CANTO II.]
HUDIBRAS.
343
For by the witchcraft of rebellionTransform'd t' a feeble state-camelion,[1] 370By giving aim from side to side, He never fail'd to save his tide, But got the start of ev'ry state, And at a change, ne'er came too late; Could turn his word, and oath, and faith, 375As many ways as in a lathe; By turning, wriggle, like a screw, Int' highest trust, and out, for new: For when he'd happily incurred,Instead of hemp, to be preferr'd, 380And pass'd upon a government,[2]He play'd his trick, and out he went; But being out, and out of hopes To mount his ladder, more, of ropes,[3]Would strive to raise himself upon 385The public ruin, and his own; So little did he understandThe desp'rate feats he took in hand, For when he 'ad got himself a name For frauds and tricks he spoil'd his game; 390Had forc'd his neck into a noose, To show his play at fast and loose;[4]And, when he chanc'd t' escape, mistook, For art and subtlety, his luck.So right his judgment was cut fit, 395And made a tally to his wit,And both together most profound At deeds of darkness under-ground;
- ↑ The camelion is said to assume the colour of the nearest object.
- ↑ That is, passed himself upon the government.
- ↑ It was in clandestine designs, such as house-breaking and the like, that rope-ladders were chiefly used in our poet's time.
- ↑ Fast and loose, called also Pricking at the belt, or girdle, or garter, a cheating game still in vogue among gypsies and trampers at fairs. A leathern belt or garter is coiled up in intricate folds, but with all the appearance of having an ordinary centre, and then placed upon a table. The object of the player is to prick the centre fold with a skewer, so as to hold fast the belt, but the trickster takes hold of the ends, which are double, and draws the whole away. The game is now commonly played with a piece of list, and called Pricking at the garter. Shakspeare alludes to it in Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv. sc. 10, and in Love's Labour Lost, Act iii. sc. I.
