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Or that a rugged shaggy fur
Grows o'er the hyde of Presbyter;
Or that his snout and spacious ears
Do hold proportion with a Bear's.
A Bear's a savage beast of all
Most ugly and unnatural;
Whelp'd without form, until the dam
Has lickt it into shape and frame :
But all thy light can ne'er evict,
That ever Synod-man was lickt,
Or brought to any other fashion
Than his own will and inclination.

'But thou dost further yet in this
Oppugn thyself and sense; that is,
Thou wouldst have Presbyters to go
For Bears and Dogs, and Bear-wards too :
A strange chimera of beasts and men,
Made up of pieces heterogene ;
Such as in Nature never met
In eodem subjecto yet.

'Thy other arguments are all Supposures hypothetical,

That do but beg; and we may choose
Either to grant them, or refuse.

Much thou hast said, which I know when

And where thou stol'st from other men,
(Whereby 'tis plain thy Light and Gifts
Are all but plagiary shifts)

And is the same that Ranter 6 said,
Who, arguing with me, broke my head,

(6) The Ranters were a vile sect that sprung up in those times. Alexander Ross observes, That they held that God, devil, angels, heaven, and hell, &c. were fictions and fables that Moses, John Baptist, and Christ, were im

And tore a handful of my beard;
The self-same cavils then I heard,
When b'ing in hot dispute about
This controversy, we fell out;

And what thou know'st I answer'd then,
Will serve to answer thee again.'

Quoth Ralpho, 'Nothing but th' abuse
Of human learning you produce;
Learning, that cobweb of the brain,
Profane, erroneous, and vain ;
A trade of knowledge as replete,
As others are with fraud and cheat;
An art to' incumber Gifts and wit,
And render both for nothing fit;
Makes Light unactive, dull and troubled,
Like little David in Saul's doublet:
A cheat that scholars put upon
Other men's reason and their own;
A fort of error, to ensconce
Absurdity and ignorance,
That renders all the avenues
To truth, impervious and abstruse,
By making plain things in debate,
By art perplext and intricate:

postors; and what Christ and the Apostles acquainted the world with, as to matter of religion, perished with them: that preaching and praying are useless, and that preaching is but public lying; that there is an end of all ministry and administrations, and people are to be taught immediately from God, &c.

(7) "Twas the opinion of those tinkers, tailors, &c. who governed Chelmsford at the beginning of the Rebellion, That learning had always been an enemy to the Gospel, and that it were a happy thing if there were no universities, and that all books were burnt except the Bible.'

For nothing goes for Sense or Light,
That will not with old rules jump right;
As if rules were not in the schoolsTM
Deriv'd from truth, but truth from rules.
This Pagan, Heathenish invention
Is good for nothing but contention :
For as in sword-and-buckler fight,
All blows do on the target light;
So when men argue, the great'st part
O' the contest falls on terms of art,
Until the fustian stuff be spent,
And then they fall to th' argument.'
Quoth Hudibras, 'Friend Ralph, thou hast
Outrun the constable at last :

For thou art fallen on a new
Dispute, as senseless as untrue,
But to the former opposite,
And contrary as black to white;
Mere disparata; that concerning
Presbytery; this, human learning;
Two things so averse, they never yet
But in thy rambling fancy met.
But I shall take a fit occasion
To' evince thee by' ratiocination,

Some other time, in place more proper
Than this we're in; therefore let's stop here,
And rest our wearied bones a while,

Already tir'd with other toil.'

(8) Disparata] Things separate and unlike.

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THE ARGUMENT.

The Knight, by damnable Magician,
Being cast illegally in prison,

Love brings his action on the case,

And lays it upon Hudibras.

How he receives the Lady's visit,

And cunningly solicits his suit,
Which she defers; yet on parole,

Redeems him from the' enchanted hole.

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