370
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
And win your necks upon the set,
As well as ours, who did but bet;
For he had drawn your ears before, 1065
And nick'd 'em on the self-same score,
We threw the box and dice away,
Before you 'd lost us at foul play;
And brought you down to rook and lie,
And fancy only on the by;[1] 1070
Redeem'd your forfeit jobbernoles,[2]
From perching upon lofty poles,
And rescu'd all your outward traitors,
From hanging up, like alligators;[3]
For which ingeniously ye 've show'd 1075
Your Presbyterian gratitude;
Would freely 've paid us home in kind,
And not have been one rope behind.[4]
Those were your motives to divide,
And scruple, on the other side,[5] 1080
To turn your zealous frauds, and force,
To fits of conscience and remorse;
To be convinc'd they were in vain,
And face about for new again;
For truth no more unveil'd your eyes, 1085
Than maggots are convinc'd to flies:[6]
As well as ours, who did but bet;
For he had drawn your ears before, 1065
And nick'd 'em on the self-same score,
We threw the box and dice away,
Before you 'd lost us at foul play;
And brought you down to rook and lie,
And fancy only on the by;[1] 1070
Redeem'd your forfeit jobbernoles,[2]
From perching upon lofty poles,
And rescu'd all your outward traitors,
From hanging up, like alligators;[3]
For which ingeniously ye 've show'd 1075
Your Presbyterian gratitude;
Would freely 've paid us home in kind,
And not have been one rope behind.[4]
Those were your motives to divide,
And scruple, on the other side,[5] 1080
To turn your zealous frauds, and force,
To fits of conscience and remorse;
To be convinc'd they were in vain,
And face about for new again;
For truth no more unveil'd your eyes, 1085
Than maggots are convinc'd to flies:[6]
- ↑ By-bets are bets made by spectators of a game, or standers-by: the Presbyterians, from being principals in the cause, were reduced to a secondary position; and from being principal players of the game, became mere lookers-on.
- ↑ The heads of traitors were set up on poles at Temple-bar or London Bridge.
- ↑ Alligators were frequently hung up in the shops of druggists and apothecaries.
- ↑ The Dissenters, when in power, were no enemies to persecution, and showed themselves as hearty persecutors as ever the Church had been. They maintained that "A toleration of different ways of churches and church government will be to this kingdom very mischievous, pernicious, and destructive;" and Calamy, being asked what he would do with those who differed from him in opinion, said, "He would not meddle with their consciences, but only with their persons and estates."
- ↑ He tells the Presbyterians that their jealousy of the Independents caused their treachery to them, not any scruple of conscience.
- ↑ The change was produced in them merely by the course of their nature. The edition of 1710 reads:
Than maggots when they turn to flies.
