Page:The genuine remains in verse and prose of Mr. Samuel Butler (1759), volume 1.djvu/96

This b'ing resolv'd, th'Assembly, one by one,
Review'd the Tube, the Elephant, and Moon;
475 But still the more, and curiouser they pry'd,
They but became the more unsatisfy'd,
In no one Thing, they gaz'd upon, agreeing,
As if th' had different Principles of seeing.
Some boldly swore, upon a second View,
480 That all they had beheld before, was true,
And damn'd themselves, they never would recant
One syllable, th' had seen, of th' Elephant;
Avow'd his Shape and Snout could be no Mouse's,
But a true nat'ral Elephant's Proboscis.
485 Others began to doubt as much, and waver,
Uncertain which to disallow, or favour;
Until they had as many cross Resolves,
As Irishmen that have been turn'd to Wolves,^[1]
And grew distracted, whether to espouse
490 The Party of the Elephant, or Mouse.
Some held, there was no Way so orthodox,
As to refer it to the Ballot-Box;
And, like some other Nation's Patriots,
To find it out, or make the Truth, by Votes.

1. 487, 488. Until they had as many cross Resolves—As Irishmen, that have been turn'd to Wolves.] To what particular Story Butler alludes in these two additional Verses, I cannot discover, nor whether it be to

one