Has ne'er a Claffis, cannot sentence
To ftools, or poundage of repentance;
Is ty'd up only to defign,
T'entice, and tempt, and undermine :
In which you all his arts outdo,
And prove yourselves his betters too.
Hence 'tis poffeffions do less evil
Than mere temptations of the devil,
Which all the horrid'ft actions done
Are charg'd in courts of law upon;
Because, unless they help the elf,
He can do little of himself;
And therefore, where he 's best possest,
Acts most against his interest;
Surprizes none, but those who 'ave priests
To turn him out, and exorcifts,
Supply'd with fpiritual provision,
And magazines of ammunition;
With croffes, relics, crucifixes,
Beads, pictures, rofaries, and pixes;
The tools of working our falvation
By mere mechanic operation :
With holy water, like a fluice,
Than all your covenanting Trustees;
Unless, to punish them the worse,
You put them in the fecular powers,
And pass their fouls, as fome demife
The fame eftate in mortgage twice:
When to a legal utlegation
You turn your excommunication,
And, for a groat unpaid that 's due,
Diftrain on foul and body too.
Thought he, 'tis no mean part of civil
State-prudence to cajole the devil,
And not to handle him too rough,
When he 'as us in his cloven hoof.
'Tis true (quoth he), that intercourfe
Has pafs'd between your friends and ours,
That, as you trust us, in our way,
To raise your members, and to lay,
We fend you others of our own,
Denounc'd to hang themselves, or drown,
Or, frighted with our oratory,
To leap down headlong many a ftory;
Have us'd all means to propagate
Your mighty interefts of state,
Laid out our fpiritual gifts to further
Your great defigns of rage and murther:
For if the Saints are nam'd from blood,
Right (quoth the Voice), and, as I fcorn
The cock crows, and, the morn grows on,
When 'tis decreed I must be gone;
And, if I leave you here till day,
You'll find it hard to get away.
With that the Spirit grop'd about
To find th' inchanted hero out,
And try'd with hafte to lift him up,
But found his forlorn hope, his crup
Unferviceable with kicks and blows,
Receiv'd from harden'd-hearted foes.
He thought to drag him by the heels,
Like Gresham-carts, with legs for wheels;
But fear, that fooneft cures thofe fores,
In danger of relapse to worse,
Came in t' affift him with its aid,
And up his finking veffel weigh'd.
No fooner was he fit to trudge,
But both made ready to diflodge;
The Spirit hors'd him, like a fack,
Upon the vehicle his back,
And bore him headlong into th' hall,
With fome few rubs against the wall;
Where, finding out the postern lock'd,
And th' avenues as ftrongly block'd,
H'attack'd the window, storm'd the glass,
And in a moment gain'd the pass;
Through which he dragg'd the worsted foldier's
Fore-quarters out by th' head and shoulders,
Convey'd away, the Lord knows how.
He thought it was no time to stay,
And let the night, too, steal away;
But, in a trice, advanc'd the Knight
Upon the bare ridge, bolt upright,
And, groping out for Ralpho's jade,
He found the faddle, too, was fray'd,
Ver. 1575.] Altered to the outer poftern, edit. 1710.
And in the place a lump of foap,
On which he speedily leap'd up;
And, turning to the gate the rein,
He kick'd and cudgel'd on amain;
While Hudibras, with equal haste,
On both fides laid about as fast,
And fpurr'd, as jockies use, to break,
Or padders to fecure, a neck :
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