Unless, to punish them the worse,
You put them in the secular powers,
And pass their souls, as some demise
The same estate in mortgage twice:
When to a legal utlegation

You turn your excommunication;
And, for a groat unpaid that's due,
Distrain on soul and body too.'

Thought he, 'tis no mean part of civil
State-prudence to cajole the devil,
And not to handle him too rough,
When he' has us in his cloven hoof.'
''Tis true,' quoth he, that intercourse
Has pass'd between your friends and ours;
That, as you trust us, in our way,

To raise your members, and to lay;
We send you others of our own,
Denounc'd to hang themselves, or drown;
Or, frighted with our oratory,

To leap down headlong many a story ;
Have us'd all means to propagate
Your mighty interests of state,

Laid out our sp'ritual gifts to further
Your great designs of rage and murther:
For if the Saints are nam'd from blood,
We only 'ave made that title good;
And, if it were but in our power,
We should not scruple to do more,
And not be half a soul behind

Of all Dissenters of mankind.'

·

'Right,' quoth the voice, and, as I scorn

To be ungrateful, in return
Of all those kind good offices,
I'll free you out of this distress.

And set you down in safety, where

It is no time to tell you here.

The cock crows, and the morn draws on,
When 'tis decreed I must be gone;

And if I leave you here till day,
You'll find it hard to get away?'
With that the Spirit grop'd about
To find the' enchanted hero out,
And tried with haste to lift him up,
But found his forlorn hope, his crup,
Unserviceable with kicks and blows,
Receiv'd from harden'd-hearted foes.
He thought to drag him by the heels,
Like Gresham-carts, with legs for wheels;*
But fear, that soonest cures those sores,
In danger of relapse to worse,
Came in to' assist him with its aid,
And up his sinking vessel weigh'd.
No sooner was he fit to trudge,
But both made ready to dislodge;
The Spirit hors'd him, like a sack,
Upon the vehicle, his back,
And bore him headlong into the' hall,
With some few rubs against the wall;
Where finding out the postern lock'd,
And the' avenues as strongly block'd,
He' attack'd the window, storm'd the glass,
And in a moment gain'd the pass;

Through which he drag'd the worsted soldier's
Fore-quarters out by the' head and shoulders,

A scheme of a cart with legs that moved instead of wheels, was brought before the Royal Society, March 4, 1662-3.

And cautiously began to scout,
To find their fellow-cattle out:
Nor was it half a minute's quest,

Ere he retriev'd the champion's beast,
Tied to a pale, instead of rack,
But ne'er a saddle on his back,
Nor pistols at the saddle-bow,
Convey'd away, the Lord knows how!
He thought it was no time to stay,
And let the night, too, steal away;
But, in a trice, advanc'd the Knight
Upon the bare ridge, bolt upright;
And, groping out for Ralpho's jade,
He found the saddle, too, was stray'd,
And in the place a lump of soap,
On which he speedily leap'd up;
And, turning to the gate the rein,
He kick'd and cudgell'd on amain;
While Hudibras, with equal haste,
On both sides laid about as fast,
And spur'd, as jockies use, to break,
Or padders to secure, a neck;
Where let us leave 'em for a time,
And to their Churches turn our rhyme;
To hold forth their declining state,

Which now come near an even rate.

PART III.

CANTO II.*

ARGUMENT.

The Saints engage in fierce contests
About their carnal interests,

To share their sacrilegious preys,
According to their rates of Grace:
Their various frenzies to reform,
When Cromwell left them in a storm;
Till, in the effigy of Rumps, the rabble
Burn all the Grandees of the Cabal.

THE learned write, an insect breezet
Is but a mongrel prince of bees,
That falls before a storm on cows,
And stings the founders of his house,
From whose corrupted flesh, that breed
Of vermin did at first proceed:

So, ere the storm of war broke out,
Religion spawn'd a various rout

* This canto is entirely independent of the adventures of Hudibras and Ralpho: neither of our heroes make their appearance: other characters are introduced, and a new vein of satire is exbibited. The Poet steps out of his road, and skips from the time wherein these adventures happened to Cromwell's death, and from thence to the dissolution of the Rump Parliament.

+ Breezes often bring along with them great quantities of insects, which some opine are generated from viscous exhalations in the air; but Butler raises them from the cow.

Of petulant capricious sects,
The maggots of corrupted texts,
That first run all religion down,
And after every swarm its own.
For as the Persian Magi once
Upon their mothers got their sons,
That were incapable to' enjoy
That empire any other way;
So Presbyter begot the other

Upon the Good Old Cause, his mother,
Then bore them like the devil's dam,
Whose son and husband are the same;
And yet no natural tie of blood,
Nor interest for the common good,
Could, when their profits interfer'd,
Get quarter for each other's beard:
For when they thriv'd they never fadg'd,
But only by the ears engag'd;

Like dogs that snarl about a bone,

And play together when they 'ave none;
As by their truest characters,

Their constant actions, plainly' appears.
Rebellion now began, for lack

Of zeal and plunder, to grow slack;
The Cause and Covenant to lessen,
And Providence to be out of season:
For now there was no more to purchase
O' th' King's revenue, and the Churches,
But all divided, shar'd, and gone,
That us'd to urge the Brethren on;
Which forc'd the stubborn'st for the Cause,
To cross the cudgels to the laws,

That what by breaking them they 'ad gain'd,
By their support might be maintain'd;