The Genuine Remains in Verse and Prose of Mr. Samuel Butler/Volume 1/Satyr upon the licentious age of Charles the 2d, contrasted with the puritanical one that preceded it
SATYR.[1]
As 'ere the Sun in all his Travels view'd;
An Age as vile, as ever Justice urg'd,
Like a fantastic Letcher, to be scourg'd:
5 Nor has it scap'd, and yet has only learn'd,
The more 'tis plagu'd to be the less concern'd.
Twice have we seen two dreadful Judgments rage,[2]
Enough to fright the stubborn'st-hearted Age;
The one to mow vast Crowds of People down,
10 The other (as then needless) half the Town;
And two as mighty Miracles restore,
What both had ruin'd and destroy'd before:
In all as unconcern'd, as if th' had been
But Pastimes for Diversion to be seen.
15 Or, like the Plagues of Ægypt, meant a Curse,
Not to reclaim us, but to make us worse.
Twice have Men turn'd the World (that silly Blockhead!)
The wrong Side outward, like a Jugler's Pocket,
Shook out Hypocrisy, as fast and loose,
20 As e're the Dev'l could teach, or Sinners use,
And on the other Side at once put in
As impotent Iniquity,[3] and Sin.
As Sculls, that have been crack'd, are often found
Upon the wrong Side to receive the Wound,
25 And, like Tobacco-pipes at one End hit,
To break at th'other still that's opposite:
So Men, who one Extravagance would shun,
Into the contrary Extreme have run;
And all the Difference is, that, as the first
30 Provokes the other Freak to prove the worst;[4]
So, in return, that strives to render less
The laft Delusion, with its own Excess;
And, like two unskill'd Gamesters, use one Way
With bungling t'help out one another's Play.
35 For those, who heretofore sought private Holes,
Securely in the Dark to damn their Souls,
Wore Vizards of Hypocrisy, to steal
And slink away, in Masquerade, to Hell.
Now bring their Crimes into the open Sun,
40 For all Mankind to gaze their worst upon,
As Eagles try their Young against his Rays,
To prove, if they're of generous Breed, or base;
[5] Call Heav'n and Earth to witness, how they've aim'd
With all their utmost Vigour to be damn'd,
45 And by their own Examples, in the View,
Of all the World, striv'd to damn others too:
On all Occasions sought to be as civil,
As possible they cou'd, t'his Grace the Devil,
To give him no unnecessary Trouble,
50 Nor in small Matters use a Friend so noble,
But with their constant Practice done their best
T'improve, and propagate his Interest.
For Men have now made Vice so great an Art,
The matter of Fact's become the slightest Part;[6]
55 And the debauched'st Actions they can do,
Mere Trifles, to the Circumstance and Show.
For 'tis not what they do, that's now the Sin,
But what they lewdly affect, and glory in;
As if prepost'rously they would profess
60 A forc'd Hypocrisy of Wickedness;
And Affectation, that makes good Things bad,
Must make affected Shame accurst,and mad;
For Vices for themselves may find Excuse,
But never for their Complement, and Shews.
10 That, if there ever were a Mystery
Of moral secular Iniquity,
And that the Churches may not lose their Due
By being encroach'd upon, 'tis now, and new.[7]
For Men are now as scrupulous, and nice,
10 And tender-conscienc'd of low paltry Vice,
Disdain as proudly to be thought to have
To do in any Mischief, but the brave,
As the most scrup'lous Zealot of late Times
T'appear in any, but the horrid'st Crimes;
75 Have as precise and strict Punctilios
Now to appear, as then to make no Shows;
And steer the World by disagreeing Force
Of diff'rent Customs 'against her nat'ral Course.
So pow'rful's ill Example to incroach,
80 And Nature spite of all her Laws debauch;
Example, that imperious Dictator
Of all that's good, or bad to human Nature;
By which the World's corrupted, and reclaim'd,
Hopes to be sav'd, and studies to be damn'd;
85 That reconciles all Contrarieties,
Makes Wisdom Foolishness, and Folly wise,
Imposes on Divinity, and sets
Her Seal alike on Truths, and Counterfeits;
Alters all Characters of Virtue and Vice,
90 And passes one for th' other in Disguise,
Makes all Things, as it pleases, understood,
The Good receiv'd for Bad, and Bad for Good;
That slyly counter-changes Wrong and Right,
Like white in Fields of black, and black in white,[8]
95 As if the Laws of Nature had been made
Of purpose, only to be disobey'd;
Or Man had lost his mighty Interest,
By having been distinguish'd from a Beast;
And had no other Way but Sin and Vice,
100 To be restor'd again to Paradise.
How copious is our Language lately grown,
To make blaspheming Wit, and a Jargon?
And yet how expressive and significant,
In Damme at once to curse, and swear, and rant?
105 As if no way exprest Mens Souls so well,
As damning of them to the Pit of Hell;
Nor any Asseveration were so civil,
As mortgaging Salvation to the Devil;
Or that his Name did add a charming Grace,
110 And Blasphemy a Purity to our Phrase.
For what can any Language more enrich,
Than to pay Souls for vitiating Speech;
When the great'st Tyrant in the World made those
But lick their Words out, that abus'd his Prose?[9]
115 What trivial Punishments did then protect
To publick Censure a profound Respect,
When the most shameful Penance and severe,
That could b' inflicted on a Cavaliere[10]
For infamous Debauch'ry, was no worse,
120 Than but to be degraded from his Horse,
And have his Livery of Oats and Hay,
Instead of cutting Spurs off, ta'n away?
They hold no Torture then so great as Shame,
And, that to slay was less than to defame;
125 For just so much regard, as Men express
To th' censure of the Publick, more or less,
The same will be return'd to them again,
In Shame or Reputation, to a Grain:
And, how perverse so'ere the World appears,
130 'Tis just to all the Bad it sees, and hears.
And, for that Virtue, strives to be allow'd
For all the Injuries, it does the Good.
How silly were their Sages heretofore
To fright their Heroes with a Syren-Whore?
135 Make 'em believe a Water-witch with Charms
Could sink their Men of War, as easy as Storms,
And turn their Mariners, that heard them sing,
Into Land-porpusses, and Cod, and Ling;
To terrify those mighty Champions,
140 As we do Children now with Bloody-bones;
Until the subtlest of their Conjurors
Seal'd up the Labels to his Soul, his Ears,
And ty'd his deafen'd Sailors (while he pass'd
The dreadful Lady's Lodgings) to the Mast,
145 And rather venture drowning, than to wrong
The Sea-pugs chaste Ears with a bawdy Song:
To b'out of Countenance, and like an Ass,
Not pledge the Lady Circe one Beer-glass;
Unmannerly refuse her Treat and Wine,
150 For fear of being turn'd into a Swine;
[11] When one of our heroic Advent'rers now
Would drink her down, and turn her int' a Sow,
So simple were those Times, when a grave Sage
Could with an Oldwive's-Tale instruct the Age;
155 Teach Virtue, more fantastick Ways and nice,
Than ours will now endure t' improve in vice,
Made a dull Sentence, and a moral Fable
Do more, than all our Holdings-forth are able;
A forc'd obscure Mythology convince,
160 Beyond our worst Inflictions upon Sins.
When an old Proverb, or an End of Verse
Could more, than all our Penal Laws, coerce;
And keep Men honester than all our Furies
Of Jailors, Judges, Constables, and Juries;
165 Who were converted then with an old Saying,
Better than all our Preaching now, and praying.
Where the best Reason's made ridiculous;
And all the plain and sober Things we say,
170 By Raillery are put beside their Play?
For Men are grown above all Knowledge now,
And, what they're ignorant of, disdain to know;
Engross Truth (like Fanatics) underhand,
And boldly judge, before they understand,
175 The self-same Courses equally advance.
In spiritual, and carnal Ignorance;
And, by the same Degrees of Confidence,
Become impregnable against all Sense;
For, as they outgrew Ordinances then,
180 So would they now Morality agen.
Tho' Drudgery and Knowledge are of Kin,
And both descended from one Parent Sin;[13]
And therefore seldom have been known to part,
In tracing out the Ways of Truth, and Art;
Yet they have North-west Passages to steer
185 A short 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,[14]
190 Are far more obstinate, that those that do,
And more averse, 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 positive to understand;
195 Believe themselves as knowing, and as famous,
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;[15]
And look as big, for what they bought at Court,
200 As if they'd done their Exercises for't.
- ↑ As the preceding Satyr was upon Mankind in general, with some Allusion to that Age in which it was wrote, this is particularly levelled at the licentious and debauched Times of Charles II. humourously contrasted with the puritanical ones which went before; and is a fresh Proof of the Author's Impartiality, and that he was not, as is generally, but falsely imagined, a Bigot to the Cavalier Party.
- ↑ 7. Twice have we seen two dreadful Judgments, &c.] The Poet, one may venture to affirm, without the Hazard of a Conjecture, alludes here to the Plague and Fire of London in the Years 1665 and 1666; but what the two mighty Miracles were which succeeded, is not with so much Preciseness to be ascertained. It is however very probable, that he means the prodigious Expedition, with which the City was rebuilt, and the very healthy Season which followed. The following Passage from Hume's History of Great Britain, confirms the Observation. "The Fire of London, though at that Time a great Calamity, has proved in the Issue beneficial both to the City and the Kingdom. The City was rebuilt in a very little Time; and Care was taken to make the Streets wider and more regular than before.—London became much more healthy after the Fire. The Plague, which used to break out with great Fury twice or thrice every Century, and indeed was always lurking in some Corner of the City, has not once discovered itself since that Calamity."
- ↑ 22. As impotent Iniquity.] The Term impotent is here used in the Latin Sense of it for ungovernable or unrestrained.—So Horace says Aquila impotens.
- ↑ 30. Provokes the other Freak to prove the Worst.] The Word Freak, though it now always signifies some Extravagance of the gay and frolicksome sort, is frequently used by Butler, for one of any Kind.
- ↑ 23. As Sculls that have been crack'd,] It is a common Observation, whether true or false is sufficient for a poetical Allusion, that when a Scull is broke, the Crack is not in the Part which receives the Blow, but on the opposite Side, and is occasioned by the Violence of the Concussion.
- ↑ 53, 54, &c. For Men have now made Vice so great an Art,—The Matter of Fact's become the slightest Part,—&c.] This is bitter and severe, but very applicable to the Times he is describing, and to the Characters of Buckingham, Rochester, and other wicked and abandoned Wits of that Age, who studied not only to be, but also to appear as vicious and debauched as possible.
- ↑ 67, 68. And that the Churches may not lose their Due—By being encroach'd upon.] The Poet's Meaning seems to be, either that the Phrase Mystery of Iniquity was appropried to Divinity; or archly and satirically to insinuate, that the real and great Mystery of Iniquity was to be found in the Churches of that Age.
- ↑ 93, 94. That slyly counter-changes wrong and right,—Like white in Fields of black, and black in white.] Counter-chang'd in Heraldry is, when there is a mutual changing of the Colours of the Field and Charge in an Escutcheon, by means of one or more Lines of Partition. Thus in the Coat of the famous Chaucer: He beareth Party per Pale Argent and Gules, a Bend counter-chang'd; that is, that Part of the Bend, which is in that Side of the Escutcheon which is Argent, is Gules; and that Part of it which is on the other, is Argent. {{float right|See Chambers's Dictionary
- ↑ 113, 114. When the greatest Tyrant in the World made those———But lick their Words out, that abus'd his Prose?] This Tyrant was Caligula; and the Fact alluded to is recorded by Suetonius in the Life of him.—"Edidit et peregre spectacula in Sicilia: Syracusis "astycos ludos, et in Gallia Lugduni miscellos. Sed et certamen quoque Græcæ, Latinæque facundiæ. Quo certamine ferunt victoribus præmia victos contuliffe, corundem et laudes componere coactos. Eos autem, qui maxime displicuissent, scripta sua, spongia linguave delere jussos, nisi ferulis objurgari, aut flumine proximo mergi maluissent."
Suet. Cal. c. 21.One cannot but observe from this Passage, that the Poet has either mistaken the meaning of it, or has expressed himself very ambiguously: since to make his Wit consistent with the Historian's Relation, or indeed apposite to the Purpose, for which he introduces it, one must by the Tyrant's Prose understand, not any Composition of his own, which is the Sense it naturally bears, but the Language of the Country, of which he was Tyrant or Emperor.
- ↑ 117, 118. When the most shameful Penance and severe,—That could b'inflicted on a Cavaliere.] The Times and Discipline here described were those of the Romans before they degenerated; and amongst them one of the Punishments inflicted upon a Knight or Cavaliere was—equo publico spoliari—to be obliged to maintain his Horse at his own private Expence.———Thus Livy, I. 27. C. 13.———"Illis omnibus adempti equi, qui Cannensium legionum equites in Sicilia erant. Addiderunt acerbitati etiam tempus, ne præterita stipendia procederent iis, qui equo publico meruerant, fed dena stipendia equis privatis facerent."
- ↑ 133, 134. How silly were their Sages heretofore—To fright their Heroes with a Syren-whore.] The Story of Circe, and the Syrens is too well known to need repeating; I shall only remark, that our Author seems to confound the one with the other, by imputing the Power of Transformation to the Songs of the Syrens, which is related only of the enchanted Cup of Circe. This is a sort of poetic Licence, which he makes use of.
- ↑ 167, 168. What Fops had these been, had they liv'd with us,—Where the best Reason's made ridiculous.] One of the principal Characteristics of this wild and wanton Reign, was a Spirit of rallying and bantering every Thing that was serious and sober; and was in a great Measure owing to the other Extreme of an hypocritical Gravity, which distinguished the Age before.
- ↑ 181, 182. Tho' Drudgery and Knowledge are of Kin—And both descended from one Parent Sin;) Butler here alludes to the Sin of our first Parents, which he supposes not only introduc'd Drudgery and Labour into the World, the Curse of eating our Bread, &c. but the thorny and difficult Way of arriving at Knowledge; and therefore justly satirizes those, who wou'd obtain it without any Pains at all.
- ↑ 188. We find pretty much the same Thought in his Hudibrass.
For Fools are stubborn in their Way
As Coins are harden'd by th' A'lay,
And Obstinacy's ne'er so stiff
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-house of taking up such Stores and Provisions, as are necessary for his Voyage, Custom-free. The Application is too just and obvious to need pointing out.