CANTO II.]
HUDIBRAS.
369
And for th' eternal obligation
Y' have laid upon th' ungraterul nation, 1040
Be us'd s' unconscionably hard,
As not to find a just reward,
For letting rapine loose, and murther,
To rage just so far, but no further:[1]
And setting all the land on fire, 1045
To burn t' a scantling, but no higher:[2]
For vent'ring to assassinate,
And cut the throats of church and state;
And not b' allow'd the fittest men
To take the charge of both agen: 1050
Especially that have the Grace
Of Self-denying Gifted face;
Who, when your projects have miscarry'd,
Can lay them, with undaunted forehead,
On those you painfully[3] trepann'd, 1055
And sprinkled in at second hand;[4]
As we have been, to share the guilt
Of Christian blood, devoutly spilt;[5]
For so our ignorance was flamm'd
To damn ourselves, t' avoid being damn'd;[6] 1060
Till finding your old foe, the hangman,
Was like to lurch you at backgammon,[7]
Y' have laid upon th' ungraterul nation, 1040
Be us'd s' unconscionably hard,
As not to find a just reward,
For letting rapine loose, and murther,
To rage just so far, but no further:[1]
And setting all the land on fire, 1045
To burn t' a scantling, but no higher:[2]
For vent'ring to assassinate,
And cut the throats of church and state;
And not b' allow'd the fittest men
To take the charge of both agen: 1050
Especially that have the Grace
Of Self-denying Gifted face;
Who, when your projects have miscarry'd,
Can lay them, with undaunted forehead,
On those you painfully[3] trepann'd, 1055
And sprinkled in at second hand;[4]
As we have been, to share the guilt
Of Christian blood, devoutly spilt;[5]
For so our ignorance was flamm'd
To damn ourselves, t' avoid being damn'd;[6] 1060
Till finding your old foe, the hangman,
Was like to lurch you at backgammon,[7]
- ↑ Though the Presbyterians began the war, yet they pretended they had no thoughts of occasioning the bloodshed and devastation which were consequent upon it. They intended to bring the king to reason, not to murder him. It happened to them, however, as to the would-be conjurer, who, by certain words he had overheard, sent a broomstick to fetch water; but not recollecting the words to make it stop, it went and fetched water without ceasing, till it filled the house, and drowned him.
- ↑ Grey compares this to the joke of two countrymen who having bought a barn in partnership, one threatened to set his own half on fire.
- ↑ Meaning, with pains, laboriously. Walker says, "that by an impudent fallacy, called Translatio Criminis, the Independents laid their brats at other men's doors."
- ↑ Baptizing members into their churches in opposition to the practice of the Anabaptists.
- ↑ The war was begun and carried on by the Presbyterians in the name of religion, and in defence of the gospel.
- ↑ Meaning, to commit robbery, rebellion, and murder, with a view of keeping out Arminianism, Popery, &c.
- ↑ That is, finding the king was likely to get the better of you, and that we were all in danger of being hanged as traitors, we took the war out of your hands into our own management.
