CANTO II.]
HUDIBRAS.
345
An haberdasher of small wares[1] In politics and state affairs; More Jew than Rabb' Achithophel,[2] 425And 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; 430So 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] 435Could 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; 440In 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, 445Set 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; 450Not 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.
