Hudibras | Page 7

draggling tail hung
in the dirt,
Which on his rider he wou'd flurt, 450 Still as his tender
side he prick'd,
With arm'd heel, or with unarm'd kick'd:
For
HUDIBRAS wore but one spur;
As wisely knowing, cou'd he stir

To active trot one side of's horse, 455 The other wou'd not hang an arse.
A squire he had, whose name was RALPH,
That in th' adventure
went his half:
Though writers, for more stately tone,
Do call him
RALPHO; 'tis all one; 460 And when we can with metre safe,
We'll
call him so; if not, plain RALPH:
(For rhyme the rudder is of verses,

With which like ships they steer their courses.)
An equal stock of
wit and valour 465 He had laid in; by birth a taylor.
The mighty
Tyrian Queen, that gain'd
With subtle shreds a tract of land,

Did leave it with a castle fair
To his great ancestor, her heir. 470
From him descended cross-legg'd Knights,
Fam'd for their faith, and
warlike fights
Against the bloody cannibal,
Whom they destroy'd
both great and small.
This sturdy Squire, he had, as well 475 As the
bold Trojan Knight, seen Hell;

Not with a counterfeited pass
Of
golden bough, but true gold-lace.
His knowledge was not far behind

The Knight's, but of another kind, 480 And he another way came by
't:
Some call it GIFTS, and some NEW-LIGHT;
A liberal art, that

costs no pains
Of study, industry, or brains.
His wit was sent him
for a token, 485 But in the carriage crack'd and broken.
Like
commendation nine-pence crook'd,
With -- To and from my love -- it
look'd.
He ne'er consider'd it, as loth
To look a gift-horse in the
mouth; 490 And very wisely wou'd lay forth
No more upon it than
'twas worth.
But as he got it freely, so
He spent it frank and freely
too.
For Saints themselves will sometimes be 495 Of gifts, that cost
them nothing, free.
By means of this, with hem and cough,

Prolongers to enlighten'd stuff,
He cou'd deep mysteries unriddle

As easily as thread a needle. 500 For as of vagabonds we say,
That
they are ne'er beside their way;
Whate'er men speak by this New
Light,
Still they are sure to be i' th' right.
'Tis a dark-lanthorn of the
Spirit, 505 Which none see by but those that bear it:
A light that falls
down from on high,
For spiritual trades to cozen by
An Ignis Fatuus,
that bewitches
And leads men into pools and ditches, 510 To make
them dip themselves, and sound
For Christendom in dirty pond
To
dive like wild-fowl for salvation,
And fish to catch regeneration.

This light inspires and plays upon 515 The nose of Saint like bag-pipe
drone,
And speaks through hollow empty soul,
As through a trunk,
or whisp'ring hole,
Such language as no mortal ear
But spirit'al
eaves-droppers can hear: 520 So PHOEBUS, or some friendly muse,

Into small poets song infuse,
Which they at second-hand rehearse,

Thro' reed or bag-pipe, verse for verse.
Thus RALPH became infallible 525 As three or four-legg'd oracle,

The ancient cup, or modern chair;
Spoke truth point-blank, tho'
unaware.
For MYSTICK LEARNING, wond'rous able
In magick
Talisman and Cabal, 530 Whose primitive tradition reaches
As far
as ADAM'S first green breeches:
Deep-sighted in intelligences,


Ideas, atoms, influences;
And much of Terra Incognita, <> 535 Th'
intelligible world, cou'd say:
A deep OCCULT PHILOSOPHER,

As learn'd as the wild Irish are,
Or Sir AGRIPPA ; for

profound
And solid lying much renown'd. 540 He
ANTHROPOSOPHUS, and FLOUD,
And JACOB BEHMEN
understood:
Knew many an amulet and charm,
That wou'd do
neither good nor harm:
In ROSY-CRUCIAN lore as learned, 545
As he that Vere adeptus earned.
He understood the speech of birds

As well as they themselves do words;
Cou'd tell what subtlest parrots
mean,
That speak, and think contrary clean: 550 What Member 'tis of
whom they talk,
When they cry, Rope, and walk, knave, walk.
He'd
extract numbers out of matter,
And keep them in a glass, like water;

Of sov'reign pow'r to make men wise; 555 For drop'd in blear
thick-sighted eyes,
They'd make them see in darkest night
Like
owls, tho' purblind in the light.
By help of these (as he profess'd)
He
had First Matter seen undress'd: 560 He took her naked all alone,

Before one rag of form was on.
The Chaos too he had descry'd,
And
seen quite thro', or else he ly'd:
Not that of paste-board which men
shew 565 For groats, at fair of Barthol'mew;
But its great grandsire,
first o' the name,
Whence that and REFORMATION came;
Both
cousin-germans, and right able
T' inveigle and draw in the rabble. 570
But Reformation was, some say,
O' th' younger house to Puppet-play.

He cou'd foretel whats'ever was
By consequence to come to pass;

As death of great men, alterations, 575 Diseases, battles, inundations.

All this, without th' eclipse o' th' sun,
Or dreadful comet, he hath
done,
By inward light; away as good,
And easy to be understood;
580 But with more lucky hit than those
That use to make the stars
depose,
Like Knights o' th' post, and falsely charge
Upon
themselves what others forge:
As if they were consenting to 585 All
mischiefs in the world men do:
Or, like the Devil, did tempt and sway
'em
To rogueries,