Whatever sceptic could enquire for,
For every Why he had a Wherefore;
Knew more than forty of them do,
As far as words and terms could go;
All which he understood by rote,
And, as occafion ferv'd, would quote;
No matter whether right or wrong;
They might be either said or fung.

135

His notions fitted things fo well,

That which was which he could not tell;

140

But oftentimes miftook the one

For th' other, as great clerks have done.
He could reduce all things to acts,
And knew their natures by abstracts;

Where Entity and Quiddity,

145

The ghosts of defunct bodies, fly;

Where truth in perfon does appear,
Like words congeal'd in northern air.
He knew what 's what, and that's as high

As metaphyfic wit can fly:

In school-divinity as able

As he that hight Irrefragable;

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A fecond

Ver. 131. Enquire.] Inquere, in all editions to 1689, inclufive.

Ver. 152. Irrefragable.] Alexander Hales, fo called; he was an Englishman, born in Gloucestershire, and flourished about the year 1236, at the time when what was called School-divinity was much in vogue; in which science he was fo deeply read, that he was called Doctor Irrefragabilis; that is, the Invincible Doctor, whofe arguments could not be refifted.

A fecond Thomas, or, at once

To name them all, another Dunce :

Profound

Ver. 153, 154. Dunce.] Thus they stood in the two first editions of 1664, left out in thofe of 1674, 1684, 1689, 1700, and not reftored till 1704. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican Friar, was born in 1224, studied at Cologne and at Paris. He new-modelled the fchool-divinity, and was therefore called the Angelic Doctor, and Eagle of divines. The moft illustrious perfons of his time were ambitious of his friendship, and put a high value on his merits, fo that they offered him bishopricks, which he refufed with as much ardour as others feek after them. He died in the fiftieth year of his age, and was canonized by Pope John XXII. We have his works in 18 volumes, feveral times printed.

Johannes Dunfcotus was a very learned man, who lived about the end of the thirteenth, and beginning of the fourteenth century. The English and Scots ftrive which of them fhall have the honour of his birth. The English fay he was born in Northumberland; the Scots allege he was born at Dunfe in the Merfe, the neighbouring county to Northumberland, and hence was called Dunfcotus: Moreri, Buchanan, and other Scotch hiftorians, are of this opinion, and, for proof, cite his epitaph;

Scotia me genuit, Anglia fufcepit,

Gallia edocuit, Germania tenet.

He died at Cologne, Nov. 8, 1308. In the Supplement to Dr. Cave's Hiftoria Literaria, he is faid to be extraordinary learned in phyfics, metaphyfics, mathematics, and aftronomy; that his fame was fo great when at Oxford, that 30,000 scholars came thither to

hear

Profound in all the Nominal

155

And Real ways beyond them all :
For he a rope of fand could twist
As tough as learned Sorbonist,
And weave fine cobwebs, fit for fcull
That 's empty when the moon is full;
Such as take lodgings in a head
That's to be let unfurnished.

He could raise scruples dark and nice,
And after folve them in a trice;
As if Divinity had catch'd

160

165

The itch, on purpose to be scratch'd;
Or, like a mountebank, did wound

And stab herself with doubts profound,

Only

hear his lectures; that when at Paris, his arguments and authority carried it for the immaculate conception of the Bleffed Virgin, so that they appointed a festival on that account, and would admit no scholars to degrees but fuch as were of this mind. He was a great oppofer of Thomas Aquinas's doctrine: and, for being a very acute logician, was called Do&or Subtilis, which was the reason also that an old punster always called him the Latby Doctor.

Ver. 155, 156.] Gulielmus Occham was father of the Nominals, and Johannes Dunscotus of the Reals. These two lines not in the two first editions of 1664, but added in 1674.

Ver. 157, 158.] Altered thus in edit. 1674, and continued till 1704.

And with as delicate a hand,

Could twist as tough a rope of sand.

Only to fhew with how small pain
The fores of Faith are cur'd again;
Although by woeful proof we find
They always leave a scar behind.
He knew the feat of Paradise,
Could tell in what degree it lies,

170

And, as he was dispos'd, could prove it

$75

Below the moon, or else above it;

What Adam dreamt of, when his bride

Came from her clofet in his fide;
Whether the Devil tempted her
By a High-Dutch interpreter ;
If either of them had a navel;
Who first made music malleable;
Whether the Serpent, at the Fall,
Had cloven feet, or none at all:

All this, without a glofs or comment,

He could unriddle in a moment,

In proper terms, fuch as men fmatter

180

185

When they throw out and mifs the matter.

For his religion, it was fit

To match his learning and his wit;

190 'Twas

Ver. 181.] Several of the Ancients have fuppofed that Adam and Eve had no navels; and, among the Moderns, the late learned Bishop Cumberland was of this opinion.

Ver. 189.] Mr. Butler is very exact in delineating his hero's religion; it was neceffary that he fhould be fo, that the reader might judge whether he was a proper perfon to fet up for a Reformer, and whether the

3

religion

'Twas Prefbyterian true blue;

For he was of that ftubborn crew

Of errant faints, whom all men grant

To be the true Church Militant;

Such as do build their faith

upon

195

The holy text of pike and gun;
Decide all controversies by
Infallible artillery ;

And prove their doctrine orthodox,
By apoftolic blows and knocks;
Call fire, and fword, and defolation,
A godly, thorough Reformation,

200

Which

religion he profeffed was more eligible than that he endeavoured to demolish. Whether the Poet has been juft in the pourtrait must be left to every reader's cbfervation.

Ver. 193, 194.] Where Prefbytery has been eftablished, it has been ufually effected by force of arms, like the religion of Mahomet; thus it was established at Geneva in Switzerland, Holland, Scotland, &c. In France, for fome time, by that means, it obtained a toleration: much blood was fhed to get it established in England; and once, during that Grand Rebellion, it seemed very near gaining an establishment here.

Ver. 195, 196.] Upon thefe Cornet Joyce built his faith, when he carried away the King, by force, from Holdenby: for when his Majesty asked him for a fight of his inftructions, Joyce faid, He should fee them prefently; and fo drawing up his troop in the inward court," Thefe, Sir, (faid the Cornet) are my in"ftructions."

Ver. 199, 200.] Many inftances of that kind are given by Dr. Walker, in his Sufferings of the Epifcopal Clergy.