CANTO II.]
HUDIBRAS.
333
Altho' there's nothing lost nor won,
The public bus'ness is undone, 160
Which still the longer 'tis in doing,
Becomes the surer way to ruin.
This when the loyalists perceiv'd,[1]
Who to their faith as firmly cleav'd,
And own'd the right they had paid down 165
So dearly for, the church and crown,
Th' united constanter, and sided
The more, the more their foes divided:
For tho' outnumber'd, overthrown,
And by the fate of war run down, 170
Their duty never was defeated,
Nor from their oaths and faith retreated;
For loyalty is still the same,
Whether it win or lose the game;
True as the dial to the sun, 175
Altho' it be not shin'd upon.[2]
But when these bretheren[3] in evil,
Their adversaries, and the devil,
Began once more to show them play,
And hopes, at least, to have a day, 180
They rally'd in parade of woods,
And unfrequented solitudes;
Conven'd at midnight in outhouses,
T' appoint new-rising rendezvouses,
And, with a pertinacy unmatch'd 185
For new recruits[4] of danger watch'd.
No sooner was one blow diverted,
But up another party started,
And as if Nature too, in haste
To furnish out supplies as fast, 190
The public bus'ness is undone, 160
Which still the longer 'tis in doing,
Becomes the surer way to ruin.
This when the loyalists perceiv'd,[1]
Who to their faith as firmly cleav'd,
And own'd the right they had paid down 165
So dearly for, the church and crown,
Th' united constanter, and sided
The more, the more their foes divided:
For tho' outnumber'd, overthrown,
And by the fate of war run down, 170
Their duty never was defeated,
Nor from their oaths and faith retreated;
For loyalty is still the same,
Whether it win or lose the game;
True as the dial to the sun, 175
Altho' it be not shin'd upon.[2]
But when these bretheren[3] in evil,
Their adversaries, and the devil,
Began once more to show them play,
And hopes, at least, to have a day, 180
They rally'd in parade of woods,
And unfrequented solitudes;
Conven'd at midnight in outhouses,
T' appoint new-rising rendezvouses,
And, with a pertinacy unmatch'd 185
For new recruits[4] of danger watch'd.
No sooner was one blow diverted,
But up another party started,
And as if Nature too, in haste
To furnish out supplies as fast, 190
- ↑ This encomium on the Royalists, their prudence, and suffering fidelity, has been generally admired.
- ↑ As the dial is invariable, and always true to the sun whenever its rays emerge, however its lustre may be sometimes obscured by passing clouds; so true loyalty is always ready to serve its king and country, though often under the pressure of affliction and distress.
- ↑ The poet, to serve his metre, sometimes lengthens and sometimes contracts his words, thus bretheren, lightening, oppugne, sarcasmous, affairs, bungleing. spiinkleing, bcnigne.
- ↑ Recruits, that is, Irish volunteers ready to serve the king's cause.
