342
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
'Mong these there was a politician,
With more heads than a beast in vision,[1]
And more intrigues in every one
Than all the whores of Babylon;
So politic, as if one eye 355
Upon the other were a spy,[2]
That to trepan the one to think
The other blind, both strove to blink;
And in his dark pragmatic way,
As busy as a child at play. 360
He 'ad seen three governments run down,[3]
And had a hand in ev'ry one;
Was for 'em, and against 'em all,[4]
But barb'rous when they came to fall:
For by trepanning th' old to ruin, 365
He made his int'rest with the new one;
Play'd true and faithful, tho' against
His conscience, and was still advanc'd:
With more heads than a beast in vision,[1]
And more intrigues in every one
Than all the whores of Babylon;
So politic, as if one eye 355
Upon the other were a spy,[2]
That to trepan the one to think
The other blind, both strove to blink;
And in his dark pragmatic way,
As busy as a child at play. 360
He 'ad seen three governments run down,[3]
And had a hand in ev'ry one;
Was for 'em, and against 'em all,[4]
But barb'rous when they came to fall:
For by trepanning th' old to ruin, 365
He made his int'rest with the new one;
Play'd true and faithful, tho' against
His conscience, and was still advanc'd:
- ↑ Alluding to Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury, mentioned in the last note. From an absurd defamation that he had the vanity to expect to be chosen king of Poland, he was by many called Tapsky, and by others, on account of his general conduct, he was nicknamed Shiftesbury. But whatever the shafts levelled at him by the wits of the time, it must never be forgotten that he carried the Habeas Corpus Act through Parliament.
- ↑ Lord Shaftesbury had weak eyes, and squinted.
- ↑ Those of the King, the Parliament, and the Protector. First he was high sheriff of Dorsetshire, governor of Weymouth, and raised some forces for the king's service. Next he joined the Parliament, took the Covenant, and was made colonel of a regiment of horse. Afterwards ho was a very busy person in setting up Cromwell to be lord protector; and then again was quite as active in deposing Richard, and restoring the Rump. Bishop Burnet says of him, that he was not ashamed to reckon up the many turns he had made, and valued himself upon effecting them at the properist season, and in the best manner. But the most powerful picture of him is that drawn by Dryden, in his Absalom and Achitophel.For close designs and crooked counsels fit,
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit;
Restless, unfix'd in principles and place,
In power uupleas'd, impatient of disgrace;
In friendship false, implacable in hate,
Resolv'd to ruin or to rule the state. - ↑ Grey says, "for the shameless duplicity of Shaftesbury, see the interesting memoirs of Col. Hutchinson, by his widow."
