354
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
Abates the sharpness of its edge,
Without the pow'r of sacrilege;[1]
And tho' they 've tricks to cast their sins,
As easy 's serpents do their skins, 650
That in a while grow out agen,
In peace they turn mere carnal men,
And from the most refin'd of saints,
As nat'rally grow miscreants
As barnacles turn soland geese 655
In th' islands of the Orcades.[2]
Their Dispensation's but a ticket
For their conforming to the wicked,
With whom their greatest difference
Lies more in words and show, than sense: 660
Without the pow'r of sacrilege;[1]
And tho' they 've tricks to cast their sins,
As easy 's serpents do their skins, 650
That in a while grow out agen,
In peace they turn mere carnal men,
And from the most refin'd of saints,
As nat'rally grow miscreants
As barnacles turn soland geese 655
In th' islands of the Orcades.[2]
Their Dispensation's but a ticket
For their conforming to the wicked,
With whom their greatest difference
Lies more in words and show, than sense: 660
- ↑ That is, if they have not the power and opportunity of committing sacrilege, by plundering the church lands.
- ↑ This was a common notion with the early Naturalists, and is among the figured wonders in Olaus Magnus de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, 1555, Gerald's Herbal, Gotofredi Archontologia Cosmica, and several other old folios. But the poet is probably hitting at the Royal Society, who, in their twelfth volume of the Philosophical Transactions, No. 137, p. 925 give Sir Robert Moray's account of Barnacles hanging upon trees, each containing a little bird, so completely formed, that nothing appeared wanting, as to the external parts, for making up a perfect sea-fowl: the little bill, like that of a goose; the eyes marked; the head, neck, breast and wings, tail, and feet formed; the feathers every way perfectly shaped, and blackish coloured; and the feet like those of other water fowls. Pennant explains this by observing that the Barnacle (Lepas anatifera) is furnished with a feathered beard, which, in a credulous age, was believed to be part of a young bird; it is often found adhering to the bottoms of ships. Sir John Mandeville, in his Voyages, says, "In my country there are trees that do bear fruit that become birds flying, and they are good to eat, and that which falls in the water lives, and that which falls on the earth dies." Hector Boetius, in his History of Scotland, tells us of a goose-bearing tree, as it is called in the Orcades: that is, one whose leaves falling into the water, are turned to those geese which are called Soland geese, and found in prodigious numbers in those parts. In Moore's Travels into the inland parts of Africa, p. 54, we read: "This evening, December 18, 1730, I supped upon oysters which grew upon trees. Down the river (Gambia) where the water is salt, and near the sea, the river is bounded with trees called mangroves, whose leaves being long and heavy weigh the boughs into the water. To these leaves the young oysters fasten in great quantities, where they grow till they are very large; and then you cannot separate them from the tree, but are obliged to cut off the boughs: the oysters hanging on them resemble a rope of onions."
