Nor liberty of Confciences,

765

Nor Lords and Commons' Ordinances;

Nor for the Church, nor for Church-lands,

For that church fuffer'd martyrdom.
The Indians fought for the truth
Of th' elephant and monkey's tooth;
And many, to defend that faith,
Fought it out mordicus to death;
But no beaft ever was fo flight,
For man, as for his God, to fight.

780

They

Ver. 765.] Nor for free Liberty of Confcience. Thus the two first editions read: the word free was left out in 1674, and all the fubfequent editions; and Mr. Warburton thinks for the worfe; free liberty being a moft beautiful and fatirical periphrafis for licentioufnefs, which is the idea the Author here intended to give us.

Ver. 766.] The King being driven from the Parliament, no legal acts of Parliament could be made; therefore when the Lords and Commons had agreed upon any bill, they published it, and required obedience to it, under the title of An Ordinance of Lords and Commons, and fometimes, An Ordinance of Parliament.

They have more wit, alas! and know
Themselves and us better than fo:
But we, who only do infufe
The rage in them like boute-feus,

785

Get pigs all th' year, and bitches dogs.
Just so, by our example, cattle

From whence, no doubt, th' invention came

First, for the name; the word Bear-baiting

805

Is carnal, and of man's creating;

For certainly there's no fuch word
In all the Scripture on record;
Therefore unlawful, and a fin;
And fo is (fecondly) The thing:
A vile affembly 'tis, that can

No more be prov'd by Scripture, than

810

Provincial,

For when men run a-whoring thus
With their inventions, whatfoe'er
The thing be, whether Dog or Bear,
It is idolatrous and Pagan,
No less than worshiping of Dagon.
Quoth Hudibras, I fmell a rat;

Ralpho, thou dost prevaricate:

For though the thefis which thou lay'ft
Be true ad amuffim, as thou fay'ft;

(For that Bear-baiting should appear

Jure divino lawfuller

Than Synods are, thou doft deny
Totidem verbis, fo do I)

Yet there's a fallacy in this;

For if by fly homeofis,

Tufis pro crepitu, an art

Under a cough to flur a f―t,

Thou wouldst fophiftically imply

Both are unlawful, I deny.

And I, quoth Ralpho, do not doubt

835

But Bear-baiting may be made out,

In gospel-times, as lawful as is

Provincial or Parochial Claffis;

And

Ver. 831, 832.] Thefe two lines left out in the edi

tions 1674, 1684, 1689, 1700, and restored 1704.

And that both are so near of kin,

And like in all, as well as fin,

849

That, put them in a bag, and shake them,
Yourself o' th' fudden would mistake them,

And not know which is which, unless

You measure by their wickedness;

For 'tis not hard t' imagine whether

845

O' th' two is worst, though I name neither.
Quoth Hudibras, Thou offer'ft much,

But art not able to keep touch.
Mira de lente, as 'tis i' th' adage,
Id eft, to make a leek a cabbage;
Thou wilt at best but fuck a bull,

8.59

Or shear swine, all cry, and no wool;

Ver. 851.] This and the following line thus altered,

1674,

Thou canft at best but overstrain

A paradox, and thy own brain.

Thus they continued in the editions 1684, 1689, 1700.
Reftored in 1704, in the following blundering manner,
Thou 'It be at beft but fuch a bull, &c.
and the blunder continued in all the editions till Dr.
Gray's.

3

And then what genus rightly doth

Include and comprehend them both ?

860

If animal, both of us may

As juftly pafs for bears as they;
For we are animals no less,
Although of different fpecieses.
But, Ralpho, this is no fit place,
Nor time, to argue out the cafe:
For now the field is not far off,

865

Where we must give the world a proof

Of deeds, not words, and fuch as fuit

Nor fhall they be deceiv'd, unless
We're flurr'd and outed by fuccefs;
Success, the mark no mortal wit,

Or fureft hand, can always hit:

880

For whatfoe'er we perpetrate,

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

Which in fuccefs oft difinherits,

For fpurious caufes, nobleft merits.

Great

Ver.860. Include, &c.] in the two firft editions of 1663,

Comprehend them inclufive both.

Ver. 862.] As likely, in the two first editions..