Profound in all the Nominal

155

And Real ways beyond them all:

For he a rope of fand could twist

As tough as learned Sorbonist,
And weave fine cobwebs, fit for fcull
That 's empty when the moon is full;
Such as take lodgings in a head
That's to be let unfurnished.

He could raise fcruples dark and nice,
And after folve them in a trice;
As if Divinity had catch'd

160

165

The itch, on purpose to be fcratch'd;
Or, like a mountebank, did wound
And ftab herself with doubts profound,

Only

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

Ver. 155, 156.] Gulielmus Occham was father of the Nominals, and Johannes Dunfcotus of the Reals. These two lines not in the two furft 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.

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 feat of Paradise,
Could tell in what degree it lies,

170

And, as he was difpos'd, could prove it
Below the moon, or else above it;

175

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 mufic malleable;
Whether the Serpent, at the Fall,
Had cloven feet, or none at all:
All this, without a glofs or comment,
He could unriddle in a moment,

In proper terms, fuch as men fmatter

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. 181.] Several of the Ancients have fuppofed 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 fo, that the reader might judge whether he was a proper person to set up for a Reformer, and whether the

3

religion

'Twas Prefbyterian true blue;

For he was of that stubborn crew

Of errant faints, whom all men grant

To be the true Church Militant;

Such as do build their faith upon

The holy text of pike and gun;
Decide all controverfies by
Infallible artillery;

And prove

their doctrine orthodox,

By apoftolic blows and knocks;
Call fire, and fword, and defolation,
A godly, thorough Reformation,

195

200

Which

religion he profeffed 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 obfervation.

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

Ver. 195, 196.] Upon thefe Cornet Joyce built his faith, when he carried away the King, by force, from Holdenby: for when his Majesty asked him for a fight of his inftructions, Joyce faid, He should fee them prefently; and fo drawing up his troop in the inward court, Thefe, Sir, (faid the Cornet) are my in"ftructions."

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

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 whofe chief devotion lies
In odd perverfe antipathies ;
In falling out with that or this,
And finding fomewhat still amifs;
More peevish, crofs, and fplenetick,
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 perverfe 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 :

205

210

215

220

All

Ver. 207, 208.] The religion of the Prefbyterians of thofe times confifted principally in an oppofition 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 fo remarkably obftinate in this refpect, that they kept a faft upon Christmasday.

Ver. 215, 216.] Added in 1674.

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,

230

Like Mahomet's, were afs and widgeon,

To whom our Knight, by fast instinct
Of wit and temper, was fo linkt,
As if hypocrify and nonsense

235

Had got th' advowfon of his confcience.
Thus was he gifted and accouter'd,

We mean on th' infide, not the outward:
That next of all we shall difcufs;

Then liften, Sirs, it follows thus.

240

His

Ver. 235, 236.] Dr. Bruno Ryves gives a remarkable inftance of a fanatical confcience in a captain who was invited by a foldier to eat part of a goofe with him ; but refused, becaufe, he faid, it was ftolen: but being to march away, he who would eat no stolen goofe, made no fcruple to ride away upon a stolen mare; for, plundering Mrs. Bartlet of her mare, this hypocritical captain gave fufficient teftimony to the world that the old Pharifee and new Puritan have confciences of the felf-fame temper, "To strain at a gnat, and fwallow a camel.