A creature of amphibious nature,
On land a beast, a fish in water:1230
That always preys on grace or sin;
A sheep without, a wolf within.
This fierce inquisitor has chief
Dominion over men's belief
And manners; can pronounce a saint1235
Idolatrous, or ignorant,
When superciliously he sifts,
Through coarsest bolter, others' gifts.[1]
For all men live and judge amiss,
Whose talents jump not just with his.1240
He'll lay on gifts with hand, and place
On dullest noddle light and grace.
The manufacture of the kirk.
Whose pastors are but th' handiwork
Of his mechanic paws, instilling1245
Divinity in them by feeling.
From whence they start up chosen vessels,
Made by contact, as men get measles.
So cardinals, they say, do grope
At th' other end the new-made pope.[2]1250
Hold, hold, quoth Hudibras, soft fire,
They say, does make sweet malt. Good Squire,
Festina lente, not too fast;
For haste, the proverb says, makes waste.
The quirks and cavils thou dost make 1255
Are false, and built upon mistake:
And I shall bring you, with your pack
Of fallacies, t' Elenchi back;[3]
And put your arguments in mood
And figure to be understood.1260
I'll force you by right ratiocination
To leave your vitilitigation.[4]
- ↑ A bolter is a coarse sieve for separating bran from flour.
- ↑ This alludes to the stereorary chair, used at the installations of some of the popes, and which, being perforated at the bottom, has given rise to the assertion that, to prevent the recurrence of a Pope Joan, the Pontiff elect is always examined through it by the youngest deacon.
- ↑ Elenchi are arguments which deceive under an appearance of truth. The Elenchus, says Aldrich, is properly a syllogism which refutes an opponent by establishing that which contradicts his opinion.
- ↑ That is, a perverse humour of wrangling, or, "contentious litigation."
