442
HUDIBRAS.
[THE LADY'S
Marriage, at best, is but a vow, 155
Which all men either break or bow;
Then what will those forbear to do,
Who perjure when they do but woo?
Such as beforehand swear and lie,
For earnest to their treachery, 160
And, rather than a crime confess,
With greater strive to make it less:
Like thieves, who, after sentence past,
Maintain their inn'cence to the last;
And when their crimes were made appear 165
As plain as witnesses can swear,
Yet when the wretches come to die,
Will take upon their death a lie.
Nor are the virtues you confess'd
T' your ghostly father, as you guess'd, 170
So slight as to be justified,
By be'ng as shamefully denied;
As if you thought your word would pass,
Point-blank, on both sides of a case;
Or credit were not to be lost 175
B' a brave knight-errant of the post,
That eats perfidiously his word,
And swears his ears through a two-inch board;[1]
Can own the same thing, and disown,
And perjure booty pro and con; 180
Can make the Gospel serve his turn,
And help him out to be forsworn;
When 'tis laid hands upon, and kist,
To be betray'd and sold, like Christ.
These are the virtues in whose name 185
A right to all the world you claim,
And boldly challenge a dominion,
In grace and nature, o'er all women;
Which all men either break or bow;
Then what will those forbear to do,
Who perjure when they do but woo?
Such as beforehand swear and lie,
For earnest to their treachery, 160
And, rather than a crime confess,
With greater strive to make it less:
Like thieves, who, after sentence past,
Maintain their inn'cence to the last;
And when their crimes were made appear 165
As plain as witnesses can swear,
Yet when the wretches come to die,
Will take upon their death a lie.
Nor are the virtues you confess'd
T' your ghostly father, as you guess'd, 170
So slight as to be justified,
By be'ng as shamefully denied;
As if you thought your word would pass,
Point-blank, on both sides of a case;
Or credit were not to be lost 175
B' a brave knight-errant of the post,
That eats perfidiously his word,
And swears his ears through a two-inch board;[1]
Can own the same thing, and disown,
And perjure booty pro and con; 180
Can make the Gospel serve his turn,
And help him out to be forsworn;
When 'tis laid hands upon, and kist,
To be betray'd and sold, like Christ.
These are the virtues in whose name 185
A right to all the world you claim,
And boldly challenge a dominion,
In grace and nature, o'er all women;
- ↑ That is, endeavours to shield himself from the punishment due to perjury, the loss of his ears, by a desperate perseverance in false swearing. A person is said to swear through a two-inch hoard, when he makes oath of anything which was concealed from him by a thick door or partition.
him; what a setting dog is to a sportsman. Butler here seems to say that those who tell the cards in another's hand, cannot always tell how they will be played.
