384
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
Gain'd vastly by their joint endeavour,
The right a thief, the left receiver;
And what the one, by tricks, forestall'd,
The other, by as sly, retail'd.
For gain has wonderful effects 1445
T' improve the factory of sects;
The Rule of Faith in all professions,
And great Diana of th' Ephesians;[1]
Whence turning of religion's made
The means to turn and wind a trade. 1450
And though some change it for the worse,
They put themselves into a course,
And draw in store of customers,
To thrive the better in commerce:
For all religions flock together, 1455
Like tame and wild fowl of a feather:
To nab the itches of their sects,
As jades do one another's necks.
Hence 'tis hypocrisy as well
Will serve t' improve a church, as zeal; 1460
As persecution or promotion,
Do equally advance devotion.
Let bus'ness, like ill watches, go
Sometime too fast, sometime too slow;
For things in order are put out 1465
So easy, ease itself will do 't:
But when the feat's design'd and meant,
What miracle cau bar th' event?
For 'tis more easy to betray,
Than ruin any other way. 1470
All possible occasions start,
The weightiest matters to divert;
Obstruct, perplex, distract, entangle,
And lay perpetual trains to wrangle.[2]
But in affairs of less import, 1475
That neither do us good nor hurt,
And they receive as little by,
Out-fawn as much, and out-comply,
The right a thief, the left receiver;
And what the one, by tricks, forestall'd,
The other, by as sly, retail'd.
For gain has wonderful effects 1445
T' improve the factory of sects;
The Rule of Faith in all professions,
And great Diana of th' Ephesians;[1]
Whence turning of religion's made
The means to turn and wind a trade. 1450
And though some change it for the worse,
They put themselves into a course,
And draw in store of customers,
To thrive the better in commerce:
For all religions flock together, 1455
Like tame and wild fowl of a feather:
To nab the itches of their sects,
As jades do one another's necks.
Hence 'tis hypocrisy as well
Will serve t' improve a church, as zeal; 1460
As persecution or promotion,
Do equally advance devotion.
Let bus'ness, like ill watches, go
Sometime too fast, sometime too slow;
For things in order are put out 1465
So easy, ease itself will do 't:
But when the feat's design'd and meant,
What miracle cau bar th' event?
For 'tis more easy to betray,
Than ruin any other way. 1470
All possible occasions start,
The weightiest matters to divert;
Obstruct, perplex, distract, entangle,
And lay perpetual trains to wrangle.[2]
But in affairs of less import, 1475
That neither do us good nor hurt,
And they receive as little by,
Out-fawn as much, and out-comply,
- ↑ Acts xix. 28.
- ↑ Exactly the advice given in Aristophanes, Equites, v. 214.
