No matter whether right or wrong, They might be either said or sung. His notions fitted things so well, That which was which he could not tell; 140 But oftentimes mistook th' one For th' other, as great clerks have done. He could <l> reduce all things to acts, And knew their natures by abstracts; Where entity and quiddity, 145 The ghosts of defunct bodies fly; Where <m> truth in person does appear, Like words <n> congeal'd in northern air. He knew what's what, and that's as high As metaphysic wit can fly; 150 In school-divinity as able As <o> he that hight, Irrefragable; A second <p> THOMAS, or, at once, To name them all, another DUNCE: Profound in all the Nominal 155 And Real ways, beyond them all: For he a rope of sand cou'd twist As <q> tough as learned SORBONIST; And weave fine cobwebs, fit for skull That's empty when the moon is full; 160 Such as take lodgings in a head That's to be let unfurnished. He could raise scruples dark and nice, And after solve 'em in a trice; As if Divinity had catch'd 165 The itch, on purpose to be scratch'd; Or, like a mountebank, did wound And stab herself with doubts profound, Only to show with how small pain The sores of Faith are cur'd again; 170 Although by woeful proof we find, They always leave a scar behind. He knew <r> the seat of Paradise, Could tell in what degree it lies; And, as he was dispos'd, could prove it, 175 Below the moon, or else above it. What Adam dreamt of, when his bride Came from her closet in his side: Whether the devil tempted her By a <s> High Dutch interpreter; 180 If either of them <t> had a navel: Who first <u> made music malleable: Whether the serpent, at the fall, Had cloven feet, or none at all. All this, without a gloss, or comment, 185 He could unriddle in a moment, In proper terms, such as men smatter When they throw out, and miss the matter.