CANTO II.]
HUDIBRAS.
375
Brave undertakers to Restore, 1185
That could not keep yourselves in pow'r;
T' advance the int'rests of the crown,
That wanted wit to keep your own.
'Tis true you have, for I'd be loth
To wrong ye, done your parts in both; 1190
To keep him out, and bring him in,
As grace is introduc'd by sin:[1]
For 'twas your zealous want of sense,
And sanctify'd impertinence;
Your carrying bus'ness in a huddle, 1195
That forc'd our rulers to New-model;
Oblig'd the state to tack about,
And turn you, root and branch, all out;
To reformado, one and all,
T' your great croysado general:[2] 1200
Your greedy slav'ring[3] to devour,
Before 'twas in your clutches' pow'r;
That sprung the game you were to set,
Before ye 'd time to draw the net:
Your spite to see the church's lands 1205
Divided into other hands,
That could not keep yourselves in pow'r;
T' advance the int'rests of the crown,
That wanted wit to keep your own.
'Tis true you have, for I'd be loth
To wrong ye, done your parts in both; 1190
To keep him out, and bring him in,
As grace is introduc'd by sin:[1]
For 'twas your zealous want of sense,
And sanctify'd impertinence;
Your carrying bus'ness in a huddle, 1195
That forc'd our rulers to New-model;
Oblig'd the state to tack about,
And turn you, root and branch, all out;
To reformado, one and all,
T' your great croysado general:[2] 1200
Your greedy slav'ring[3] to devour,
Before 'twas in your clutches' pow'r;
That sprung the game you were to set,
Before ye 'd time to draw the net:
Your spite to see the church's lands 1205
Divided into other hands,
- ↑ Thus Saint Paul to the Romans: "Shall we continue in sin, that may grace abound?"
- ↑ Called croysado general, because the Parliament pretended to engage in the war chiefly on account of religion: a term derived from the holy war against the Turks and Saracens, which obtained the name of Crusade, or Croisado, from the cross displayed on the banners. The Independents, finding that the Presbyterians, who held the principal places both in Parliament and in the army, instead of aiming at what had been proposed in the Covenant, were solely intent upon securing for themselves the position and authority of the Church of England, and that the Lord General Essex was plainly afraid of beating the king too well, proposed and carried the Self-denying Ordinance, by which all members of Parliament (except Fairfax and Cromwell) were prohibited from holding commissions in the army and seats in the legislature at the same time. Essex, being an "hereditary legislator," was forced to resign his command; the others had to choose between the Parliament and the army, and most of the Presbyterian leaders chose to retain their seats in the House, thinking so to keep the control of the army in their hands. But by the new-modelling of the army, instead of the riff-raff which had been pressed into the service at first, it was made to consist almost wholly of men who had (as Cromwell said) "a mind to the work," small householders and yeomen, whom the Parliament found, too late, it could not control.
- ↑ That is, letting your mouths water.
