426
HUDIBRAS.
[EPISTLE TO
It is not just, that does exempt
The guilty, and punish the innocent.[1]
To make the ears repair the wrong
Committed by th' ungovern'd tongue;
And when one member is forsworn, 55
Another to be cropp'd or torn.
And if you shou'd, as you design,
By course of law, recover mine,
You're like, if you consider right,
To gain but little honour by't. 60
For he that for his lady's sake
Lays down his life, or limbs, at stake.
Does not so much deserve her favour,
As he that pawns his soul to have her.
This you 've acknowledg'd I have done, 65
Altho' you now disdain to own;
But sentence[2] what you rather ought
T' esteem good service than a fault.
Besides, oaths are not bound to bear
That literal sense the words infer, 70
But, by the practice of the age,
Are to be judg'd how far th' engage;
And where the sense by custom's checkt,
Are found void, and of none effect,
For no man takes or keeps a vow, 75
But just as he sees others do;
Nor are th' oblig'd to be so brittle,
As not to yield and bow a little:
For as best temper'd blades are found,
Before they break, to bend quite round; 80
So truest oaths are still most tough,
And, tho' they bow, are breaking-proof.
Then wherefore should they not b' allow'd
In love a greater latitude?
For as the law of arms approves 85
All ways to conquest, so shou'd love's;
And not be tied to true or false,
But make that justest that prevails:
The guilty, and punish the innocent.[1]
To make the ears repair the wrong
Committed by th' ungovern'd tongue;
And when one member is forsworn, 55
Another to be cropp'd or torn.
And if you shou'd, as you design,
By course of law, recover mine,
You're like, if you consider right,
To gain but little honour by't. 60
For he that for his lady's sake
Lays down his life, or limbs, at stake.
Does not so much deserve her favour,
As he that pawns his soul to have her.
This you 've acknowledg'd I have done, 65
Altho' you now disdain to own;
But sentence[2] what you rather ought
T' esteem good service than a fault.
Besides, oaths are not bound to bear
That literal sense the words infer, 70
But, by the practice of the age,
Are to be judg'd how far th' engage;
And where the sense by custom's checkt,
Are found void, and of none effect,
For no man takes or keeps a vow, 75
But just as he sees others do;
Nor are th' oblig'd to be so brittle,
As not to yield and bow a little:
For as best temper'd blades are found,
Before they break, to bend quite round; 80
So truest oaths are still most tough,
And, tho' they bow, are breaking-proof.
Then wherefore should they not b' allow'd
In love a greater latitude?
For as the law of arms approves 85
All ways to conquest, so shou'd love's;
And not be tied to true or false,
But make that justest that prevails:
