit.