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CANTO I.]
HUDIBRAS.
15
And tell, with hieroglyphic spade,[1]
Its own grave and the state's were made.
Like Samson's heart-breakers, it grew
In time to make a nation rue;[2]
Tho' it contributed its own fall, 255
To wait upon the public downfal:[3]
It was canonic,[4] and did grow
In holy orders, by strict vow:[5]
Of rule as sullen and severe
As that of rigid Cordeliere.[6]260
'Twas bound to suffer persecution
And martyrdom with resolution;
T' oppose itself against the hate
And vengeance of th' incensed state:
In whose defiance it was worn. 265
Still ready to be pull'd and torn,
With red-hot irons to be tortured.
Reviled, and spit upon, and martyr'd.
- ↑ Alluding to the pictures of Time and Death.
- ↑ Heart-breakers were particular curls worn by the ladies, and sometimes by men. Samson's strength consisted in his hair; when that was cut off, he was taken prisoner; when it grew again, he was able to pull down the house, and destroy his enemies.
- ↑ Many of the Presbyterians and Independents swore not to cut their beards till monarchy and episcopacy were ruined. Such vows were common among the barbarous nations, especially the Germans. Civilis, as we learn from Tacitus, having destroyed the Roman legions, cut his hair, which he had vowed to let grow from his first taking up arms. And it became at length a national custom among some of the Germans, never to trim their hair, or their beards, till they had killed an enemy.
- ↑ The later editions, for canonic, read monastic.
- ↑ The vow of not shaving the beard till some particular event happened was not uncommon in those times. In a humorous poem, falsely ascribed to Mr Butler, entitled The Cobler and Vicar of Bray, we read, This worthy knight was one that swore
He would not cut his beard,
Till this ungodly nation was
From kings and bishops clear'd.
Which holy vow he firmly kept,
And most devoutly wore
A grisly meteor on his face.
Till they were both no more. - ↑ An order so called in France, from the knotted cord which they wore about their middles. In England they were named Grey Friars, and were the strictest branch of the Franciscans.
