124
HUDIBRAS.
[PART I.
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;[1]
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;[2] 1160
By black caps, underlaid with white,[3]
Give certain guess at inward light;
Which Serjeants at the gospel wear,[4]
To make the sp'ritual calling clear.
The handkerchief about the neck, 1165
—Canonical cravat of smeck,[5]
- ↑ The Triers pretended to great skill in this respect; and if they disliked the face or beard of a man, if he happened to be of a ruddy complexion, or cheerful countenance, they would reject him at once. Their questions were such as these: When were you converted? Where did you begin to feel the motions of the Spirit? In what year? In what month? On what day? About what hour of the day had you the secret call or motion of the Spirit to undertake and labour in the ministry? &c. &c. And they would try whether he had the true whining voice and nasal twang. Dr South, in his Sermon, says they were most properly called Cromwell's Inquisition, and that, as the chief pretence of those Triers was to inquire into men's gifts, if they found them well gifted in the hand they never looked any further."
The reader (says Nash) may be inclined to think the dispute between 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 pretenders to extraordinary sanctity, who had overturned the constitution in Church and State, he will not wonder that the author indulges himself in this fine train of wit and humour. - ↑ They judged of men's inward grace by his outward complexion. Dr Echard says, "If a man had but a little blood in his cheeks, his condition was accounted very dangerous, and it was almost an infallible sign of reprobation: and I will assure you," he adds, "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 for only looking fresh in a frosty morning."
- ↑ Many persons, particularly the dissenters in our poet's time, were fond of wearing black caps lined with white. See the print of Baxter, and others.
- ↑ A black coif, worn on the head, is the badge of a serjeant-at-law.
- ↑ A club or junto, which wrote several books against the king, consisting of five Parliamentary holders-forth, namely: Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow; the
professor of Hebrew and Arabic in our University: so that they exceedingly exasperate all men, and provoke them to the height."
