CANTO I.]
HUDIBRAS.
297
Both join'd together with such art,
That nothing else but death can part.
Those heav'nl' attracts of yours, your eyes,
And face, that all the world surprise, 780
That dazzle all that look upon ye,
And scorch all other ladies tawny:
Those ravishing and charming graces,
Are all made up of two half faces
That, in a mathematic line, 785
Like those in other heavens, join;[1]
Of which, if either grew alone,
'Twould fright as much to look upon:
And so would that sweet bud, your lip,
Without the other's fellowship. 790
Our noblest senses act by pairs,
Two eyes to see, to hear two ears;
Th' intelligencers of the mind,
To wait upon the soul design'd:
But those that serve the body alone, 795
Are single and confin'd to one.
The world is but two parts, that meet
And close at th' equinoctial fit;
And so are all the works of nature,
Stamp'd with her signature on matter; 800
Which all her creatures, to a leaf,
Or smallest blade of grass, receive.[2]
All which sufficiently declare
How entirely marriage is her care,
The only method that she uses, 805
In all the wonders she produces;
And those that take their rules from her
Can never be deceiv'd, nor err:
For what secures the civil life,
But pawns of children, and a wife?[3] 810
That lie, like hostages, at stake,
To pay for all men undertake;
That nothing else but death can part.
Those heav'nl' attracts of yours, your eyes,
And face, that all the world surprise, 780
That dazzle all that look upon ye,
And scorch all other ladies tawny:
Those ravishing and charming graces,
Are all made up of two half faces
That, in a mathematic line, 785
Like those in other heavens, join;[1]
Of which, if either grew alone,
'Twould fright as much to look upon:
And so would that sweet bud, your lip,
Without the other's fellowship. 790
Our noblest senses act by pairs,
Two eyes to see, to hear two ears;
Th' intelligencers of the mind,
To wait upon the soul design'd:
But those that serve the body alone, 795
Are single and confin'd to one.
The world is but two parts, that meet
And close at th' equinoctial fit;
And so are all the works of nature,
Stamp'd with her signature on matter; 800
Which all her creatures, to a leaf,
Or smallest blade of grass, receive.[2]
All which sufficiently declare
How entirely marriage is her care,
The only method that she uses, 805
In all the wonders she produces;
And those that take their rules from her
Can never be deceiv'd, nor err:
For what secures the civil life,
But pawns of children, and a wife?[3] 810
That lie, like hostages, at stake,
To pay for all men undertake;
- ↑ That is, that join insensibly in an imperceptible line, like the imaginary lines of mathematicians. Other heavens, that is, the real heavens.
- ↑ Alluding to the sexual laws of nature, as typified in plants down to the smallest forms.
- ↑ See Lord Bacon's Essay, No. viii.
