But when the devil turns confeffor,
Truth is a crime he takes no pleasure
To hear or pardon, like the founder
Of liars, whom they all claim under:
And therefore, when I told him none,
I think it was the wifer done.
Nor am I without precedent,

225

The first that on th' adventure went;
All mankind ever did of course,

And daily does, the fame, or worse.

230

For what romance can fhew a lover,
That had a lady to recover,
And did not fteer a nearer course,
To fall aboard in his amours?
And what at firft was held a crime,
Has turn'd to honourable in time.

To what a height did Infant Rome,
By ravishing of women, come?
When men upon their spouses feiz'd,
And freely marry'd where they pleas'd;
They ne'er forfwore themselves, nor ly'd,
Nor, in the mind they were in, dy'd;
Nor took the pains t' addrefs and fue,
Nor play'd the masquerade, to wooe:

Difdain'd to stay for friends' confents,

Nor juggled about fettlements;

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240

245

Did

Ver. 230.] And daily does, in all editions to 1716, inclufive. Daily do, 1726, &c.

ΙΑ

Did need no licenfe, nor no priest,
Nor friends, nor kindred, to affift,
Nor lawyers, to join land and money
In th' holy state of matrimony,

250

Before they fettled hands and hearts,

Till alimony or death departs ;

Nor would endure to stay until

They 'ad got the very bride's good will,
But took a wife and fhorter courfe
To win the ladies, downright force;
And justly made them prifoners then,
As they have, often fince, us men,
With acting plays, and dancing jigs,
The luckiest of all Love's intrigues;

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260

And, when they had them at their pleasure,

Not men for them.-It follows, then,

That men have right to every one,

275

And they no freedom of their own;

And

And therefore men have power to chufe,
But they no charter to refuse.
Hence 'tis apparent that, what course
Soe'er we take to your amours,

Though by the indirectest way,

Tis no injuftice nor foul play;

And that you ought to take that course,
As we take you, for better or worse,
And gratefully fubmit to thofe
Who you, before another, chose.
For why should every favage beaft
Exceed his great Lord's interest?
Have freer power than he, in Grace

And Nature, o'er the creature has ?
Because the laws he fince has made
Have cut off all the power he had;
Retrench'd the abfolute dominion
That Nature gave him over women;
When all his power will not extend
One-law of Nature to suspend ;

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285

༡༡༠

295

And but to offer to repeal

The smallest clause, is to repel.

This, if men rightly understood

Their privilege, they would make good,

300

And not, like fots, permit their wives
T'incroach on their prerogatives;
For which fin they deserve to be
Kept, as they are, in flavery:

. And

305

And this fome precious Gifted Teachers,

Unreverently reputed Leachers,

And disobey'd in making love,

Have vow'd to all the world to prove,

And make ye fuffer, as you ought,
For that uncharitable fault:
But I forget myself, and rove
Beyond th' instructions of my love.
Forgive me, Fair, and only blame
Th' extravagancy of my flame,
Since tis too much at once to show
Excefs of love and temper too;
All I have faid that 's bad and true,
Was never meant to aim at you,

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315

Who

Ver. 305, 306.] Sir Roger L'Eftrange (Key to Hudibras) mentions Mr. Cafe as one; and Mr. Butler, in his Pofthumous works *, mentions Dr. Burgefs and Hugh Peters: and the writer of a letter to the Earl of Pembroke, 16475 p. 9. obferves of Peters, "That "it was offered to be publicly proved that he got both "mother and daughter with child."-" I am glad, fays "an anonymous perfon (Thurloe's State Papers, vol. "IV. p. 734.) to hear that Mr. Peters fhews his head

again; it was reported here (Amfterdam, May 5, "1655) that he was found with a whore a-bed, and "he grew mad, and faid nothing but O blood, O blood, "that troubles me."

*It may be proper to obferve here, once for all, that Butler left no genuine poems befides thofe in the poffeffion of Mr. Longueville, and published by Mr. Thyer in 1759; which are all inferted in this volume.

Who have fo fovereign a control

O'er that poor flave of your's, my foul,

That, rather than to forfeit you,
Has ventur'd lofs of heaven too;
Both with an equal power poffeft,

320

To render all that ferve you bleft;

But none like him, who 's deftin'd either
To have or lofe you both together;

325

And, if you 'll but this fault release
(For fo it must be, fince you please),
I'll pay down all that vow, and more,
Which you commanded, and I swore,
And expiate, upon my skin,

Th' arrears in full of all my sin :
For 'tis but just that I should pay
Th' accruing penance for delay;
Which fhall be done, until it move
Your equal pity and your love.

The Knight, perusing this Epiftle,

33

335

Believ'd he 'ad brought her to his whistle,

And read it, like a jocund lover,

With great applause, t' himself, twice over ;

340

Subfcrib'd his name, but at a fit

And humble diftance, to his wit,

And dated it with wondrous art,
Giv'n from the bottom of his heart;
Then feal'd it with his coat of love,
A fmoking faggot-and above,
Upon a fcroll-I burn and weep,
And near it-For her Ladyship,

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Of