What Fops had these been, had they liv'd with us,

Where the best Reafon's made ridiculous;

And all the plain and fober Things we say, 170 By Raillery are put befide their Play? For Men are grown above all Knowledge

now,

And, what they're ignorant of, disdain to know;

Engrofs Truth (like Fanatics) underhand,
And boldly judge, before they understand,
175 The self-fame Courses equally advance
In fpiritual, and carnal Ignorance;
And, by the fame Degrees of Confidence,
Become impregnable against all Senfe;
For, as they outgrew Ordinances then,
180 So would they now Morality agen.

Tho' Drudgery and Knowledge are of Kin,
And both defcended from one Parent Sin;
And therefore feldom have been known to
part,

In tracing out the Ways of Truth, and Art;

181, 182. The Drudgery and Knowledge are of Kin-And both defcended from one Parent Sin ;] Butler here alludes to the Sin of our first Parents, which he fuppofes not only introduc'd Drudgery and Labour into the World, the Curfe of eating our Bread, &c. but the thorny and difficult Way of arriving at Knowledge; and therefore juftly fatirizes thofe, who wou'd obtain it without any Pains at all.

We

Yet they have North-west Paffages to fleer 185 A fhort Way to it, without Pains or Care. For, as implicit Faith is far more stiff,

Than that which understands its own Belief; So those, that think, and do but think, they know,

190 Are far more obftinate, that thofe that do, And more averfe, than if they'd ne'er been taught

A wrong Way, to a right one to be brought;
Take Boldness upon Credit beforehand,

And grow too pofitive to understand;

195 Believe themselves as knowing, and as fa

mous,

As if their Gifts had gotten a Mandamus,
A Bill of Store to take up a Degree,
With all the Learning to it, Custom-free;
And look as big, for what they bought at
Court,

200 As if they'd done their Exercises for't.

188. We find pretty much the fame Thought in his Hudibrass. For Fools are ftubborn in their Way

As Coins are harden'd by th' A'lay,

And Obflinacy's ne'er jo ftiff

As when'tis in a wrong Belief.

HUDIB. P. III. C. 2. Ver. 481.

197, 198. A Bill of Store to take up a Degree-With all the Learning to it, Custom free.] A Bill of store is a Licence, that the Merchant obtains at the Custom-houfe of taking up fuch Stores and Provifions, as are neceffary for his Voyage, Cullom-free. The Application is too juft and obvious to need pointing out.

SATYR.

When she has been too kind before;
Or tempt her to take back again,
What she had thrown away in vain;
5 By idly vent'ring her good Graces
To be difpos'd of by Alms-Aces ;
Or fettling it in Trust to Uses,
Out of his Pow'r, on Trays and Deuses :
To put it to the Chance, and try,
10 I'th' Ballot of a Box and Dye,

Whether his Money be his own,
And lofe it, if he be o'erthrown;
As if he were betray'd, and set
By his own Stars to every Cheat,
15 Or wretchedly condemn'd by Fate
To throw Dice for his own Estate
As Mutineers, by fatal Doom,
Do for their Lives upon a Drum?
VOL. I.

Ꮐ

For what lefs Influence can produce,
20 So great a Monster as a Chowse;
Or any two-leg'd Thing poffefs
With fuch a brutish Sottishness ?
Unless those tutelar Stars,
Intrusted by Aftrologers

25 To have the Charge of Man, combin'd
To use him in the felf-fame Kind;

As those, that help'd them to the Trust,
Are wont to deal with others juft.
For to become fo fadly dull ·

30 And stupid, as to fine for Gull,
(Not, as in Cities, to b' excus'd,
But to be judg'd fit to be us'd)
That, whofo'ere can draw it in
Is fure inevitably t'win;

35. And, with a curs'd half-witted Fate,
To grow more dully defperate,
The more 'tis made a common Prey,
And cheated foppishly at Play,
Is their Condition, Fate betrays
40 To Folly first, and then deftroys.

28. Are wont to deal with others juft.] In the preceding Lines the Poet feems a little obfcure, but when attended to, we shall find his Meaning, that nothing could produce fuch a bruti Sottiness except the Stars themfelves had combin'd by their Influence, to make Men as great Fools as their Masters the Aftrologers had done.

For what, but Miracles, can ferve.
So great a Madness to preserve;

As his, that ventures Goods and Chattles (Where there's no Quarter giv'n) in Battles, 45 And fights with Money-bags as bold, As Men with Sand-bags did of old: Puts Lands, and Tenements, and Stocks Into a paultry Jugler's Box;

And, like an Alderman of Gotham, 50 Embarketh in fo vile a Bottom: Engages blind and fenfeless Hap 'Gainst High, and Low, and Slur and Knap, (As Tartars with a Man of Straw Encounter Lions, Hand to Paw)

55 With those, that never venture more,
Than they had safely 'nfur'd before ;
Who, when they knock the Box and shake,
Do, like the Indian Rattle-Snake,

But strive to ruin, and destroy

60 Those that mistake it for fair Play :

That have their Fulhams at command,
Brought up to do their Feats at hand;

46. As Men with Sand-bags did of old.] The fame Thought and the fame Lines in Hudibras P. III. Canto 2. line 79. upon which, in Dr. Grey's Edition, there is a Note to which the Reader may have recourse.

61. That have their Fulhams at command] Fulhams was, in thofe Days, a cant Term for falfe Dice, which ran high or low according as they were loaded.

G 2

75. Although