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
173 r he knew, &c.] There is nothing more ridiculous than the
various opinions of authors about the seat of Paradise. Sir.
Walter Raleigh has taken a great deal of pains to collect them,
in the beginning of his History of the World; where those, who
are unsatisfied, may be fully informed.
180 s By a High-Dutch, &c.] Goropius Becanus endeavours to
prove that High-Dutch was the language that Adam and Eve
spoke in Paradise.
181 t If either of &c.] Adam and Eve being made, and not
conceived and formed in the womb had no navels as some
learned men have supposed, because they had no need of them.
182 u Who first made, &c.] Musick is said to be invented by
Pythagoras, who first found out the proportion of notes from
the sounds of hammers upon an anvil
232 w Like MAHOMET's &c.) Mahomet had a tame dove, that
used to pick seeds out of his ear that it might be thought to
whisper and inspire him. His ass was so intimate with him, that
the Mahometans believed it carried him to heaven, and stays
there with him to bring him back again.
257 x It was Monastick, and did grow
In holy Orders by strict Vow.
He made a vow never to cut his beard until the Parliament had
subdued the King; of which order of phanatick votaries there
were many in those times.
281 y So learned TALIACOTIUS &c.] Taliacotius was an
Italian surgeon, that found out a way to repair lost and decayed
noses. This Taliacotius was chief surgeon to the Great Duke of
Tuscany, and wrote a treatise, De Curtis Membris, [Of Cut-off
Parts] which he dedicates to his great master wherein he not
only declares the models of his wonderful operations in
restoring of lost members, but gives you cuts of the very
instruments and ligatures he made use of therein; from hence
our Author (cum poetica licentia [with poetic licence]) has
taken his simile.
289 z For as AENEAS, &c.] AEneas was the son of Anchises
and Venus; a Trojan, who, after long travels, came to Italy, and
after the death of his father-in-law, Latinus, was made king of
Latium, and reigned three years. His story is too long to insert
here, and therefore I refer you to Virgil's AEneids. Troy being
laid in ashes, he took his aged father Anchises upon his back,
and rescued him from his enemies. But being too solicitous for
his son and household gods, he lost his wife Creusa; which Mr.
Dryden, in his excellent translation, thus expresseth.
Haste my dear father (tis no time to wait,)
And load my shoulders with a willing freight.
Whate'er befals, your life shall be my care;
One death, or one deliv'rance, we will share.
My hand shall lead our little son; and you,
My faithful consort, shall our steps pursue.
337 a -- For ARTHUR, &c.] Who this Arthur was and whether
any ever reigned in Britain, has been doubted heretofore, and is
by some to this very day. However, the history of him, which
makes him one of the nine worthies of the world, is a subject,
sufficient for the Poet to be pleasant upon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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