3

Therefore unlawful, and a sin;3

And so is, secondly, the thing:
A vile assembly 'tis, that can

No more be prov'd by Scripture, thàn
Provincial, classic, national ;*

Mere human creature-cobwebs all.

3 For certainly there's no such word
In all the Scripture on record;

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Therefore unlawful, and a sin;] Some of the disciplinarians held, that the Scriptures were full and express on every subject, and that every thing was sinful which was not there ordered to be done. Some of the Huguenots refused to pay rent to their landlords, unless they would produce a text of Scripture directing them to do so.

At a meeting of Cartwright, Travers, and other dissenting ministers in London, it was resolved, that such names as did savour either of Paganism or Popery should not be used, but only Scripture names: accordingly Snape refused to baptise a child by the name of Richard.

They formed popular arguments for deposing and murdering kings, from the examples of Saul, Agag, Jeroboam, Jehoran, and the like.

This reminds me of a story I have heard, and which, perhaps, is recorded among Joe Millar's Jests, of a countryman going along the street, in the time of Cromwell, and enquiring the way to St. Anne's church—the person enquired of, happening to be a presbyterian, said, he knew no such person as Saint Anne; going a little farther, he asked another man which was the way to Anne's church? he being a cavalier, said, Anne was a Saint before he was born, and would be after he was hanged, and gave him no information. A vile assembly 'tis, that can

No more be prov'd by Scripture, than

Provincial, classic, national;] Ralpho here shews his independent principles, and his aversion to the presbyterian forms of church government. If the squire had adopted the knight's sentiments, this curious dispute could not have been introduced; the vile assembly here means the bear-baiting, but alludes typically to the assembly of divines.

Thirdly, It is idolatrous;
For when men run a-whoring thus
With their inventions, whatsoe'er
The thing be, whether dog or bear,
It is idolatrous and pagan,
No less than worshipping of dagon.
(Quoth Hudibras, I smell a rat

Ralpho, thou dost prevaricate:

For though the thesis which thou lay'st
Be true, ad amussim, as thou say'st;

6

For the bear-baiting should appear,
Jure divino, lawfuller

Than synods are, thou dost deny,
Totidem verbis-so do I;

Yet there's a fallacy in this;
For if by sly homœosis,"

For when men run a-whoring thus

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With their inventions,-] A Scripture phrase used. Psalm evi. ver. 38.

6 Be true, ad amussim,-] i. e. exactly true, and according to rule.

7 homœosis,] That is, an explanation of a thing by something resembling it.

At this place two lines are omitted in several editions, particularly in those corrected by the author. They run thus,

Tussis pro crepitu, an art

Under a cough to slur a ført.

The edition of 1704 has replaced them; they were omitted in the poet's corrected copy; probably he thought them indelicate: the phrase is translated from the Greek. Βὴξ ἀντὶ πορδῆς, ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν ἀπορίᾳ προσποιεμένων ἕτερον τὶ πράττειν. παρ ὅσον οἱ πέρδοντες λανθάνειν πειρώμενοι, προσποιοῦνται βήττειν. Suidas in Voc.

Thou wouldst sophistically imply
Both are unlawful-I deny.

And I, quoth Ralpho, do not doubt
But bear-baiting may be made out,
In gospel-times, as lawful as is
Provincial, or parochial classis;
And that both are so near of kin,
And like in all, as well as sin,

835

That, put 'em in a bag and shake 'em,
Yourself o' th' sudden would mistake 'em, 840
And not know which is which, unless
You measure by their wickedness;
For 'tis not hard t' imagine whether
O' th' two is worst, tho' I name neither.
Quoth Hudibras, Thou offer'st much,
But art not able to keep touch.

8

Mira de lente, as 'tis i̇' th' adage,
Id est, to make a leek a cabbage;
Thou canst at best but overstrain
A paradox, and th' own hot brain;
For what can synods have at all
With bear that's analogical?
Or what relation has debating

Of church-affairs with bear-baiting?

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* Mira de lente,—] ▲εivà πepi pakñç: A great stir about nothing. Great cry and little wool, as they say when any one talks much, and proves nothing. The following lines stand thus, in some editions, viz.

Thou wilt at best but suck a bull,

Or sheer swine, all cry, and no wool.

A just comparison still is

Of things ejusdem generis:

And then what genus rightly doth

Include, and comprehend them both?
If animal, both of us may

As justly pass for bears as they;
For we are animals no less,
Although of diff'rent specieses.9
But, Ralpho, this is no fit place,
Nor time, to argue out the case:
For now the field is not far off,
Where we must give the world a proof
Of deeds, not words, and such as suit
Another manner of dispute :
A controversy that affords

Actions for arguments, not words;
Which we must manage at a rate
Of prowess, and conduct adequate

855

To what our place, and fame doth promise,
And all the godly expect from us.
Nor shall they be deceiv'd, unless

W'are slurr'd and outed by success;
Success, the mark no mortal wit,

Or surest hand can always hit:
For whatsoe'er we perpetrate,

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875

We do but row, w'are steer'd by fate,'

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9 Although of diff'rent specieses.] Why should we not read, Although of different Species? So also in Part ii. Canto iii. v. 317.

1

w' are steer'd by fate,] The Presbyterians were strong

Which in success of't disinherits,

For spurious causes, noblest merits.
Great actions are not always true sons
Of great and mighty resolutions;
Nor do the bold'st attempts bring forth
Events still equal to their worth;
But sometimes fail, and in their stead
Fortune and cowardice succeed.

Yet we have no great cause to doubt,

Our actions still have borne us out;

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Which, tho' they're known to be so ample,
We need not copy from example;
We're not the only persons durst
Attempt this province, nor the first.
In northern clime a val'rous knight
Did whilom kill his bear in fight,
And wound a fiddler: we have both ·

Of these the objects of our wroth,

895

fatalists, and great advocates for predestination. Virgil says, Æn. ix.

1. 95. O genetrix ! quo fata vocas? aut quid petis istis ?

Mortaline manu factæ immortale carinæ

Fas habeant?

• In northern clime a val❜rous knight] Hudibras encourages himself by two precedents; first, that of a gentleman who killed a bear and wounded a fiddler; and secondly, that of Sir Samuel Luke, who had often, as a magistrate, been engaged in similar adventures. He was proud to resemble the one in this particular exploit, and the other in his general character.

There were several, in those days, who, like Sir Hudibras, set themselves violently to oppose bear-baiting. Oliver Cromwell is said to have shot several bears; and the same is said of Colonel Pride. See note ante, ver. 752, and Harleian Miscellany, vol. iii. p. 132.