SIDROPHEL.]
HUDIBRAS.
265
As if the art you have so long
Profess'd of making old dogs young,[1] 60
In you had virtue to renew
Not only youth, but childhood too;
Can you, that understand all books,
By judging only with your looks,
Resolve all problems with your face, 65
As others do with B's and A's;
Unriddle all that mankind knows
With solid bending of your brows?
All arts and sciences advance,
With screwing of your countenance, 70
And with a penetrating eye,
Into th' abstrusest learning pry;
Know more of any trade b' a hint,
Than those that have been bred up in't,
And yet have no art, true or false, 75
To help your own bad naturals?
But still the more you strive t' appear,
Are found to be the wretcheder:
For fools are known by looking wise,
As men find woodcocks by their eyes. 80
Hence 'tis because ye've gained o' th' college[2]
A quarter share, at most, of knowledge,
And brought in none, but spent repute,
Y' assume a pow'r as absolute
To judge, and censure, and control, 85
As if you were the sole Sir Poll[3],
Profess'd of making old dogs young,[1] 60
In you had virtue to renew
Not only youth, but childhood too;
Can you, that understand all books,
By judging only with your looks,
Resolve all problems with your face, 65
As others do with B's and A's;
Unriddle all that mankind knows
With solid bending of your brows?
All arts and sciences advance,
With screwing of your countenance, 70
And with a penetrating eye,
Into th' abstrusest learning pry;
Know more of any trade b' a hint,
Than those that have been bred up in't,
And yet have no art, true or false, 75
To help your own bad naturals?
But still the more you strive t' appear,
Are found to be the wretcheder:
For fools are known by looking wise,
As men find woodcocks by their eyes. 80
Hence 'tis because ye've gained o' th' college[2]
A quarter share, at most, of knowledge,
And brought in none, but spent repute,
Y' assume a pow'r as absolute
To judge, and censure, and control, 85
As if you were the sole Sir Poll[3],
- ↑ See Butler's Genuine Remains, vol, ii. p. 188. His want of judgement inclines him naturally to the most extravagant undertakings, like that of making old dogs young; corking up of words in bottles," &c.
- ↑ Though the Royal Society removed from Gresham college on account of the fire of London, it returned there again 1674, being the year in which this Epistle was published.
- ↑ Nash thinks that the character of Sidrophet, in this Epistle, was designed for Sir Paul Neile, who had offended Mr Butler by saying that he was not the author of Hudibras. And this opinion is confirmed by Mr Thyer, who, in Butler's Remains, says "he can assure the reader, upon the poet's own authority, that the character of Sidrophel was intended for a picture of Sir Paul Neile, son of Richard Neile (whose father was a chandler in Westminster), who, as Anthony Wood says, went through all degrees and orders in the church, school-master, curate, vicar, &c. &c.,
