Impartial justice, in his stead did 435
Hang an old weaver that was bed-rid:
Then wherefore may not you be skipp'd,
And in your room another whipp'd?
For all philosophers, but the Sceptic,[1]
Hold whipping may be sympathetic.440
It is enough, quoth Hudibras,
Thou hast resolv'd, and clear'd the case;
And canst, in conscience, not refuse,
From thy own doctrine, to raise use:[2]
I know thou wilt not, for my sake, 445
Be tender-conscienc'd of thy back:
Then strip thee of thy carnal jerkin,
And give thy outward fellow a firking;
For when thy vessel is new hoop'd,
All leaks of sinning will be stopp'd. 450
Quoth Ralpho, You mistake the matter.
For in all scruples of this nature,
No man includes himself, nor turns
The point upon his own concerns.
As no man of his own self catches 455
The itch, or amorous French achès;[3]
So no man does himself convince,
By his own doctrine, of his sins:
And though all cry down self, none means
His own self in a literal sense: 460
Besides, it is not only foppish,
But vile, idolatrous, and popish,
For one man out of his own skin
To firk and whip another's sin;[4]
- ↑ The Sceptics, who held that certainty was not attainable on any subject, and doubted sensation altogether, are here wittily satirized as refusing to assent to Ralpho's doctrine of sympathetic whipping. The philosophers who believed in it were Sir Kenelm Digby, often the theme of Butler's banter, and some then credulous members of the Royal Society.
- ↑ A favourite expression of the sectaries of those days.
- ↑ The old pronunciation of this word was aitches, and the late John Kemble to the day of his death insisted on so pronouncing it; for which he was frequently ridiculed.
- ↑ A banter on the popish doctrine of satisfaction and supererogation.
