CANTO I.]
HUDIBRAS.
311
In which all churches are concern'd, 1225And is the easiest to be learn'd:For no degrees, unless th' employ it,Can ever gain much, or enjoy it.A gift that is not only ableTo domineer among the rabble, 1230But by the laws empower'd to rout,And awe the greatest that stand out;Which few hold forth against, for fearTheir hands should slip, and come too near;For no sin else, among the saints, 1235Is taught so tenderly against. What made thee break thy plighted vows?—That which makes others break a house, And hang, and scorn ye all, before Endure the plague of being poor. 1240 Quoth he, I see you have more tricks Than all our doating politics, That are grown old and out of fashion, Compar'd with your new Reformation; That we must come to school to you, 1245To learn your more refin'd and new. Quoth he, If you will give me leave To tell you what I now perceive,You'll find yourself an arrant chouse, If y' were but at a Meeting-house. 1250 'Tis true, quoth he, we ne'er come there, Because w' have let 'em out by th' year.[1] Truly, quoth he, you can't imagine What wond'rous things they will engage in; That as your fellow-fiends in hell 1255Were angels all before they fell,So are you like to be agen, Compar'd with th' angels of us men.[2]
- ↑ The devils are here looked upon as landlords of the meeting-houses, since the tenants of them were known to be so diabolical, and to hold them by no good title; but as it was uncertain how long these lawless times would last, the poet makes the devils let them only by the year: now when anything is actually let, landlords never come there, that is, have excluded themselves from all right to the use of the premises.
- ↑ I remember an old attorney, who told me, a little before his death, that
church service, is called the saints' bell; and when the clerk has rung it he says, "he has rung all in."
