No More Learning

ness.


## p. 57 (#79) ##############################################

Character of his Greatness 57
of the vis vivida of his longer satires. His lyrics, in their varied
excellence, complete the roll of his poetic achievements.
And yet, although the epithet 'glorious,' which for a long time
has been attached to Dryden's name, seems appropriate to the
powers and the products of his genius, and though time cannot
change the estimate which that epithet implies, there can be little
doubt what restriction should be placed upon the tribute due to him
as a great writer and a great poet. His originality was essentially
originality of treatment. Partly, perhaps, because his temperament
was slow and reserved, and because his mind seems never to have
been thoroughly at work till he had his pen in his hand, his genius
was that which he describes. as 'the genius of our countrymen. . .
rather to improve an invention than to invent themselves. ' And his
poetry-unless in isolated places where the feelings of the individual
man burst the bonds: the feeling of shame in the ode To Anne
Killigrew; the feeling of melancholy, mingled with a generous
altruism, in the lines to Congreve; the feeling of noble scorn for
what is base and mean in some of his satire; the feeling of the
sweetness of life and youth in a few of his lyrics—touches few
sympathetic chords in the heart. Nor does it carry the reader
out of himself and beyond himself into the regions where soul
speaks to soul. How could it have done so ? This was not his
conception of his art, or of the practice of it.
The same parts and application which have made me a poet might have
raised me to any honours of the gown, which are often given to men of as
little learning and less honesty than myself? .
Yet, even so, it were unjust as well as ungrateful to think of
Dryden as a craftsman who, by dint of taking infinite pains, learnt
the secret of simulating that which in the chosen few is inborn
What he was not, he at no time made any pretence of being.
What he did, he did with the whole strength of one of the most
vigorous intellects given to any poet ancient or modern, with
constant generosity of effort, and, at the same time, with masculine
directness and clear simplicity of purpose. And, though the work
of his life is not marble without a flaw, yet the whole structure
overtops the expanse of contemporary English literature like the
temple shining from the Sunian height over the sea.
1 Preface to the Fables (Essays, ed. Ker, vol. II, p. 255).
* Examen Poeticum (1698) (Essays, ed. Ker, vol 11, p. 2).


## p. 58 (#80) ##############################################

CHAPTER II
SAMUEL BUTLER
SATIRE, the humorous or caustic criticism of men's faults and
foibles in all their manifestations, the hotch-pot or farrago, as
Juvenal calls it, of the vagaries of human conduct, is justly claimed
by Quintilian as an entirely Latin or Italian product. So early as
Ennius (b. 239 B. C. ), the lanx satura or olla podrida of scraps of
heterogeneous and discursive observations had been compounded;
but it was not till Lucilius had seasoned it with ‘Italian vinegar'
that the production could be looked upon as 'satire' in the modern
sense of the word. This ingredient, however, Horace declares, was,
to a great extent, derived by Lucilius from the poets of the old
Greek comedy. The parabases of Aristophanes certainly contain
this element, though the concentration of their aim and object
preclude the title of the discursive satura. Lucilius, the inventor of
this kind of composition—the founder of the mocking style_was
also its chief exponent, and it is interesting to note that, to
Lucilius, each of his three successors-Horace, Juvenal and Persius
-attributes in turn his own style: Horace, his inconsequent chatter
full of moral maxims and worldly wisdom; Juvenal, his fiery
declamations against vice; and Persius, his homilies in praise of
virtue and against hypocrisy. When Horace asserts that Lucilius
had recourse to his 'faithful books' to record every mood of his
impressions on all subjects, he reminds more modern readers of
the practice of Montaigne, who charms us by his talk about himself
and by his carefully recorded experiences on that subject.
All these tirades were conveyed in Latin hexameters, which,
in Lucilius, were often of a hybrid, 'linsey-woolsey' composition, i. e.
interlarded with Greek words. This slipshod verse became the
conventional metre for satire in Latin down the ages, whether in
1 Plin. Nat. Hist. praef. § 8: Lucilius primus condidit stili nasumo


## p. 59 (#81) ##############################################

Butler's Satirical Material
59
the Anti-Claudianus of Alain de l'Isle or in the macaronic Baldus
of Merlin Cocai (Teofilo Folengo). In the same way,"splayfoot'
octosyllabic rimes became the medium of English satire, derived,
probably, through the French, from Le Roman de la Rose.
Satirical writing found a congenial soil in France, where the
interminable chansons de geste required a relief. Thus were
produced Le Roman de Renart and the fables bestiaires, often
attributed to Ysopet, the French counterpart of Aesop. But Le
Roman de la Rose stands out as the most important production of
the kind and as exercising a widereaching influence on the
literature of Europe.
From this source flowed numberless compositions, on two sub-
jects especially, one being the querelle des femmes, which was taken
up vigorously on both sides. Christine de Pisan leads the attack
against Le Roman de la Rose, followed by Jean Gerson, chancellor
of the university of Paris, Alain Chartier and Martin de France,
author of Le Champion des Dames (1440—2). On the other side
may be mentioned Les XV joyes de mariage, Les arrêts d'amour,
the Silva nuptialis of Johannes Nevizanus and Rabelais in the
third book of his Pantagruel : but the catalogue is a very long
one. The other subject is an attack on the religious orders,
especially the mendicants, the Dominicans and the Franciscans,
who had been recognised by the popes in the beginning of the
thirteenth century, and, from the very first, bad shown extra-
ordinary activity and influence, proving very obnoxious to the
regular clergy. These two subjects can be traced in Hudibras,
but in another and curious form : the nonconforming sects taking
the place of the mendicants as butts for satire, and Hudibras and
the widow respectively leading the attack and defence in the
querelle des femmes.
Butler had also probably read Barclay's Ship of Fools, trans-
lated from Sebastian Brant's Narrenschif. Moriae Encomium
might well supply him with a model for his satire, while the Adagia
of Erasmus undoubtedly furnished him with a stock of learning and
literary illustration. Rabelais was thoroughly versed in all these
writings, and employed them in his Gargantua and Pantagruel.
Butler was a good French scholar and did not need Urquhart's
translation, but read the French at firsthand Zachary Grey
points out in his notes several passages in Hudibras derived from
the French satirist; but many more correspondences can be
detected by a closer comparison.
1 As to this, see vol. yo, chap. z
>


## p. 60 (#82) ##############################################

60
Samuel Butler
f
Only scanty materials for an account of Samuel Butler's life
\survive. The son of a farmer, he was born at Strensham in Wor-
cestershire, 8 February 1612, and died in London in the year 1680.
He was educated at the cathedral school at Worcester, and, judging
by his proficiency in classical literature, must have been exceedingly
well grounded. Afterwards, he lived in or near Cambridge, but
does not seem to have entered at any one of the colleges or to have
been a member of the university. Later, he was engaged as an
attendant or secretary to Elizabeth, countess of Kent, at Wrest in
Bedfordshire. This was an important period of his life, for John
Selden, the accomplished lawyer, passed at least three long vacations
(1626—8) under the same roof, and interested himself in Butler.
It may, perhaps, be fanciful to find in the lawyer's fondness for
illustration and analogy in his Table Talk the suggestion of the
similar treatment of his subjects in the droll similes and com-
parisons that meet us often in Butler's writings.
Some years of his early life were spent in the capacity of clerk
to a succession of county magistrates; but the most important
of these employments was that under Sir Samuel Luke, of Cople
Hoo near Bedford, who was a fanatical puritan, one of Cromwell's
colonels in the civil war, and scoutmaster for Bedfordshire and
several midland counties. In this gentleman's house were frequent
meetings of members of various religious and political sects, and
Butler had an opportunity of noting the peculiarities and pretentions
of a motley crew, which he afterwards mercilessly ridiculed in his
comic epic. Here, no doubt, he composed many of his Characters
and notes, which sometimes appear in his Hudibras, though some
of the Characters were obviously written, partly, at least, after the
restoration. One hundred and twenty of these Characters had
appeared (but not till 1759) in The Genuine Remains in Verse and
Prose of Mr Samuel Butler, edited by Robert Thyer, and, recently,
sixty-eight more, together with a number of miscellaneous Obser-
vations and Reflexions, have been published? In 1660, Butler
.
became secretary to Richard, earl of Carbery, lord president of
Wales, who appointed him steward of Ludlow castle, where
many Characters and other compositions were written out fair
for the press, as they came afterwards into the hands of his
friend William Longueville.
After the restoration, Butler published the first part of his
Hudibras in 1663, the second part in 1664, but the third part did
not see the light till 1678. It was at once received with great
Ed. Waller, A. R. (Cambridge English Classics), 1908.
2


## p. 61 (#83) ##############################################

His Later Days. His Learning
61
enthusiasm, especially by Charles II, to whom it became a kind
of vade-mecum, and who rewarded the poet with a gratuity
of £3001.
It is recorded that Butler contracted a marriage with a wealthy
widow, but that they lost their property by unfortunate speculations.
Another story attributes this loss to the rascality of lawyers and
accounts thus for the exceeding bitterness with which the poet
assails them. But this is an obscure point; even the lady's name
is not known for certain. If the question could be satisfactorily
determined, light would possibly be thrown on the relations of
Hudibras and the widow in the third part of the poem. It seems, ,
however, tolerably certain that Butler passed the rest of his days
in needy circumstances and died in abject penury. This is attested
by an epigram full of bitterness on the subject of a monument
erected to his memory in Westminster abbey in 1720 :
While Butler, needy Wretch, was yet alive
No Generous Patron would a Dinner give.
See him when starv'd to death and turn'd to Dust
Presented with a monumental Bust.
The Poet's Fate is here in Emblem show'n;
He asked for Bread and he receiv'd a Stone.
We have seen that he was well taught in Latin and Greek; but
we learn from one of his contradictions that he gave up his Greek
studies after he had left school as 'unnecessary except to Dunces
and Schoolmasters,' and, in his Thoughts on Learning and Know-
ledge, he repeats that Greek is of little use in our times unless to
serve Pedants and mountebanks to smatter withal'; there is, how-
ever, considerable evidence that he kept up his Latin, especially in the
satirists Horace, Juvenal and Persius, from whom he derives many
thoughts and similes ; Lucan, also, he parodies in a notable passage.
In his prose writings (Reflections, etc. ) he shows that he had read
Lucretius carefully; he employs that poet's language in illustrating
remarks aimed at the newly formed Royal Society or, as they were
styled, the 'Virtuosi of Gresham College. ' He freely showers
ridicule on Sir Paul Neale, probably the original of the astrologer
Sidrophel (perhaps a parody of 'Astrophil') and on Lord Brounker,
president of the Society, who, in the poem entitled The Elephant
in the Moon, is dubbed 'Virtuoso in chief. '
1 Thus, especially if the difference in the value of money be remembered, the
observation of Dennis (Reflections on Pope's Essay on Criticism, p. 539), 'that Butler
was starved at the same time that the king had his book in his pocket' is bardly fair
to Charles II.
: p. 280 (ed. 1908).
Ö 1, 2, 493—502.


## p. 62 (#84) ##############################################

62
Samuel Butler
A knowledge of English law and legal phraseology is conspicuous
in his writings, but, as might be expected, it is the technical law
appertaining to the office of a justice of the peace rather than that
of a constitutional lawyer, though his intercourse with Selden may
have procured for him some acquaintance with that department
of legal study.
The popularity of Hudibras caused the growth of a fungus
crop of spurious imitations of Butler's prose and poetry, which
were published under the title The Posthumous Works of Mr
Samuel Butler, Author of Hudibras, being a collection of Satires,
Speeches and Reflections of those times. Four or five of these
productions were published afterwards in The Genuine Remains ;
but, for the most part, the collection consists of ballads, long poems
and essays on various subjects relating to the times of the rebellion.
A cursory examination will show them to be of distinctly inferior
merit; and they are of little service in illustrating the great satire.
This worthless publication reached a sixth edition in 1754; and it
may have been this circumstance that induced John Clark, to whom
The Genuine Remains came from Charles Longueville, the son of
Butler's friend William Longueville, to entrust them for publication
- to Robert Thyer, keeper of the public library at Manchester, in
November 1759. The pieces making up the collection had been
written out fair in Butler's own handwriting when left to William
Longueville, but had probably been composed in the rough some
years earlier, many of them before Hudibras, seeing that they
have some of the same matter in common. They consist of a
volume of prose containing Characters and a few speeches,
put in the mouths of certain politicians on stated occasions,
with letters pro and con. , similarly conceived ; to these are added
some Occasional thoughts. The second volume is mainly in verse,
beginning with The Elephant in the Moon, directed against Sir
Paul Neale, a member of the Royal Society. The elephant in
the moon turns out to be a fly in the telescope which had been
directed to the moon for observations. Curiously enough, this
subject is treated metrically twice over—in octosyllabic verse,
Butler's special metre, and then in the rimed decasyllables aptly
employed by Dryden and Pope. It seems as though Butler had
experimented to find the most suitable vehicle for his satire.
This poem is followed by nine satires, one or two of which are
written in the longer metre.
The subjects of these are the absurdity of human actions and
speculations; the licentious times of Charles II(long verse); gaming ;


## p. 63 (#85) ##############################################

Characters
63
the troubles of verse and rimel; the foolish changes of fashion;
the abuse of wine ; promiscuous marriages (long verse); plagiaries ;
the abuse of human learning The style and method of these satires
are naturally suggestive of the influence of the Roman satirists,
which may often be traced in Hudibras. Inserted among these
are other satirical poems, mainly on political subjects, the most
notable being on Philip Nye's Thanksgiving Beard. ' (Nye was an
independent and a member of the assembly of divines, who had made
himself notorious by a peculiar beard. ) The collection concludes
with a large number of Miscellaneous Thoughts in epigrammatic
form, many of them containing bitter reflections on the poet's
illfortune in life and the undeserved success achieved by impudent
self-assertion; some are on the faults of government and the rulers
of the statea medley of melancholy pessimistic thoughts.
The Characters must have been suggested by the fashion
brought into vogue by Casaubon's translation of Theophrastus's
Characters in 1592, feebly imitated by bishop Hall, and super-
ficially by Sir Thomas Overbury, and exemplified more effectively
in Earle's Microcosmographie (1628—-33)* Earle was a fellow
of Merton and a great friend of Lord Falkland; Clarendon, who
met Earle at Falkland's country house, Great Tew, near Oxford,
and was much taken with the refined scholar, refers to Micro-
cosmographie as some very 'witty and sharp discourses' which
brought the author into repute. It might, therefore, be an in-
teresting matter for speculation as to how far Clarendon himself
was indebted (for suggestions at least) to the numerous essays of
this kind during the first half of the seventeenth century, in com-
posing the wonderful delineations of character which are the chief
ornaments of his History of the Rebellion.
Butler's Characters remained in manuscript for about a century
and, though brought to light in 1759 in The Genuine Remains, they
have by no means received the attention they deserve. While,
perhaps, not closely adhering to the model of Theophrastus, they
are full of witty sallies and quips which bring into relief the
absurdities and hypocrisy displayed by the presbyterian members
of Sir Samuel Luke's coterie. Butler had a special genius for noting
points of comparison and making similes from small matters in
· This is translated from Boileau's second Satire, as was pointed out to the writer
of this chapter by Mr A, A. Tilley.
? He is referred to in Hudibras, 1, 2, 529–531; and in Hudibras's Epistle 1, 188.
3 Cf. , as to the genesis and growth of the character sketch, ante, vol. iv, chap. XVI,
pp. 385 ff. and bibl. pp. 521–3.


## p. 64 (#86) ##############################################

64
Samuel Butler
6
9
6
common life, or from extraordinary relations of travellers or ob-
servers in fantastic science, such as Sir Kenelm Digby and Cornelius
Agrippa ; his bent being essentially satirical, he had, while with
Sir Samuel Luke, a rare opportunity of observing and recording
the revelations made by the caterwauling brethren,' the self-
styled saints, whose pretensions he unmasks in his Hudibras.
Most of his characters are merely general, but others, especially
the longer, such as 'A Modern Politician,' 'An hypocritical
Non-conformist,' 'A Republican,' 'A State-Convert,' 'A modern
Statesman,' 'A Fifth Monarchy man,' 'A small Poet,''A Lawyer,'
'A Virtuoso,' 'A Justice of Peace,' 'A Fanatic,' 'An Hermetic
Philosopher,' are evidently to be referred to actors on the political
stage of that time, and must have supplied matter for Hudibras ;
there are passages that have so close a resemblance to their counter-
parts in the poem that one must have been derived from the other ;
though there are some points in the Characters which show that
they must have been written (at least in part) after 1664.
Of Earle's characters, about ten coincide in their subject with
those of Butler, and it is interesting to compare the different style
of treatment to be found in these writers. But, in every case, the
method is the same. The character is drawn not in outline, but by
a number of minor traits that all tell in the same direction till the
portrait is fully completed. The besetting sin of the artist in this
kind of description is that he often does not know when to take his
hand from the picture, and goes on elaborating details till the
reader is wearied.
Hudibras may be described as a mock-heroic poem dealing
with the pretensions and hypocrisies of the presbyterians, inde-
pendents and other sects which were subversive of the monarchy
at the time of the great rebellion. Though it was not published
till after the restoration of Charles II, Butler's sympathies were
ardently royalist; but his pen, so far as we know, was engaged
only fitfully in support of his convictions. His object in putting
together in a considerable poem an account of the events and
opinions which he had quietly recorded during the convulsive
struggles of the nation must have been to ingratiate himself with
the king after his return. The impelling motive may well have
been poverty, together with the desire of fame.
The first known attempt at mock-heroic poetry was Batra-
chomyomachia, or the battle between frogs and mice, a bur-
lesque on the Iliad, at one time absurdly attributed to Homer.
Butler, of course, was acquainted with this poem, and wittily


## p. 65 (#87) ##############################################

Hudibras and its Models
65
parodies title and subject in his Cynarctomachy, or Battle between
Bear and Dogs. He was probably influenced, also, by Skelton,
who, although a man of learning, attacked cardinal Wolsey and
the clergy in short rimes of 'convivial coarseness and boisterous
vigour'l. But Butler's model in style, to a very great extent, must
have been Scarron, almost an exact contemporary, whose Virgile
travesti was published in 1648—52; 8o Butler, who was versed
in French literature, could easily adopt the salient features of this
poem in Hudibras, which was not published till 1663. On the
other side, Scarron shows acquaintance with English affairs, e. g. in
the following couplet:
D'un côté vient le grand Ajax
Fier comme le milord Fairfax.
Virg. trav. , liv. ii.
His method is to modernise the language and actions of the ancient
Vergilian heroes, and to put in their mouths the phrases of the
(common) people of his own time. In the same mocking spirit, he
introduces glaring anachronisms, such as the appearance of
Mohammadans at the foundation of Carthage, Dido saying grace
before meat, etc.
The name 'Hudibras' is derived from The Faerie Greene
(II, 2, 17), and the setting of the poem is obviously imitated from
Don Quixote, save that the imitation is a complete reversal of the
attitude of the original. Cervantes treats the vanishing chivalry
of Spain in a gentle and affectionate spirit, while showing the
impossibility of its continuance in the changed conditions of life.
In Don Quixote, every element of grandeur and nobility is attri-
buted to the most ordinary and meanest person, building, incident
or surrounding; an inn is a castle, an inn-keeper a knight, flocks
of sheep are armies; a barber's basin is a golden helmet in the
vivid imagination of the knight; a mess of acorns set before him
prompts a discourse full of regret at the passing away of the
Golden Age, when Nature herself provided simple, wholesome fare
for all, without necessity for resorting to force or fraud; and
justice prevails throughout. Notwithstanding the absurdity and
impossibility of this revival, the reader's sympathy is ever on the
side of the chivalric madman, even in his wildest extravagance.
In Hudibras, on the contrary, the 'blasoning' or description of
the knight and squire, while following the most accredited
forms of chivalric romance, serves only to set forth the odious
squalor of the modern surroundings. The knight's mental
· See, as to Skelton, ante, vol. in, chap. iv, pp. 67 ff.
E. L. VIII.
CH, II,
5


## p. 66 (#88) ##############################################

66
Samuel Butler
qualifications are given in great detail and, after that, his bodily
accomplishments—all in a vein of satirical exaggeration. Butler's
purpose is to show everything in its vilest aspect. Instead of
making common affairs noble in appearance, the poem reveals the
boastful pretensions of the puritan knight by describing both his
equipment and that of his squire squalid and beggarly, while his
purpose is, not to excite pity for the poverty and wretchedness of
these pitiful champions, but to provoke contempt for the disgusting
condition of the wretched pair and to bring down further odium
upon it. It is genre painting with a vengeance, and fully realises
the account given by Pliny of the art of Piraeicus: 'He painted
barbers' shops and cobblers' stalls, asses and dishes of food, and
the like, thus getting the name of “painter of low life” (øvnapo-
ypápos) and giving the highest pleasure by such representations. '
Our own Morland and Hogarth well answer such a description,
and we are fortunate in possessing illustrations of Hudibras
designed by the latter. The sympathy between the painter and
the poet must have been complete.
That Hudibras going forth 'a colonelling' is intended to
represent Sir Samuel Luke is made pretty clear by the speech:
'Tis sung there is a valiant Mamaluke
In foreign Land yclept-
To whom we have been oft compar'd
For person, parts, address and beard 1.
He is described as a 'true blue' presbyterian, ignorant, conceited,
pedantic, crotchety, a pretender to linguistic, mathematical and
dialectical learning, bent on a 'thorough-going reformation' by
means of 'apostolic blows and knocks. ' In external appearance,
he was of a most droll rusticity. His beard was orange tawny
(perhaps copied from Philip Nye's thanksgiving beard, or from
Panurge's beard in Pantagruel), and it was unkempt because he
had vowed not to trim it till the monarchy was put down. He
was hunchbacked and adorned by a protuberant paunch, stuffed
with country fare of milk and butter. His doublet was buff, the
colour much affected by his party, and was proof against blows
from a cudgel, but not against swordcuts. His trunkhose were
full of provisions; even his sword had a basket-hilt to hold broth,
and was so little used that it had worn out the scabbard with rust,
having been exhibited only in serving warrants. His dagger was
serviceable for scraping pots and toasting cheese. His holster
contained rusty pistols which proved useful in catching rats in the
2
11, 1, 903–6.
III, 28.


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Hudibras and Ralpho
67
locks, snapping on them when they foraged amongst his garments
for cheese. Don Quixote took no thought as to how he should
obtain sustenance, while Hudibras was an itinerant larder.
All this is adapted from Cervantes or Rabelais, who themselves
parodied the chivalric romances in the apparelling and blasoning
of their heroes: in the same vein, Butler goes on to describe the
steed and the squire. The horse was mealy-mouthed, blind of one
eye, like the mare of Rabelais's Catchpole? , and wall-eyed of the
other; there are also reminiscences of Rosinante and of Gargan-
tua's mare.
It was of a grave, majestic pace, and is compared
with Caesar's horse, which would stoop to take up its rider, while
this one stooped to throw Hudibras. The saddle was old and
worn through, and the horse's tail so long and bedraggled that it
was only serviceable for swishing mire on the rider.
Ralpho the squire is an independent, with a touch of the
anabaptist, despising booklore and professing to be learned for
salvation by means of 'gifts' or 'new-light,' in the phraseology of
those sects. Here comes in a loan from Rabelais in the account
of Ralpho's mystic learning.
Her Trippa in Pantagruel is based
on Henricus Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim, author of De
Occulta Philosophia; these writers and Pythagorean numbers are
employed in the description of the squire's accomplishments in
quack astrology and almanac writing. Ralpho is a tailor and, like
Aeneas and Dante, has seen 'hell'—a sartorial term of the age,
meaning a receptacle for shreds and scraps.
As the pair ride forth, the true romantic method is followed,
beginning with a comic invocation of the muse, who
With ale and viler liquors
Didst inspire Withers, Pryn and Vickars,
certain presbyterian poetasters, the last of whom is said in Butler's
'Annotations' to have 'translated Virgils Æneids into as horrible
a Travesty in earnest as the French Scarron did in Burlesque. '
This introduces the action, which is brought about by the dis-
covery of a rabble intent on bear-baiting. The knight looks
upon this as 'lewd and anti-Christian,' and it may be intended to
represent the 'insolency of the late tumults' described in Eikon
Basilike, which was accepted by the royalists as the composition
of Charles I. The leaders of the rebellion are there styled boute-
feus, or known incendiaries, a term here used by Butler probably
in allusion to its occurrence in the tract, and explained in his
' Annotations' as a French word and, therefore, necessarily under-
1 Bk. iv, chap. 12.
9 Bk. II, chap. 25.
2
6
.
5-2


## p. 68 (#90) ##############################################

68
Samuel Butler
stood by persons of quality. Bear-baiting is quaintly derived
from the constellation Ursa Major, which circles round the pole.
The knight finds in this Cynarctomachy a plot to set brother
against brother, so as to prevent them from offering a united front
on behalf of a thorough reformation.
As, in Rabelais and Don Quixote, it is the conversations that
bring into relief the convictions and prejudices of the interlocutors,
80, in Hudibras, the altercations between the knight and squire,
which often degenerate into recriminations, are intended to un-
mask the hypocritical contentions of both parties. In the very
first canto, the suspicion that was rife between the presbyterian
knight and the independent squire is brought out, and the warmth of
religious partisanship is heightened on every subsequent occasion.
The description of the warriors on the other side, that is, the
bear-baiters, is humorous in the extreme. They consist of a one-
legged fiddler, Crowdero (from crowd, an old word for a fiddle),
a bear-ward, a butcher, a tinker, Magnano (the Italian equivalent
for locksmith), a virago named Trulla, a cobbler and an ostler.
These have been identified by Sir Roger l'Estrange, who was a
contemporary, with men who obtained posts in Cromwell's army
and gained subsequent distinction. The wit and humour lavished
on the description of these worthies is extraordinary, and may be
exemplified in one or two cases. Talgol, the butcher, had made
many orphans and widows, and, like Guy of Warwick, had slain
many a dun cow; he had fought more flocks of sheep than Ajax
or Don Quixote, and slain many serpents in the shape of wasps.
Cerdon, the cobbler, is compared to Hercules in the repair of
wrong in shoes):
He raised the low and fortifi'd
The weak against the strongest Side.
Colon, the ostler, is compared to a centaur for his riding, and
Sturdy he was and no less able
Than Hercules to cleanse a Stable;
As great a Drover and as great
A Critic too in Hog and Neat.
It was
A question as to whether He
Or's Horse were of a Family
More worshipful;
but antiquaries gave their decision,
And pror'd not onely Horse, but Cowg,
Nay Pigs were of the elder House:
For Beasts, when Man was but a piece
Of earth himsef, did th' Earth possess.


## p. 69 (#91) ##############################################

The Bear-baiting
69
1
Butler's peculiar trick of giving the characteristics of each
person by parallels of similar accomplishments in some noted hero,
but in ludicrous travesty, is, doubtless, imitated from Scarron.
Rabelais delights in finding in ancient history and literature
parallels to his modern instances, but does not go further, except
where the general tone of the speaker dramatically requires it;
but, with Butler's mocking humour, the method is reversed, and it
is only for the purpose of debasing it in the application that a
striking instance is found.
In order to bring Hudibras into contempt from the first, he is
represented as anxious to put down bear-baiting, one of the most
popular amusements of the time, and substituting for it the cult
of the solemn league and covenant, which was thrust upon the
English by the Scottish presbyterians. The knight feels bound, ‘in
conscience and commission too,' 'to keep the peace twixt dog and
bear,' and dubs the whole proceeding 'pagan and idolatrous. '
The squire consents to this, but, from his point of view as an
independent, insists that, if there is no scriptural warrant for bear-
baiting, neither is there warrant for
Provincial, classic, national,
Mere human creature cobwebs all.
These three words, specially applied by the presbyterians to their
various synods, make Hudibras suspicious of his squire; but he
puts off the argument, because it is now time for action.
The description of the battle is rendered more absurd by the
high-flown epic vein in which it is set forth. The metrical devices
of pauses in particular places are duly observed, as well as the
repetitions of emphatic words, such as
He Trulla loved, Trulla more bright, etc.
And gave the Champion's Steed a thump
That stagger'd him. The knight did stoop, etc. 1
The bear having been badly mauled in the battle, the retreat
is saved by the cobbler Cerdon and by Trulla, who leads
The Warrior to a grassy Bed,
As Authors write, in a cool Shade,
Which Eglantine and Roses made,
Close by a softly murm'ring Stream,
Where lovers us'd to loll and dream.
1 There is even an instance of aposiopesis :
Which now thou shalt-bat first our care
Must see how Hudibras doth fare,
imitating the Vergilian Quos ego-sed motos, etc.


## p. 70 (#92) ##############################################

70
Samuel Butler
This is a ludicrous imitation of the first book of the Aeneid, where
Venus puts Ascanius to rest in similar surroundings.
Hudibras had been victorious in the first battle and, with the
help of the squire, had put Crowdero in the stocks; but, in a second
encounter, after the combatants have rallied their forces, he is
worsted, and, with Ralpho, takes the place of Crowdero. Even
here, while Hudibras
Cheer'd up himself with ends of Verse
And Sayings of Philosophers,
Ralpho the independent resumes his attack on the presbyterians,
and we are treated to the catch-words 'gifts,' “illumination,' 'light,'
synodical,'' orders,''constitutions,' church-censures' and so forth.
Challenged by the knight, he repeats his argument that synods are
mystical bear-gardens, in which saints are represented by the bear
and presbyters and scribes by the dogs that are set upon them.
‘Synods are whelps of the inquisition, and they have their
‘triers' (or testers), whose business it is
To cast a figure for men's Light;
To find in lines of Beard and Face
The Physiognomy of Grace,
And by the sound and twang of Nose
If all be sound within disclose.
The second part, which was published a year after the first,
proceeds uninterruptedly with the story, taking up the case of the
widow whom, in the third canto of the first part, Hudibras had after
his victory wished to gain, meeting, however, with discomfiture. The
widow, informed of this by Fame (parodied from the fourth book of
the Aeneid), determines to visit him in the stocks, and there entices
him to declare himself. Thus, we have another argument between
them, in which the knight's shameless self-seeking is exposed and
the superiority of the female sex is maintained. In proof of his
good faith, Hudibras has to promise to submit to flagellation. The
notion of whipping and the mode of carrying it out is borrowed
from Don Quixote, where Sancho Panza is called upon to endure
three thousand lashes in order to obtain the disenchantment of
Dulcinea del Toboso. Hudibras solemnly swears that he will
carry out this behest.
The next (the second) canto is introduced by the poet as
especially full of contention, and it is here that the hypocritical
casuistry of the two sects who were principally concerned in the
civil war is most clearly exposed. Hudibras, after a night's
1 Bk. II, chap. 85.


## p. 71 (#93) ##############################################

Saints in Public and in Private 71
Life Life
reflection, does not relish the idea of a flogging and turns to the
squire for his judgment on the subject. Ralpho readily proceeds
to 'enlarge upon the point. ' First, it is heathenish to offer the
sacrifice of whipping to idols, and it is sinful to do so in saints who
are sufficiently bruised and kicked by the wicked. Moreover,
The Saints may claim a Dispensation
To swear and forswear on occasion. . . .
and,
Although your Church be opposite
To ours as Black Friers are to White
In Rule and Order; yet I grant
You are a Reformado Saint.
He then, with pungent raillery, particularises breaches of faith
on the part of the ‘saints. ' They broke the allegiance and
supremacy oath, and compelled the nation to take and break the
protestation in favour of the reformed religion, to swear and
forswear the solemn league and covenant, to enter into and then
disclaim the engagement to be true to the government without king
or peers. They swore to fight for and against the king, insisting
that it was in his defence, and also for and against their own
general Esses. They swore to maintain law, religion and privilege
in parliament, not one of which is left; having sworn to maintain
the House of Lords, they turned them out as dangerous and
useless.
If this be so in public life, a saint in private life can be no more
bound by an oath.
A Saint 's of th' heavenly Realm a Peer:
And as no Peer is bound to swear,
But on the Gospel of his Honor,
Of which he may dispose as Owner;
It follows, though the thing be forgery
And false th' affirm, it is no perjury.
This suggests a gibe at the despised quakers, who, nevertheless,
are scrupulous in this matter :
These, thinking th’are obliged to Troth,
In swearing will not take an Oath.
Hudibras agrees and insists that, like a law, an oath is of no
use till it is broken. Ralpho, continuing, points out that a man
may be whipped by proxy, and
That Sinners may supply the place
Of suffering Saints is a plain Case.
Hudibras jumps at this, and at once bids Ralpho be his substitute.


## p. 72 (#94) ##############################################

72
Samuel Butler
He refuses, and, when Hudibras becomes abusive, reminds him of
the superiority of the independent party.
Remember how in Arms and Politicks
We still have worsted all your holy Tricks;
Trapann'd your party with Intregue
And took your Grandees down a peg;
New-modelld th’ Army and Cashierd
All that to Legion Smec adher'd.
(Legion Smec is intended for the presbyterians generally, under
the well known composite name ‘Smectymnuus. ') Hudibras retorts
furiously, upbraiding his squire as an upstart sectary and a
mongrel,
Such as breed out of peccant Humors
Of our own Church, like Wens and Tumours,
And, like a Maggot in a Sore,
Would that which gave it Life devour.
This, of course, refers to the numberless sects that sprang up at
this time, holding often the strangest of views.
The champions are proceeding to blows when they are inter-
rupted by a frightful noise caused by a woman being escorted in
triumph by a rabble, for having beaten her husband. Hudibras
must needs interfere, being particularly scandalised by the dis-
honour done to the sex that furnished the saints' with their first
'apostles. ' He enlarges on the help women have given to the
cause,' in language that might be a parody of Hooker, but the
rabble sets upon them with eggs and similar projectiles, so they are
glad to escape with the loss of their swords. Hudibras consoles
himself, seeing a good omen in his having been pelted with dirt:
Vespasian being dawb'd with durt
Was destin'd to the Empire for 't.
The third canto introduces a new element. By Ralpho's advice,
Hudibras entertains the notion of consulting an astrologer, Sidro-
phel, as to his prospects in the pursuit of the widow. The question
as to the permissibility of consulting a person who is scripturally
banned is decided in his favour— saints may employ a conjurer. '
The description of Sidrophel and his zany Whachum, 'an under-
witch, his Caliban,' is but little inferior to the account of Hudibras
and the squire at the beginning of the poem. Much of it is derived
from Rabelais, who has collected a great number of methods
of divination. Butler, however, makes considerable additions
from his own store, derived from the superstitions of common
6
1
1 Pref. c. III, § 13.
? Bk. III, chap. 25.


## p. 73 (#95) ##############################################

Hudibras, Part III
73
life. At first, Hudibras is impressed by the extraordinary know-
ledge displayed by the astrologer; but, afterwards, in matching his
own store of learning with it, finds himself disabused, especially
when Sidrophel quotes as a recent event a fictitious adventure of
his own, which had appeared in a spurious continuation of the first
part of Hudibras. This leads to the usual scuffle, in which the
astrologer and Whachum are worsted, and Ralpho is despatched
for a. constable; while Hudibras, under the false impression that
Sidrophel is dead, makes off, intending the squire to bear the
charge of murder and robbery, though he himself has rummaged
the astrologer's pockets.
This is the conclusion of the first and second parts of the poem,
published respectively in 1663 and 1664. The third part, which
takes up the story, was not published till 1678, and shows con-
siderable difference in the treatment of the subject.
Unlike the earlier parts, it contains very few classical allusions,
and these are of the most obvious kind, such as the Trojan horse
and Cerberus; the style, too, is smoother and requires less ex-
planation. This may be the result of experience and of hints
received by the writer in the intervening years. But the thread
of the story is taken up without interruption. The knight, having
determined to abjure Ralpho, makes his way to the widow's house;
but, unfortunately for him, the squire had formed the same resolu-
tion and forestalled him. When Hudibras appears, the lady is
.
found fully informed on all points, and is able to oppose a true
account to all his false claims of suffering on her behalf. The
controversy for and against marriage again betrays the knight's
unscrupulous selfishness, and a finishing stroke has set forth his
contemptible character, when a low knocking is heard at the gate,
and, flying in terror into a neighbouring room, he hides under a
table. He is ignominiously drawn out and cudgelled by (as he
supposes) Sidrophel's diabolical agents. Under the influence of
superstitious terrors, he confesses the motives that impelled him in
his suit, and answers to a catechism which divulges all his iniquities;
and, that nothing may be wanting to complete his humiliation, he
mistakes his squire Ralpho, who has been similarly beaten and left
in the same dark room, for a more or less friendly spirit; where-
upon, the pair make confession of the enormities perpetrated by
the rival sects in the civil wars.
The final act of the burlesque follows in the third canto of this
part, the second being a satirical account of the death of Cromwell
and of the intrigues of the various parties before the restoration.


## p. 74 (#96) ##############################################

74
Samuel Butler
2
>
The knight, having been withdrawn from his place of torture on
Ralpho's shoulders, is induced by the squire to consult a lawyer.
At first, he cries down this scheme, in order to adopt it afterwards
as his own. He adopts it ungraciously 'since he has no better
course' and consoles himself with the, often misquoted, couplet
He that complies against his Will
Is of his own Opinion still.
Butler now has an opportunity of exhibiting a lawyer in what
he probably considered a true light. The advice this person gives
exemplifies the use that was made in the older jurisprudence of
cautelae, or methods of getting round legal enactments, and
Hudibras is instructed to ply the widow with love-letters and
With Trains t inveigle and surprise
Her heedless Answers and Replies.
This counsel is followed, and we have the knight's letter and the
lady's answer, in which the latter, undoubtedly, has the best of the
argument.
The second canto of the third part stands quite by itself and
has nothing to do with the fortunes of Hudibras. It is merely
an account, more or less detailed, of the principles and politics
of the presbyterians, independents and republicans during the
anarchy before the restoration. Rebellion had slackened for want
of plunder, and presbyterian and independent were now at logger-
heads. The presbyterians were turned out, and were glad to become
itinerant preachers; they were served as they had treated the
cavaliers, and decried the anabaptists and fanatics as much as they
had done the papists and the prelatists before. Now, the inde-
pendents were prepared to pull down everything that the war had
spared and to intrigue among themselves. Meantime, the royalists,
true to church and crown, notwithstanding their sufferings, came
together again on seeing their foes divided ;
For Loyalty is still the same,
Whether it win or lose the Game;
True as a Dial to the Sun,
Although it be not shin'd upon.
'Cromwell had given up his reign, Tossed in a furious hurricane';
his feeble son had sunk under the burden of state, and now the
'saints' began their rule, but could not agree among themselves.
Some were for a king, others wished to set up the fifth mon-
archy; some were for the Rump parliament, others for a general
council of officers; some were for gospel government, others for
pulling down presbyterian synods and classes ; some, for opposing
>


## p. 75 (#97) ##############################################

The Method of Hudibras 75
the papacy, putting down saints' days and demolishing churches ;
some, for having regular ministers, others, for soldier preachers.
Some would abolish surplices and the use of the ring in the
marriage service, while re-establishing the Judaic law, and putting
an end to the use of the cross in baptism and to giving the names
of saints to churches or streets. Others disallowed the idea of
limbus patrum, where the souls of holy men rest till the judgment.
Meantime, the "quacks of government,' such as Sir Anthony
Ashley Cooper and John Lilburne, who saw the necessity of a
restoration, were discussing matters in secret conclave. Butler
gives a wonderful description of Cooper (which should be compared
with Dryden's Achitophel) and of John Lilburne, who both make
long speeches on present events and the way they should be met,
but ultimately go off into violent recriminations as representatives
of the presbyterians and the independents ; till they are suddenly
interrupted by a messenger who brings the news of the burning of
the members of the Rump in effigy. This gives an opportunity for
some rough banter on the explanation of the word rump (especially
on its Hebrew equivalent luz), which is to be found in Butler's
character entitled 'An Hermetic Philosopher'l. But, soon, the
mob appear with the purpose of hauling out the members of this
assembly and burning them. They beat an ignominious retreat,
and this ends the second canto, which has been treated last,
because it is disconnected with the main story of Hudibras.
♡ It may be well here, in retrospect, to examine Butler's methods
in the composition of his poem. The date of publication, three
years after the restoration, is sufficient to suggest that it must
have found an appreciative audience, at a time when the events to
which it referred were fresh in men's minds, and when, as we know,
a violent reaction against puritanism had set in. The learning
and scientific knowledge displayed, the turns of wit, racy metaphors
and quaint rimes have secured its continuance as an English
classic ; but, much of the legal knowledge having become obsolete,
or being too technical for ordinary readers, and many of the
minor historical allusions being forgotten, a continuous perusal
of the book requires unusual perseverance. Moreover, the length
of some of the descriptions of persons or events is trying to the
patience, although the illustrations or parallels in themselves are
pertinent and acute. The sparkling wit and humour displayed
enlightens and relieves the discussions which make up much of the
book. Humorous as are the arguments, the witty and whimsical
• Characters, etc. , ed. Waller, A. R. , p. 105.


## p. 76 (#98) ##############################################

76
Samuel Butler
comparisons serve as flashlights to bring into relief what might
otherwise become dull by reason of its length.
Thus, the peculiarities of religious tenets are illustrated by the
presbyterians, who
Compound for sins they are inclin'd to
By damning those they have no mind to,
and, in their cantankerousness, are
Still so perverse and opposite,
As if they worshipp'd God for spite;
and by the independents and anabaptists, who are dubbed 'land
and water saints'; the latter are said
To dive like wild-fowl for Salvation
And fish to catch Regeneration.
Ralpho, who has a touch of the anabaptist, when rising from his
bed, is said to 'adventure Resurrection. ' A classical comparison is
found in Achilles, who was
anabaptiz'd free of wound
All over, but the pagan heel.
The sects are ever squabbling for change of doctrine,
As if Religion were intended
For nothing else but to be mended.
The philosophical virtuoso, Sir Kenelm Digby, is gibed at in
the description of the pouch worn by Orsin, the pugnacious
bear-ward,
Replete with strange hermetick Powder
That Wounds nine miles point-blank would solder;
and Hudibras is represented as spurring his courser,
Conveying sympathetic Speed
From Heel of Knight to Heel of Steed.
Homeric and classical similes and allusions are frequent in
the first two parts. We have the intervention of 'Pallas, who
came in shape of Rust,' to prevent a pistol going off, and ‘Mars,
who still protects the stout'; a stone that strikes Ralpho is com-
pared to that hurled by Diomed. Hudibras, in assisting Ralpho to
his feet, boasts that
Caesar himself could never say
He got two victries in a day
As I have done, that can say, twice I
In one day veni, vidi, vici.
Perhaps the comparisons from common life are more amusing;
for instance, the celebrated simile :
And like a Lobster boil'd, the Morn
From black to red began to turn;


## p. 77 (#99) ##############################################

Metre of Hudibras
77
though this is not quite equal to its original in Rabelais, who says
that lobsters are cardinalised by boiling. Very comic is the
comparison of a sword that had fallen from its owner's grip to
deserting rats.
He snatched his Whiniard up, that fled
When he was falling from his Steed,
As Rats do from a falling House.
This is Pliny's ruinis imminentibus musculi praemigrant. The
whole poem is a storehouse of such borrowings.
Dryden, in the dedication of his translation of Juvenal and
Persius (1692), while expressing admiration of Butler for being able
to put 'thought' into his verses, strongly disapproves of his choice
of octosyllabic metre.
Besides, the double Rhyme (a necessary companion of Burlesque writing)
is not so proper for manly Satir, for it turns Earnest too much into Jest, and
gives us a boyish kind of Pleasure. It tickles awkwardly with a kind of
Pain to the best sort of Readers; and we are pleased ungratefully, and if
I may say so, against our liking.
But Butler knew that ridicule was his strongest weapon, and that it
would please Charles II and his courtiers better than stately
rhythm or fiery denunciation. Rimed decasyllabic suited Dryden's
form of satire, as we see in his Absalom and Achitophel, and
was well adapted to Pope's polished antitheses; but, for gibes
and quick sallies of wit, octosyllabic metre, in competent hands,
is the most fitting instrument.
As Butler died in 1680, it is impossible to say whether he con-
templated a further instalment of his poem, so as to bring up the
tale of his cantos to twelve, after the example of the Aeneid; the
sixth canto, that is, the third of the second book, finishes, evidently,
with a view to a continuation which is provided by the third part.
But there is an incompleteness apparent in this part, suggested
first by the interpolation of the second canto, which has nothing to
do with the action of the poem, and which might fittingly have
been introduced in a subsequent continuation, while the letter
of Hudibras and the Lady's answer ought to have been incorporated
in the main story rather than be left isolated. The third part
is longer than the first by 590 lines and, if the two letters are
added, by nearly 1340. It seems not an unfair inference that, had
the satirist's life and strength. permitted, an additional part of
three cantos would have been added, to complete the normal
number of twelve, and that the third part would not have run to
so disproportionate a length.


## p. 78 (#100) #############################################

78
Samuel Butler
It remains to offer a few considerations on the main purpose of
a
Butler's satire-a frontal attack on puritanism. He probably was
unaware that a change was in progress from a personal to a
constitutional monarchy, disguised by a religious upheaval which
might be regarded as the groundswell after the storm of the
reformation. He was a fervent royalist, but kept mainly to the
religious side of the question.
The publication of the Authorised Version of the Bible in 1611
had set men thinking of the treasure that had fallen into their
hands, and very many now read persistently the one book upon
which they looked as the guide to salvation. This dwelling on one
authority upset the balance of mind of many whose reading was
thus limited; and men learned to identify themselves with the
conquering, exterminating children of Israel, and to look upon
all who opposed them in politics or church doctrine as men of
Belial, Moabites, Amalekites and other adversaries of Israel and
of God, and as their own personal enemies, to be overthrown at
any cost and by any means of force or fraud. But, as Dante says
finely of another sect,
Their meditations reach not Nazareth.
Examples may readily be found of similar perversions of Scripture;
but an instance which stands out, by reason of the beauty of its
language and the terrible nature of its denunciation, occurs in
Milton's tract, Of Reformation touching Church-Discipline in
England, where the reward assured to his own partisans and
the punishment to be meted out to his adversaries are enunciated
in startling contrast? .
The mental exaltation arrived at by such homines unius libri
was extraordinary, and rendered them capable of efforts in their
enthusiasm which upset all calculation. So long as they were
sincere in their beliefs, their conduct may have been commendable;
but it is the fate of human nature, when men have attained
success by these means, to become dazzled by the height of the
pinnacle they have reached, and, when enthusiasm flags, to become
subject to deplorable lapses. And, when the spoils of the van-
quished lie at the mercy of the victors, cupidity and the baser
feelings of human nature often gain the mastery over former high
resolves. This was frequently the case in the period of the civil
war and the commonwealth.
As an unswerving royalist, a native of a county that was
1. Then, amidst the hymns and hallelujahs of saints,' eto.


## p. 79 (#101) #############################################

Butler's Gifts and Powers 79
conspicuous for its loyalty, Butler could admit the divine right
of kings and allow that the king could do no wrong; but he could
not allow that the opposing party could do right, especially after
the confiscations and oppressions of which they had been guilty
towards the royalists and the episcopalian clergy. Moreover, the
Long parliament, which had included many bigh-minded patriots,
had degenerated and dwindled into the miserable, place-loving
Rump, a fit object of scorn and contempt.
Some precursors of the form and style of Hudibras have been
mentioned; but the strange rimes which it contains, and which have
helped considerably to keep it in remembrance, must not be passed
by. The curious jingles of 'ecclesiastic' and 'a stick,' 'duty' and
‘shoe-tie,' discourse' and 'whiskers,' and many more, have recalled
the poem in name at least) to many readers to whom much of the
historical detail has become obsolete. In this exercise, Butler had
a late rival in Calverley, whose metrical skill and delicately
sensitive ear would, however, not permit him to employ any
uncouth rime that his nimble fancy might suggest-every line
must ring true; whereas, in Butler's jog-trot lines, a monstrous
rime has the effect of relieving the monotony of the verse without
being out of harmony with it.
Samuel Butler, in fine, may be looked upon as a rare but erratic
genius with an extraordinary gift of satirical expression, and as a
man of great learning, who might have produced a serious poem of
merit, had the bent of his mind lain in that direction. Dryden
expressed a belief that Butler would have excelled in any other
kind of metre; and his powers in serious verse are sufficiently
attested by the following extract from Hudibras:
The Moon pulld off her veil of Light,
That hides her face by day from sight,
(Mysterious Veil, of brightness made,
That's both her lustre, and her shade)
And in the Night as freely shon,
As if her Rays had been her own:
For Darkness is the proper Sphere,
Where all false Glories use t'appear.
The twinkling Stars began to muster,
And glitter with their borrow'd luster,
While 'Sleep the weary'd World relier'd,
By counterfeiting Death reviv'di.
II, 1, 905–915. The same metaphor is employed by Milton in a magnificent
passage addressed to the Deity as the author and source of light, a subject which
always appealed strongly to the blind poet:
Dark with excessive light thy skirts appear
And dazzle heaven.
(Paradise Lost, III, 380. )
1


## p.