CANTO II.]
HUDIBRAS.
385
And seem as scrupulously just,
To bait our hooks for greater trust. 1480
But still be careful to cry down
All public actions, tho' our own;
The least miscarriage aggravate,
And charge it all upon the state:
Express the horrid'st detestation, 1485
And pity the distracted nation;
Tell stories scandalous and false,
I' th' proper language of cabals,
Where all a subtle statesman says,
Is half in words, and half in face; 1490
As Spaniards talk in dialogues
Of heads and shoulders, nods and shrugs:
Entrust it under solemn vows
Of mum, and silence, and the rose,[1]
To be retail'd again in whispers, 1495
For th' easy credulous to disperse.
Thus far the statesman—When a shout,
Heard at a distance, put him out;
And strait another, all aghast,
Rush'd in with equal fear and haste, 1500
Who star'd about, as pale as death,
And, for a while, as out of breath,
Till, having gather'd up his wits,
He thus began his tale by fits:[2]
That beastly rabble—that came down 1505
From all the garrets—in the town,
And stalls, and shop-boards—in vast swarms,
With new-chalk'd bills—and rusty arms,
To bait our hooks for greater trust. 1480
But still be careful to cry down
All public actions, tho' our own;
The least miscarriage aggravate,
And charge it all upon the state:
Express the horrid'st detestation, 1485
And pity the distracted nation;
Tell stories scandalous and false,
I' th' proper language of cabals,
Where all a subtle statesman says,
Is half in words, and half in face; 1490
As Spaniards talk in dialogues
Of heads and shoulders, nods and shrugs:
Entrust it under solemn vows
Of mum, and silence, and the rose,[1]
To be retail'd again in whispers, 1495
For th' easy credulous to disperse.
Thus far the statesman—When a shout,
Heard at a distance, put him out;
And strait another, all aghast,
Rush'd in with equal fear and haste, 1500
Who star'd about, as pale as death,
And, for a while, as out of breath,
Till, having gather'd up his wits,
He thus began his tale by fits:[2]
That beastly rabble—that came down 1505
From all the garrets—in the town,
And stalls, and shop-boards—in vast swarms,
With new-chalk'd bills—and rusty arms,
- ↑ When anything was said in confidence, the speaker in conclusion generally used the word mum, or silence. Mum, in the first sense, means mask, whence in its secondary meaning comes secrecy or concealment. Sub rosâ (under the rose) had the same meaning; whence, in rooms designed for convivial meetings, it was customary to place a rose above the table, to signify that anything there spoken ought never to be divulged. A rose was frequently painted on ceilings, both in England and Germany. See Brand's Antiquities (Bohn's Edit.), vol. ii. p. 345, et seq.
- ↑ This was Sir Martin Noel, who, while the Cabal was sitting, brought the unpalatable news that the Rump Parliament was dismissed, the secluded members admitted into the House by Monk, and that the mob of London testified their approval of the measure by burning the Rump in effigy.
