135

160

Profound in all the Nominal
And Real ways beyond them all:
For he a rope of sand could twist
As tough as learned Sorbonist,
And weave fine cobwebs, fit for scull
That 's empty when the moon is full;
Such as take lodgings in a head
That's to be let unfurnished.
He could raise scruples dark and nice,
And after solve them in a trice;
As if Divinity had catch'd
The iteh, on purpose to be scratchd;
Or, like a mountebank, did wound
And stab herself with doubts profound,.

165

Only

hear his lectures; that when at Paris, his arguments and authority carried it for the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin, so that they appointed a festival on that account, and would admit no scholars to degrees but such as were of this mind. He was a great opposer of Thomas Aquinas's doctrine: and, for being a very acute logician, was called Doctor Subtilis, which was the reason also that an old punster always called him the Lathy Doctor.

Ver. 155, 156.] Gulielmus Occham was father of the Nominals, and Johannes Dunscotus of the Reals. These two lines not in the two first editions of 1664, but added in 1674. .

Ver. 157, 158.] Altered thus in edit. 1674, and continued till 1704.

And with as delicate a hand,
Could twist as tough a rope of fand.

170

175

Only to fhew with how small pain
The fores of Faith are cur'd again ;
Although by woeful proof we find
They always leave a scar behind.
He knew the seat of Paradise,
Could tell in what degree it lies,
And, as he was dispoś’d, could prove it
Below the moon, or else above it;
What Adam dreamt of, when his bride
Came from her closet in his fide;
Whether the Devil tempted her
By a High-Dutch interpreter;
If either of them had a navel ;
Who first made music malleable;
Whether the Serpent, at the Fall,
Had cloven feet, or none at all :
All this, without a gloss or comment,
He could unriddle in' a moment,
In proper terms, such as men smatter
When they throw out and miss the matter.

For his religion, it was fit
To match his learning and his wit;

180

185

.

190 'Twas

Ver. 185.] Several of the Ancients have supposed that Adam and Eve had no navels; and, among the Moderns, the late learned Bishop Cumberland was of this opinion.

Ver. 189.) Mr. Butler is very exact in delineating his hero's religion; it was necessary that he should be so, that the reader might judge whether he was a proper person to set up for a Reformer, and whether the 3

religion

'Twas Presbyterian true blue;
For he was of that stubborn crew
Of errant saints, whom all men grant
To be the true Church Militant;
Such as do build their faith upon

195
The holy text of pike and gun;
Decide all controversies by
Infallible artillery;
And prove their doctrine orthodox,
By apostolic blows and knocks;

200
Call fire, and sword, and desolation,
A godly, thorough Reformation,

Which

religion he professed was more eligible than that he endeavoured to demolish. Whether the Poet has been just in the pourtrait must be left to every reader's cb. servation.

- Ver. 193, 194.) Where Presbytery has been eftablished, it has been usually effected by force of arms, like the religion of Mahomet: thus it was established at Geneva in Switzerland, Holland, Scotland, &c. In' France, for some time, by that means, it obtained a toleration : much blood was ihed to get it established in England; and once, during that Grand Rebellion, it seemed very near gaining an establishment here.

Ver. 195, 196.) Upon these Cornet Joyee built his faith, when he carried away the King, by force, from Holdenby: for when his Majesty afked him for a fight of his instructions, Joyce said, He should see them pre-fently; and so drawing up his troop in the inward court, « These, Sir, (said the Cornet) are my in« ftructions."

Ver. 199, 200.]. Many instances of that kind are given by Dr. Walker, in his Sufferings of the Episcopal Clergy.

>

1

Which always must be carry'd on,.
And still be doing, never done;
As if Religion were intended
For nothing else but to be mended :.
A fect whose chief devotion lies
In odd perverse antipathies;
In falling out with that or this,
And finding somewhat still amiss;
More peevith, cross, and splenetick,
Than dog distract, or monkey fick;
That with more care keep holy-day
The wrong, than others the right way;
Compound for fins they are inclin’d to,
By damning those they have no mind to :
Still fo perverse and opposite,
As if they worship'd God for spite :
The self-fame thing they will abhor
One way, and long another for :
Free-will they one way disavow,
Another, nothing else allow:

215

220

All

Ver. 207, 208.! The religion of the Presbyterians, of those times consisted principally in an opposition to the Church of England, and in quarreling with the most innocent customs then in use, as the eating Christmas-pies and plum-porridge at Christmas, which they reputed finful.

Ver. 213, 214.] They were so remarkably obstinate in this respect, that they kept a fait upon

Christmas day.

Ver. 215, 216.] Added in 1674.

225

23.

All piety confifts therein
In them, in other men all sin:
Rather than fail, they will defy
That which they love most tenderly;
Quarrel with minc'd pies, and disparage
Their best and dearest friend, plum-porridge ;
Fat pig and goose itself oppose,
And blafpheme custard through the nose.
Th' apostles of this fierce religion,
Like Mahomet's, were ass and widgeon,
To whom our Knight, by fast instinct
Of wit and temper, was fo linkt,
As if hypocrisy and nonsense
Had got th' advowson of his conscience.

Thus was he gifted and accouter'd,
We mean on th' in fide, not the outward ;
That next of all we shall discuss;
Then liften, Sirs, it follows thus,

235

240 His

Ver. 235, 236.) Dr. Bruno Ryves gives a remarkable instance of a fanatical conscience in a captain who was invited by a soldier to eat part of a goose with him ; but refused, becanse, he said, it was stolen : but being to march away, he who would eat no stolen goose, made no scruple to ride away upon a stolen mare; for, plundering Mrs. Bartlet of her mare, this hypocritical captain gave fufficient testimony to the world that the old Pharisee and new Puritan have consciences of the self-fame temper, “ To strain at a gnat, and swallow 46 a camel.

YOL. I.