374
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
And spirited out of th' enjoyments
Of precious, edifying employments,
By those who lodg'd their Gifts and Graces, 1155
Like better bowlers, in your places:[1]
All which you bore with resolution,
Charg'd on th' account of persecution;
And tho' most righteously oppress'd,
Against your wills, still acquiesc'd; 1160
And never humm'd and hah'd sedition,[2]
Nor snuffled treason, nor misprision:
That is, because you never durst;
For had you preach'd and pray'd your worst,
Alas! you were no longer able 1165
To raise your posse of the rabble:
One single red-coat sentinel[3]
Outcharm'd the magic of the spell.
And, with his squirt-fire,[4] could disperse
Whole troops with chapter rais'd and verse. 1170
We knew too well those tricks of yours,
To leave it ever in your pow'rs,
Or trust our safeties, or undoings,
To your disposing of outgoings,
Or to your ordering Providence, 1175
One farthing's worth of consequence.
For had you pow'r to undermine,
Or wit to carry a design,
Or correspondence to trepan,
Inveigle, or betray one man; 1180
There's nothing else that intervenes,
And bars your zeal to use the means;
And therefore wond'rous like, no doubt,
To bring in kings, or keep them out:
Of precious, edifying employments,
By those who lodg'd their Gifts and Graces, 1155
Like better bowlers, in your places:[1]
All which you bore with resolution,
Charg'd on th' account of persecution;
And tho' most righteously oppress'd,
Against your wills, still acquiesc'd; 1160
And never humm'd and hah'd sedition,[2]
Nor snuffled treason, nor misprision:
That is, because you never durst;
For had you preach'd and pray'd your worst,
Alas! you were no longer able 1165
To raise your posse of the rabble:
One single red-coat sentinel[3]
Outcharm'd the magic of the spell.
And, with his squirt-fire,[4] could disperse
Whole troops with chapter rais'd and verse. 1170
We knew too well those tricks of yours,
To leave it ever in your pow'rs,
Or trust our safeties, or undoings,
To your disposing of outgoings,
Or to your ordering Providence, 1175
One farthing's worth of consequence.
For had you pow'r to undermine,
Or wit to carry a design,
Or correspondence to trepan,
Inveigle, or betray one man; 1180
There's nothing else that intervenes,
And bars your zeal to use the means;
And therefore wond'rous like, no doubt,
To bring in kings, or keep them out:
- ↑ The preceding lines described precisely the relation of the Independents to the Presbyterians, during the Commonwealth.
- ↑ Hums and hahs were the ordinary expressions of approbation, uttered by hearers of sermons. And the "snuffle" was then, and long afterwards, "the nasal drawl heard in conventicles." Sir Roger L'Estrange distinguishes between the religion of the head and that of the nose. Apology, p. 40.
- ↑ The "red-coat" is thus specially mentioned because it was now, for the first time, made the soldier's peculiar dress; and the Independents formed the majority of the soldiery.
- ↑ That is, his musket.
