Hudibras, in Three Parts, Written in the Time of the Late WarsButler, Samuel
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Hudibras, in Three Parts, Written in the Time of the Late Wars
Butler, Samuel
English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700
And 'tis a miracle, we are not
Already sacrific' d incarnate.
For while we wrangle here, and jar, 1525
W' are grilly'd all at TEMPLE-BAR:
Some on the sign-post of an ale-house,
Hang in effigy, on the gallows;
Made up of rags, to personate
Respective Officers of State; 1530
That henceforth they may stand reputed,
Proscrib'd in law, and executed;
And while the Work is carrying on
Be ready listed under <l> DON,
That worthy patriot, once the bellows, 1535
And tinder-box, of all his fellows;
The activ'st Member of the Five,
As well as the most primitive;
Who, for his faithful service then
Is chosen for a Fifth agen: 1540
(For since the State has made a Quint
Of Generals, he's listed in't.)
This worthy, as the world will say,
Is paid in specie, his own way;
For, moulded to the life in clouts, 1545
Th' have pick'd from dung-hills hereabouts,
He's mounted on a hazel bavin,
A cropp'd malignant baker gave 'm;
And to the largest bone-fire riding,
They've roasted <m> COOK already and PRIDE in; 1550
On whom in equipage and state,
His scarecrow fellow-members wait,
And march in order, two and two,
As at thanksgivings th' us'd to do;
Each in a tatter'd talisman, 1555
Like vermin in effigie slain.
But (what's more dreadful than the rest)
Those Rumps are but the tail o' th' Beast,
Set up by Popish engineers,
As by the crackers plainly appears; 1560
For none but Jesuits have a mission
To preach the faith with ammunition,
And propagate the Church with powder:
Their founder was a blown-up <n> Soldier.
These spiritual pioneers o' th' Whore's, 1565
That have the charge of all her stores,
Since first they fail'd in their designs,
To take in Heav'n by springing mines,
And with unanswerable barrels
Of gunpowder dispute their quarrels, 1570
Now take a course more practicable,
By laying trains to fire the rabble,
And blow us up in th' open streets,
Disguis'd in Rumps, like Sambenites;
More like to ruin, and confound, 1575
Than all the doctrines under ground.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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