CANTO II.]
HUDIBRAS.
341
And some for breaking of their bones
With rods of iron,[1] by Secret ones;[2]
For thrashing mountains,[3] and with spells
For hallowing carriers' packs and bells;[4] 330
Things that the legend never heard of,
But made the wicked sore afeard of.[5]
The quacks of government,[6] who sate
At th' unregarded helm of state,
And understood this wild confusion 335
Of fatal madness and delusion,
Must, sooner than a prodigy,
Portend destruction to be nigh,
Consider'd timely how t' withdraw,
And save their wind-pipes from the law; 340
For one rencounter at the bar
Was worse than all they'd 'scap'd in war;
And therefore met in consultation
To cant and quack upon the nation;
Not for the sickly patient's sake, 345
Nor what to give, but what to take;
To feel the pulses of their fees,
More wise than fumbling arteries;
Prolong the snuff of life in pain,
And from the grave recover—gain. 350
With rods of iron,[1] by Secret ones;[2]
For thrashing mountains,[3] and with spells
For hallowing carriers' packs and bells;[4] 330
Things that the legend never heard of,
But made the wicked sore afeard of.[5]
The quacks of government,[6] who sate
At th' unregarded helm of state,
And understood this wild confusion 335
Of fatal madness and delusion,
Must, sooner than a prodigy,
Portend destruction to be nigh,
Consider'd timely how t' withdraw,
And save their wind-pipes from the law; 340
For one rencounter at the bar
Was worse than all they'd 'scap'd in war;
And therefore met in consultation
To cant and quack upon the nation;
Not for the sickly patient's sake, 345
Nor what to give, but what to take;
To feel the pulses of their fees,
More wise than fumbling arteries;
Prolong the snuff of life in pain,
And from the grave recover—gain. 350
- ↑ Ridiculing the practice, so common in those days, of expressing every sentiment in terms of Scripture. He alludes perhaps to Psalm ii. 9, Isaiah xli. 15, and Revelation xix. 15.
- ↑ The 83rd Psalm and 3rd verse is thus translated in their favourite Genevan text: "And taken counsel against thy secret ones." See this expression used v. 681, 697, and 706 of this canto.
- ↑ A sneer at the cant of the Fifth Monarchy Men, for their misapplication of the text Isaiah xli. 15.
- ↑ Zachariah xiv. 20.
- ↑ Things which the Scriptures never intended, but which the wicked, that is, the warriors, kings, and mighty men, were afraid of.
- ↑ These were Hollis, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Grimstone, Annesley, Manchester, Roberts, and others; who perceiving that Richard Cromwell was unable to conduct the government, and that the various schemers, who daily started up, would divide the party, and facilitate the restoration of the royal family, thought it prudent to take care of themselves, and secure their own interests with as much haste as possible.
captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great."
