302
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
And, like an anchorite, gives over 935
This world, for th' heav'n of a lover?[1]
I grant, quoth she, there are some few
Who take that course, and find it true;
But millions, whom the same does sentence
To heav'n b' another way, repentance. 940
Love's arrows are but shot at rovers,[2]
Tho' all they hit they turn to lovers,
And all the weighty consequents
Depend upon more blind events
Than gamesters when they play a set, 945
With greatest cunning, at piquet,
Put out with caution, but take in
They know not what, unsight, unseen.
For what do lovers, when they're fast
In one another's arms embrac'd, 950
But strive to plunder, and convey
Each other, like a prize, away?
To change the property of selves,
As sucking children are by elves?[3]
And if they use their persons so, 955
What will they to their fortunes do?
Their fortunes! the perpetual aims
Of all their extasies and flames.
For when the money's on the book,
And "all my worldly goods"—but spoke,[4] 960
The formal livery and seisin
That puts a lover in possession,
To that alone the bridegroom's wedded,
The bride a flam that's superseded;
To that their faith is still made good, 965
And all the oaths to us they vow'd;
This world, for th' heav'n of a lover?[1]
I grant, quoth she, there are some few
Who take that course, and find it true;
But millions, whom the same does sentence
To heav'n b' another way, repentance. 940
Love's arrows are but shot at rovers,[2]
Tho' all they hit they turn to lovers,
And all the weighty consequents
Depend upon more blind events
Than gamesters when they play a set, 945
With greatest cunning, at piquet,
Put out with caution, but take in
They know not what, unsight, unseen.
For what do lovers, when they're fast
In one another's arms embrac'd, 950
But strive to plunder, and convey
Each other, like a prize, away?
To change the property of selves,
As sucking children are by elves?[3]
And if they use their persons so, 955
What will they to their fortunes do?
Their fortunes! the perpetual aims
Of all their extasies and flames.
For when the money's on the book,
And "all my worldly goods"—but spoke,[4] 960
The formal livery and seisin
That puts a lover in possession,
To that alone the bridegroom's wedded,
The bride a flam that's superseded;
To that their faith is still made good, 965
And all the oaths to us they vow'd;
- ↑ In this speech the Knight makes amends for previous uncourteousness, and defends the ladies and the married state with great gallantry, wit, and good sense.
- ↑ That is, shot at random, not at a target.
- ↑ The fairies were believed to be capable of exchanging infants in the cradle for some of their own "Elfin brood," or for the children of other parents. See Keightley's Fairy Mythology.
- ↑ Alluding to the form of marriage in the Common Prayer Book, where the fee is directed to be put upon the book with the wedding-ring, and the bridegroom endows the bride with all his worldly goods.
