288
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
That binds the female and the male,
Where th' one is but the other's bail;[1]
Like Roman gaolers, when they slept, 565
Chain'd to the prisoners they kept:[2]
Of which the true and faithfull'st lover
Gives best security to suffer.
Marriage is but a beast, some say,[3]
That carries double in foul way, 570
And therefore 'tis not to b' admir'd,
It should so suddenly be tir'd;
A bargain, at a venture made,
Between two partners in a trade:
For what's inferr'd by t' have and t' hold, 575
But something pass'd away and sold?[4]
That, as it makes but one of two,
Reduces all things else as low;
And at the best is but a mart
Between the one and th' other part, 580
That on the marriage day is paid,
Or hour of death, the bet it laid;[5]
And all the rest of bett'r or worse,
Both are but losers out of purse:
For when upon their ungot heirs 585
Th' entail themselves and all that's theirs,
What blinder bargain e'er was driven,
Or wager laid at six and seven?
To pass themselves away, and turn
Their children's tenants ere they're born? 590
Beg one another idiot
To guardians, ere they are begot;
Where th' one is but the other's bail;[1]
Like Roman gaolers, when they slept, 565
Chain'd to the prisoners they kept:[2]
Of which the true and faithfull'st lover
Gives best security to suffer.
Marriage is but a beast, some say,[3]
That carries double in foul way, 570
And therefore 'tis not to b' admir'd,
It should so suddenly be tir'd;
A bargain, at a venture made,
Between two partners in a trade:
For what's inferr'd by t' have and t' hold, 575
But something pass'd away and sold?[4]
That, as it makes but one of two,
Reduces all things else as low;
And at the best is but a mart
Between the one and th' other part, 580
That on the marriage day is paid,
Or hour of death, the bet it laid;[5]
And all the rest of bett'r or worse,
Both are but losers out of purse:
For when upon their ungot heirs 585
Th' entail themselves and all that's theirs,
What blinder bargain e'er was driven,
Or wager laid at six and seven?
To pass themselves away, and turn
Their children's tenants ere they're born? 590
Beg one another idiot
To guardians, ere they are begot;
- ↑ That is, where if one of them is faulty, the other is drawn into difficulties by it, and the truest lover is likely to be the greatest sufferer.
- ↑ The custom among the Romans was to chain the right hand of the culprit to the left hand of the guard.
- ↑ Sir Thomas Brown says that he could be content that we might procreate like trees without conjunction.
- ↑ An equivocation. The words "to have and to hold," in the marriage ceremony, signify "I take to possess and keep;" in deeds of conveyance their meaning is, "I give to be possessed and kept by another." The Salisbury Missal (see edition 1554) reads, "I take thee for my wedded wife to have and to hold for this day."
- ↑ Some editions read, the bet is laid.
