318
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
T' entice fanatics in the dirt,
And wash 'em clean in ditches for't;
Of which conceit you are so proud,
At ev'ry jest you laugh aloud, 1420
As now you would have done by me,
But that I barr'd your raillery.
Sir, quoth the Voice, ye're no such sophy[1]
As you would have the world judge of ye.
If you design to weigh our talents 1425
I' th' standard of your own false balance,
Or think it possible to know
Us ghosts, as well as we do you,
We who have been the everlasting
Companions of your drubs and basting, 1430
And never left you in contest,
With male or female, man or beast,
But prov'd as true t' ye, and entire,
In all adventures, as your Squire.
Quoth he, That may be said as true, 1435
By th' idlest pug of all your crew;
For none could have betray'd us worse
Than those allies of ours and yours.[2]
But I have sent him for a token
To your low-country Hogen-Mogen, 1440
To whose infernal shores I hope
He'll swing like skippers[3] in a rope:
And if ye've been more just to me,
As I am apt to think, than he,
I am afraid it is as true 1445
What th' ill-affected say of you:
Ye've 'spous'd the Covenant and Cause
By holding up your cloven paws.[4]
And wash 'em clean in ditches for't;
Of which conceit you are so proud,
At ev'ry jest you laugh aloud, 1420
As now you would have done by me,
But that I barr'd your raillery.
Sir, quoth the Voice, ye're no such sophy[1]
As you would have the world judge of ye.
If you design to weigh our talents 1425
I' th' standard of your own false balance,
Or think it possible to know
Us ghosts, as well as we do you,
We who have been the everlasting
Companions of your drubs and basting, 1430
And never left you in contest,
With male or female, man or beast,
But prov'd as true t' ye, and entire,
In all adventures, as your Squire.
Quoth he, That may be said as true, 1435
By th' idlest pug of all your crew;
For none could have betray'd us worse
Than those allies of ours and yours.[2]
But I have sent him for a token
To your low-country Hogen-Mogen, 1440
To whose infernal shores I hope
He'll swing like skippers[3] in a rope:
And if ye've been more just to me,
As I am apt to think, than he,
I am afraid it is as true 1445
What th' ill-affected say of you:
Ye've 'spous'd the Covenant and Cause
By holding up your cloven paws.[4]
- ↑ You are no such wise person, or sophister, from the Greek σύφος.
- ↑ Meaning the Independents, or Ralpho, whom he says he had sent to the infernal Hogen-Mogen (from the Dutch Hoogmogende, high and mighty, or the devil,) supposing he would be hung.
- ↑ Skipper is the Dutch for the master of a sloop, generally a good climber.
- ↑ When persons took the Covenant, they attested their obligation to observe its principles by lifting up their hands to heaven. Of this South says, satirically, "Holding up their hands was a sign that they were ready to strike." The Covenant here means the Solemn League and Covenant,
