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Which always has been us'd t' untie
The charms of thofe who here do lie:
For as the Ancien's heretofore
To Honour's temple had no door
But that which thorough Virtue's lay;
So from this dungeon there's no way
To honour'd freedom, but by paling
That other virtuous fchool of lafiang,
Where ko ghts are kept in marrow lifts,
With wooden lockets 'bout their wrifts;
In which they for a while are tenants,
And for their ladies fuffer penance:
Whipping, that 's Virtue's governefs,
Tutreis of arts and tciences;

Tha. mends the grofs mistakes of nature,
And puts new life into dull matter;

That lays foundation for renown,

And all the honours of the gown:
This fuffer'd, they are fet at large,
And freea with honourable difcharge;
Then, in their robes, the penitentials
Are ftraight prefented with credentials,
An in their way a tended on

By magiftrates c fevery town ;
And, all respect and charges paid,

They're to their ancient feats convey'd.
No if you li venture, for my fake,
To try the ton, hnefs of your back,
And suffer (as the eit have done)
The laying of a whipping-on
(And may you proper in your fuit
A you with equal vigour do 't)
I here engage myself to loofe ye,
And free your heels from caperdewfie.
But fince our fex's modesty

Will not allow I fhould be by,
Bring me on oath a fair account,

And honour too, when you have don 't;
And I'll admit you to the place
You claim as due in my good grace.
If matrimony and hanging go
By deftiny, why not whipping too?
What medicine elfe can cure the fits
Of lovers when they lofe their wits
Love is a boy, by poets ftyl'd,
Then fpare the rod, and fpoil the child.

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A Perfian emperor whipp'd his grannam, 845 The fea, his mother Venus came on; And hence fome reverend men approve Of rosemary in making love. As tkilful hoopers hoop their tubs With Lydian and with Phrygian dubs, Why may not whipping have as good A grace, perform'd in time and mood,

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Amen, (quoth fhe) then turn'd about, And bid her Squire let him out.

But ere an artift coull be found

T' undo the charms another bound,

The fun grew low, and left the fkies,

850 Put down (fome write) by ladies' eyes.

Ver. 831. I bore engage my folf to loofe ye. This, and the following line, thus altered, 1674, &c.

I here engage to be your bayl,

And free you from the unknightly jayl.

Thus continued to 170r, inclufive. Reftored 1704.

895

900

Ver. 894. I'll set you from th' inchanted den. In all editions to 1704, inclufive. I'll free you, in later editions.

Ver. 903.] The evening is here finely defcribed; the Epics are not more exact in defcribing times and feafons than our Poet: we may trace his hero morning and night; and it thould be obferved, in the conclufion of this Canto (conformably to the practice of the Critics upon Homer and Virgil) that one day is only paffed fince the opening of the Poem.

The moon pull'd off her veil of light,
That hides her face by day from fight,
(Mysterious veil, of brightnefs made,
That's both her luftre and her shade!)
And in the lantern of the night,
With fhining horns hung out her light;
For darkness is the proper fphere
Where all falfe glories ufe t' appear.
The twinkling stars began to muiter,
And glitter with their borrow'd lufter,
While fleep the weary'd world reliev'd,
By counterfeiting death reviv'd.

His whipping penance, till the morn,
Our votary thought it beft t' adjourn,
And not to carry on a work
Of fuch importance in the dark,
With erring hafte, but rather stay,
And do 't in th' open face of day;
And in the mean time go in quest
Of next retreat to take his reft.

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HUDIBRA S.

PART II. CANTO II.

The fun had long fince, in the lap

Of Thetis, taken out his hap.

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And, like a lobster boil'd, the morn

From black to red began to turn;

When Hudibras, whom thoughts and aking

'Twixt fleeping kept, all night, and waking,

Began to rub his drowsy eyes,

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And from his couch prepar'd to rife,

Refolving to difpatch the deed

He vow'd to do with trufty fpeed:

But firit with knocking loud, and bawling,

He rouz'd the Squire, in truckle lolling:

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And after many circumstances

Which vulgar authors in romances

Do use to spend their time and wits on,

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THE ARGUMENT.

The Knight and Squire in hot difpute,
Within an ace of falling out,
Are parted with a fudden fright
Of frange alarm, and ftranger fight;
With which adventuring to flickle,
They're fent away in nafty pickle.

IS ftrange how fome men's tempers fuit

T (Like bawd and brandy) with difpute,

That for their own opinions ftand faft
Only to have them claw'd and canvast;
That keep their confciences in cafes,
As fiddlers do their crowds and bafes;
Ne'er to be us'd, but when they're bent
To play a fit for argument:

Make true and falfe, unjust and just,
Of no ufc but to be difcuft;

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To make impertient defcription,
They got (with much ado) to horfe,
And to the Caftie bent their course,
In which he to the Dame before
To fuffer whipping-duty fwore :
Where now arriv'd, and half unharnest,
To carry on the work in earnest,
He ftopp'd, and paus'd upon the fudden,
And, with a ferious forehead plodding,
Sprung a new fcruple in his head,
Which firft he fcratch'd, and after faid;
Whether it be direct infringing

An oath, if I fhould wave this fwinging,

50

55

Ver. 14. Mountaygn, or, Mountaign-and Tully. In all editions to 1704, inclufive. Altered to Montaign and Lully, in 1710, or 1716.

Ver. 29.] Several of the books in Homer's Iliad and Odyffey begin with defcribing the Morning: fo, alfo, does Mr. Butler take care to let the world know at what time of the day (which he exactly defcribes) thefe momentous actions of his hero were tranfacted. The morning's approach, the Knight's rifing, and rouziag

Thefe two lines not in the first editions of 1664, up his Squire, are humouroufly defcribed. and first inferted 1674.

Ver. 2.] (Like burd and brandy). Brandee, in all editions to 1704, inclufive.

Ver. 48.] Whipping duly fware. In the first editions.

Ver. 55, 56.] This dialogue between Hudibras and Ralph fets before us the hypocrify and vil

And what I've fworn to bear forbear,
And fo b equivocation fwear;
Or whether 't be a leffer fin

To be forfworn, than act the thing;
Are deep and fubtle points, which muft,
Tinform my Confcience, be difcuft;
In which to err a tittle may

To errors infinite make way:
And therefore I defire to know
Thy judgment, ere we further go.

Quoth Kalpho, Since you do injoin 't,

I fhall enlarge upon the point;
And, for my own part do not doubt
Th'affirmative may be made out.
But first, to Яare the cafe aright,
For beft advantage of our light;
And thus 'tis; Whether 't be a fin
To claw and curry your own fkin,
Greater or lefs, than to forbear,
And that you are forfworn forfwear.
But first, o' th' firft: The inward man,
And outward, like a clan and can,

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Have always been at daggers-drawing,

For if he devil, to ferve his turn,

And one another clapper-clawing;

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Not that they really cut or fence,

But in a fpiritual myftick fenfe;

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Which to mistake, and make them fquabble

In literal fray, 's abominable:

Elfe he 'as a greater power than they, Which were impiety to fay.

'Tis Heathenifh, in frequent ufe

85

We 're not commanded to forbear,

With Pagans and apoftate Jews,

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To offer facrifice of Bridewells,

But to fwear idly, and in vain,

Like modern Indians to their idols; And mongrel Chriftians of our times, That expiate lefs with greater crimes, And call the foul abomination

Without felf-intereft or gain:

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Contrition and mortification.

Some have broke oaths by Providence:

Is 't not enough we 're bruis'd and kicked,

Some, to the glory of the Lord,

With finful men bers of the Wicked;

Our veffels, that are fan&tify'd,

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Perjur'd themselves, and broke their word: And this the constant rule and practice

Profan'd, and curry'd back and fide;

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But we muft claw ourselves with fhameful
And Heathen Rripes, by their example?
Which (were there nothing to forbid it)
Is impious, because they did it:

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Jainy of all parties of the Rebels with regard to Oaths; what equivocations and evafions they made ufe of, to account for the many perjuries they were daily guilty of, and the feveral oaths they readily took, and as readily broke, merely as they found it fuited their intereft, as appears from verfe 107, &c. and verfe 377, &c. of this Canto, and Part III. Cant, iii. verfe 547, &c. Archbishop Bramball fays, "That the bypocaites of thofe times, though "they magnified the obligation of an oath, yet "in their own cafe difpenfed with all oaths, "civil, military, and religious. We are now "told (fays he) that the oaths we have taken

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man moved this with defign, he fhould think "him the greatest traitor in the world; but fince "Providence and neceffity had caft them upon "it, he fhould pray to God to blefs their coun"fels." And when he kept the King close prifoner in Carifbrook Caftle, contrary to vows and proteftations, he affirmed, "The Spirit would

not let him keep his word." And when, coutrary to the public faith, they murdered him, they pretended they could not refift the motions of the Spirit.

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To fwear it was in his defence? Did they not fwear to live and die

With Elfex, and ftraight laid him by?
If that were all, for fome have fwore
As falfe as they, if they did no more.
Did they not fwear to maintain Law,
In which that fwearing made a flaw?
For Proteftant religion vow,
That did that vowing difallow ?
For Privilege of Parliament,

In which that fwearing made a rent?
And fince, of all the three, not one
Is left in being, 'tis well known.
Did they not fwear, in exprefs words,
To prop and back the House of Lords?
And after turn'd out the whole houfe full
Of Peers, as dangerous and unufeful.
So Cromwell, with deep oaths and vows,
Swore all the Commons out o' th' Houfe;
Vow'd that the Red-coats would difband,
Ay, marry would they, at their command;

And hold no fin fo deeply red,

160

As that of breaking Prifcian's head,

(The head and founder of their order,

225

That ftirring hats held worfe than murder) Thefe, thinking they 're oblig'd to troth In fwearing, will not take an oath :

165

Like mules, who, if they 've not their will

To keep their own pace, ftand stock still:

239

But they are weak, and little know What free-born Confciences may do.

'Tis the temptation of the devil

170

That makes all human actions evil;

For Saints may do the fame things by The Spirit, in fincerity,

235

Which other men are tempted to,

175

And at the devil's inftance do,
And yet the actions be contrary,
Juft as the Saints and Wicked vary.
For as on land there is no beaft
But in fome fifh at fea 's expreft;
So in the Wicked there 's no vice

240

180

Of which the Saints have not a spice;

And yet that thing that 's pious in

245

The one, in th' other is a fin.

Is 't not ridiculous and nonfenfe,

And troll'd them on, and fwore, and fwore, 185
Till th' Army turn'd them out of door.
This tells us plainly what they thought,

That oaths and fwearing go for nought,
And that by them th' were only meant
Toferve for an expedient.

What was the Public Faith found out for;
Bur to flur men of what they fought for?
The Public Faith, which every one

Is bound t' obferve, yet kept by none;

And if that go for nothing, why
Should Private Faith have fuch a tie?
Oaths were not purpos'd, more than Law,
To keep the Good and Juft in awe,
But to confine the Bad and Sinful,
Like mortal cattle in a pinfold.

A Saint fhould be a flave to Confcience, That ought to be above fuch fancies,

As far as above Ordinances?

250

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255

195

Yet all of us hold this for true,
No faith is to the Wicked due.
For truth is precious and divine,
Too rich a pearl for carnal fwine.
Quoth Hudibras, All this is true;
Yet 'tis not fit that all men knew
Those mysteries and revelations;
And therefore topical evasions

260

Of subtle turns and fhifts of sense,

200

A Saint's of th' heav'nly realm a Peer; And as no Peer is bound to fwear,

Serve beft with th' Wicked for pretence; Such as the learned Jefuits ufe,

265

And Prefbyterians, for excufe

But on the Gospel of his Honour,

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Of which he may difpofe, as owner,
It follows, though the thing be forgery,
And falfe, t' athrm it is no perjury,
But a mere cereniony, and a breach
Of nothing but a form of speech,
And goes for no more when 'tis took,
Than mere faluting of the Book.
Suppofe the Scriptures are of force,

They 're but commiffions of course; VOL. II.

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The Rabbins rite, When any Jew

The laws o' th' land, that were intended

355

Be forc'd t' impeach a broken hedge,

Did make to God or mai a vow,
Which afterwards he found untoward,
And ftubborn to be kept, or too hard,
Any three other Jews o' th' nation
Might free him from the obligation:
And have not two Saints power to use
A greater privilege than three Jews?
The court of Confcience, which in man
Should be fupreme and foveran,
Is 't fit fhould be fubordinate
To ev'ry petty court in th' ftate;
And have lefs power than the leffer,
To deal with perjury at pleasure ?
Have its proceedings difallow'd, or
Allow'd, at fancy of pye-powder?
Tell all it does, or does not know,
For fearing ex efficio ?

And pigs unring'd at vif. franc. pledge?
Discover thieves, and bawds, recufants,
Priests, witches, eaves-droppers, and nufance;
Tell ho did play at games unlawful,
And who fill'd pots of ale but half-full;
And have no power at all, nor fhift
To help itfelf at a dead lift?

Why should not Confcience have vacation
As well as other Courts o' th' nation;
Have equal power to adjourr,
Appoint appearance and return;
And make as nice diftinction ferve
To fplit a cafe, as thofe that carve,
Invoking cukolds' names, hit joints?
Why should not tricks as flight do points?
Is not th' High-court of Juftice fworn
To judge that law that ferves their turn?
Make their own jealoufies high-treason,
And fix them whomfoe'er they pleafe on?
Cannot the learned Counfel there

To keep it out, are made defend it.

Does not in Chancery every man swear

What makes best for him in his answer?

295

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300 'Tis ten to one that fide is caft.

Do not your Juries give their verdict

365

305

As if they felt the caufe, not heard it?
And as they please, make matter o' fact
Run all on one fide, as they 're packt?
Nature has made man's breaft no windores,
To publish what he does within doors;
Nor what dark fecrets there inhabit,

370

Unless his own rash folly blab it.

310

If Oaths can do a man no good
In his own bufinefs, why they thou'd,
In other matters, do him hurt,
I think there 's little reafon for 't.
He that impofes an Oath makes it,
Not he that for Convenience takes it:
315 Then how can any man be faid

375

To break an Oath he never made?
These reasons may perhaps look oddly
To th' Wicked, though they evince the Godly;
But if they will not ferve to clear

380

320 My honour, I am ne'er the near.
Honour is like that glaffy bubble,
That finds philofophers fuch trouble,
Whofe leaft part crackt, the whole does fly,
And wits are crackt to find out why.

385

325

Quoth Ralpho, Honour's but a word To wear by only in a Lord :

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