Hudibras Samuel Butler (free novels to read TXT) đ
- Author: Samuel Butler
Book online «Hudibras Samuel Butler (free novels to read TXT) đ». Author Samuel Butler
For why should he who made address,
All humble ways, without success,
And met with nothing, in return,
But insolence, affronts, and scorn,
Not strive by wit to countermine,
And bravely carry his design?
He who was usâd so unlike a soldier,
Blown up with philtres of love-powder?
And after letting blood, and purging,
Condemnâd to voluntary scourging;
Alarmâd with many a horrid fright,
And clawâd by goblins in the night;
Insulted on, revilâd, and jeerâd,
With rude invasion of his beard;
And when your sex was foully scandalâd,
As foully by the rabble handled;
Attackâd by despicable foes,
And drubâd with mean and vulgar blows;
And, after all, to be debarrâd
So much as standing on his guard;
When horses, being spurrâd and prickâd,
Have leave to kick for being kickâd?
Or why should you, whose mother-wits
Are furnishâd with all perquisites,
That with your breeding-teeth begin,
And nursing babies, that lie in,
Bâ allowâd to put all tricks upon
Our cully sex, and we use none?
We, who have nothing but frail vows
Against your stratagems tâ oppose;
Or oaths more feeble than your own,
By which we are no less put down?
You wound, like Parthians, while you fly,
And kill with a retreating eye;214
Retire the more, the more we press,
To draw us into ambushes.
As pirates all false colours wear
Tâ entrap thâ unwary mariner,
So women, to surprise us, spread
The borrowâd flags of white and red;
Display âem thicker on their cheeks
Than their old grandmothers, the Picts;
And raise more devils with their looks,
Than conjurerâs less subtle books;
Lay trains of amorous intrigues,
In towârs, and curls, and periwigs,
With greater art and cunning rearâd,
Than Philip Nyeâs thanksgiving beard,215
Prepostârously tâ entice, and gain
Those to adore âem they disdain;
And only draw âem in to clog
With idle names a catalogue.
A lover is, the more heâs brave,
Tâ his mistress but the more a slave,
And whatsoever she commands,
Becomes a favour from her hands;
Which heâs obligâd tâ obey, and must,
Whether it be unjust or just.
Then when he is compellâd by her
Tâ adventures he would else forbear,
Who with his honour can withstand,
Since force is greater than command?
And when necessity âs obeyâd,
Nothing can be unjust or bad
And therefore when the mighty powârs
Of love, our great ally and yours,
Joinâd forces not to be withstood
By frail enamourâd flesh and blood,
All I have done, unjust or ill,
Was in obedience to your will;
And all the blame that can be due,
Falls to your cruelty, and you.
Nor are those scandals I confest,
Against my will and interest,
More than is daily done of course
By all men, when theyâre under force;
When some, upon the rack, confess
What thâ hangman and their prompters please;
But are no sooner out of pain,
Than they deny it all again.
But when the devil turns confessor,
Truth is a crime he takes no pleasure
To hear, or pardon, like the founder
Of liars, whom they all claim under;
And therefore when I told him none,
I think it was the wiser done.
Nor am I without precedent,
The first that on thâ adventure went:
All mankind ever did of course,
And daily dues the same, or worse.
For what romance can show a lover,
That had a lady to recover,
And did not steer a nearer course,
To fall aboard in his amours?
And what at first was held a crime,
Has turnâd to honourable in time.
To what a height did infant Rome,216
By ravishing of women, come!
When men upon their spouses seizâd,
And freely marryâd where they pleasâd,
They neâer forswore themselves, nor lyâd,
Nor, in the mind they were in, dyâd;
Nor took the pains tâ address and sue,
Nor playâd the masquerade to woo:
Disdainâd to stay for friendsâ consents;
Nor juggled about settlements;
Did need no licence, nor no priest,
Nor friends, nor kindred, to assist;
Nor lawyers, to join land and money
In thâ holy state of matrimony,
Before they settled hands and hearts,
Till alimony or death them parts:217
Nor would endure to stay until
Thâ had got the very brideâs good will;
But took a wise and shorter course
To win the ladies, downright force;
And justly made âem prisâners then,
As they have, often since, us men,
With acting plays, and dancing jigs,
The luckiest of all loveâs intrigues;
And when they had them at their pleasure,
Then talkâd of love and flames at leisure;
For after matrimonyâs over,
He that holds out but half a lover,
Deserves for evâry minute more
Than half a year of love before;
For which the dames, in contemplation
Of that best way of application,
Provâd nobler wives than eâer were known
By suit or treaty to be won;
And such as all posterity
Couâd never equal, nor come nigh.
For women first were made for men,
Not men for them.â âIt follows, then,
That men have right to evâry one,
And they no freedom of their own:
And therefore men have powâr to choose,
But they no charter to refuse.
Hence âtis apparent that, what course
Soeâer we take to your amours,
Though by the indirectest way,
âTis no injustice, nor foul play;
And that you ought to take that course,
As we take you, for better or worse;
And gratefully submit to those
Who you, before another, chose.
For why should evâry savage beast
Exceed his great lordâs interest?
Have freer powâr than he in grace,
And nature, oâer the creature has?
Because the laws he since has made
Have cut off all the powâr he had;
Retrenchâd the absolute dominion
That nature gave him over women;
When all his powâr will not extend
One law of nature to suspend;
And but to offer to repeal
The smallest clause, is to rebel.
This, if men rightly understood
Their privilege, they would make good;
And not, like sots, permit their wives
Tâ encroach on their prerogatives;
For which sin they deserve to be
Kept as they are, in slavery:
And this some precious gifted teachers,
Unrevârently reputed leachers,
And disobeyâd in making love,
Have vowâd to all the world to prove,
And make ye suffer, as you ought,
For that uncharitable fauât.
But I forget myself, and rove
Beyond thâ instructions of my love.
Forgive me (Fair) and only blame
Thâ extravagancy of my flame,
Since âtis too much at once to show
Excess of love and temper too.
All I have said thatâs bad and true,
Was never meant to aim at you,
Who have so sovâreign a control
Oâer that poor slave of yours, my soul,
That, rather than to forfeit you,
Has venturâd loss of heaven too;
Both with an equal powâr possest,
To render all that serve you blest;
But none like him, whoâs destinâd either
To have, or lose you, both together;
And if youâll but this fault release
(For so it must
Comments (0)