CANTO II.]
HUDIBRAS.
345
An haberdasher of small wares[1]
In politics and state affairs;
More Jew than Rabb' Achithophel,[2] 425
And better gifted to rebel;
For when h' had taught his tribe to 'spouse
The Cause, aloft upon one house,
He scorn'd to set his own in order,
But try'd another, and went further; 430
So sullenly addicted still
To 's only principle, his will,
That whatsoe'er it chanc'd to prove,
No force of argument could move,
Nor law, nor cavalcade of Ho'born.[3] 435
Could render half a grain less stubborn;
For he at any time would hang,
For th' opportunity t' harangue;
And rather on a gibbet dangle,
Than miss his dear delight, to wrangle; 440
In which his parts were so accomplish'd.
That, right or wrong, he ne'er was non-plust:
But still his tongue ran on, the less
Of weight it bore, with greater ease;
And, with its everlasting clack, 445
Set all men's ears upon the rack:
No sooner could a hint appear,
But up he started to picqueer,[4]
And made the stoutest yield to mercy,
When he engag'd in controversy; 450
Not by the force of carnal reason,
But indefatigable teazing;
With vollies of eternal babble,
And clamour, more unanswerable:
In politics and state affairs;
More Jew than Rabb' Achithophel,[2] 425
And better gifted to rebel;
For when h' had taught his tribe to 'spouse
The Cause, aloft upon one house,
He scorn'd to set his own in order,
But try'd another, and went further; 430
So sullenly addicted still
To 's only principle, his will,
That whatsoe'er it chanc'd to prove,
No force of argument could move,
Nor law, nor cavalcade of Ho'born.[3] 435
Could render half a grain less stubborn;
For he at any time would hang,
For th' opportunity t' harangue;
And rather on a gibbet dangle,
Than miss his dear delight, to wrangle; 440
In which his parts were so accomplish'd.
That, right or wrong, he ne'er was non-plust:
But still his tongue ran on, the less
Of weight it bore, with greater ease;
And, with its everlasting clack, 445
Set all men's ears upon the rack:
No sooner could a hint appear,
But up he started to picqueer,[4]
And made the stoutest yield to mercy,
When he engag'd in controversy; 450
Not by the force of carnal reason,
But indefatigable teazing;
With vollies of eternal babble,
And clamour, more unanswerable:
- ↑ Lilburn had been bred a tradesman: Clarendon says a bookbinder, but Wood makes him a packer.
- ↑ Achithophel was one of David's counsellors who joined the rebellious Absalom, and assisted him with very artful advice; but hanged himself when it was not implicitly followed. 2 Samuel xvii. 23.
- ↑ When criminals were executed at Tyburn, they were generally conveyed in carts, by the sheriff and his attendants on horseback, from Newgate, along Holborn, and Oxford-street.
- ↑ A military term, which signifies to skirmish.
