Hudibras, in Three Parts, Written in the Time of the Late WarsButler, Samuel
General
Hudibras, in Three Parts, Written in the Time of the Late Wars
Butler, Samuel
English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700
245 r To edify upon the Ruins, &c.] John of Leyden, whose
name was Buckhold, was a butcher of the same place, but a
crafty, eloquent, and seditious fellow and one of those called
Anabaptists. He went and set up at Munster, where, with
Knipperdoling, and others of the same faction, they spread their
abominable errors, and run about the streets in enthusiastical
raptures, crying, Repent and be baptized, pronouncing dismal
woes against all those that would not embrace their tenets.
About the year 1533 they broke out into an open insurrection,
and seized the palace and magazines, and grew so formidable
that it was very dangerous for those who were not of their
persuasion to dwell in Munster; but at length he and his
associates being subdued and taken, he was executed at
Munster, had his flesh pulled off by two executioners with red-
hot pincers for the space of an hour, and then run through with a
sword.
351 s 'Mong these there was a Politician, &c.] This was the
famous E. of S. who was endued with a particular faculty of
undermining and subverting all sorts of government.
409 t and better than by Napier's Bones, &c.] The famous Lord
Napier, of Scotland, the first inventor of logarithms, contrived
also a set of square pieces, with numbers on them, made
generally of ivory, (which perform arithmetical and geometrical
calculations,) and are commonly called Napier's Bones.
421 u To match this Saint, &c.] The great colonel John
Lilbourn, whose trial is so remarkable, and well known at this
time.
475 w The Trojan Mare, &c.] After the Grecians had spent ten
years in the siege of Troy, without the least prospect of success,
they bethought of a stratagem, and made a wooden horse
capable of containing a considerable number of armed men: this
they filled with the choicest of their army, and then pretended to
raise the siege; upon which the credulous Trojans made a
breach in the walls of the city to bring in this fatal plunder; but
when it was brought in, the inclosed heroes soon appeared, and
surprizing the city, the rest entered in at the breach.
520 x (I mean Margaret's Fast) &c.] That Parliament used to
have publick fasts kept in St. Margaret's church, Westminster,
as is done to this present time.
605 y To hang like Mahomet, &c.] It is reported of Mahomet
the great impostor, that having built a mosque, the roof whereof
was of loadstone, and ordering his corpse, when he was dead, to
be put into an iron coffin, and brought into that place, the
loadstone soon attracted it near the top, where it still hangs in
the air.
No less fabulous is what the legend says of Ignatius Loyola, that
his zeal and devotion transported him so, that at his prayers he
has been seen to be raised from the ground for some
considerable time together.
650 z As easy as Serpents, &c.] Naturalists report, that Snakes,
Serpents, &c. cast their skins every year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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