356
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
For now the war is not between
The brethren and the men of sin,
But saint and saint to spill the blood
Of one another's brotherhood, 690
Where neither side can lay pretence
To liberty of conscience,[1]
Or zealous suff'ring for the Cause,
To gain one groat's worth of applause;
For tho' endur'd with resolution, 695
'Twill ne'er amount to persecution;
Shall precious saints, and Secret ones,
Break one another's outward bones,[2]
And eat the flesh of bretheren.
Instead of kings and mighty men? 700
When fiends agree among themselves,[3]
Shall they[4] be found the greater elves?
When Bel's at union with the Dragon,
And Baal-Peor friends with Dagon;
When savage bears agree with bears, 705
Shall Secret ones lug saints by th' ears,
And not atone their fatal wrath,[5]
When common danger threatens both?
Shall mastifts, by the collars pull'd,
Engag'd with bulls, let go their hold; 710
And saints, whose necks are pawn'd at stake,[6]
No notice of the danger take?
But tho' no pow'r of heav'n or hell
Can pacify fanatic zeal,
Who would not guess there might be hopes, 715
The fear of gallowses and ropes
The brethren and the men of sin,
But saint and saint to spill the blood
Of one another's brotherhood, 690
Where neither side can lay pretence
To liberty of conscience,[1]
Or zealous suff'ring for the Cause,
To gain one groat's worth of applause;
For tho' endur'd with resolution, 695
'Twill ne'er amount to persecution;
Shall precious saints, and Secret ones,
Break one another's outward bones,[2]
And eat the flesh of bretheren.
Instead of kings and mighty men? 700
When fiends agree among themselves,[3]
Shall they[4] be found the greater elves?
When Bel's at union with the Dragon,
And Baal-Peor friends with Dagon;
When savage bears agree with bears, 705
Shall Secret ones lug saints by th' ears,
And not atone their fatal wrath,[5]
When common danger threatens both?
Shall mastifts, by the collars pull'd,
Engag'd with bulls, let go their hold; 710
And saints, whose necks are pawn'd at stake,[6]
No notice of the danger take?
But tho' no pow'r of heav'n or hell
Can pacify fanatic zeal,
Who would not guess there might be hopes, 715
The fear of gallowses and ropes
- ↑ That is, not having granted liberty of conscience.
- ↑ A sneer upon the abuse of Scripture phrases, alluding to Psalm ii. 9; the same may be said of lines 326, 328, and 700.
- ↑
- ↑ They, that is, the saints, see v. 689, 697.
- ↑ Atone, that is, reconcile, see v. 717.
- ↑ That is, and saints, whose all is at stake, as they will be hanged if things do not take a friendly turn.
of opinion that the fiction of Elfs and Goblins, by which we used to frighten children, was derived from Guelphs and Ghibellmes. Butler wrote these lines before the Guelphs had become the ancestors of our own royal line. See the genealogy in Burke's Royal Pedigrees.
