CANTO I.]
HUDIBRAS.
287
For still the longer we contend, 535
We are but farther off the end.
But granting now we should agree,
What is it you expect from me?
Your plighted faith, quoth he, and word
You pass'd in heaven, on record, 540
Where all contracts to have and t' hold,
Are everlastingly enroll'd:
And if 'tis counted treason here[1]
To raze records, 'tis much more there.
Quoth she, There are no bargains driv'n, 545
Nor marriages clapp'd up in heav'n;[2]
And that's the reason, as some guess,
There is no heav'n in marriages;
Two things that naturally press[3]
Too narrowly, to be at ease: 550
Their bus'ness there is only love,
Which marriage is not like t' improve;[4]
Love, that's too generous t' abide
To be against its nature tied;
For where 'tis of itself inclin'd, 555
It breaks loose when it is confin'd,[5]
And like the soul, its harbourer,
Debarr'd the freedom of the air,
Disdains against its will to stay,
But struggles out, and flies away: 560
And therefore never can comply,
T' endure the matrimonial tie,
We are but farther off the end.
But granting now we should agree,
What is it you expect from me?
Your plighted faith, quoth he, and word
You pass'd in heaven, on record, 540
Where all contracts to have and t' hold,
Are everlastingly enroll'd:
And if 'tis counted treason here[1]
To raze records, 'tis much more there.
Quoth she, There are no bargains driv'n, 545
Nor marriages clapp'd up in heav'n;[2]
And that's the reason, as some guess,
There is no heav'n in marriages;
Two things that naturally press[3]
Too narrowly, to be at ease: 550
Their bus'ness there is only love,
Which marriage is not like t' improve;[4]
Love, that's too generous t' abide
To be against its nature tied;
For where 'tis of itself inclin'd, 555
It breaks loose when it is confin'd,[5]
And like the soul, its harbourer,
Debarr'd the freedom of the air,
Disdains against its will to stay,
But struggles out, and flies away: 560
And therefore never can comply,
T' endure the matrimonial tie,
- ↑ It was made felony by Act 8 Ric. II., and 8 Hen. VI., cap. 12.
- ↑ Mark xii. 25: "For when they shall arise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage."
- ↑ That is, bargains and marriages.
- ↑ Plurimus in cœlis amor est, connubia nulla:
Conjugia in terris plurima, nullis amor.
J. Owen, Epigram, lib. 2. - ↑ Thus thought Eloise, according to Pope:
So Chaucer, in his Frankeleynes Tale:
Love wol not be constrained by maistrie:
Whan maistre cometh, the god of love anon
Beteth his winges, and, farewel, he is gon.
