Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/305

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CANTO II.]

HUDIBRAS.

203

'Tis ethnique and idolatrous,
From heathenism deriv'd to us.
Does not the whore of Bab'lon ride
Upon her horned beast astride,
Like this proud dame, who either is 765
A type of her, or she of this?
Are things of superstitious function
Fit to be us'd in gospel sun-shine?
It is an antichristian opera^[1]
Much us'd in midnight times of popery; 770
A running after self-inventions
Of wicked and profane intentions;
To scandalize that sex for scolding,
To whom the saints are so beholden.
Women, who were our first apostles,^[2] 775
Without whose aid w' had all been lost else;
Women, that left no stone unturn'd
In which the Cause might be concern'd;
Brought in their children's spoons and whistles,^[3]
To purchase swords, carbines, and pistols: 780
Their husbands, cullies, and sweethearts,
To take the saints' and church's parts;

made upon the funeral procession by Don Quixote (Part I., book ii. chap. 5).

↑ By the use of this word, which bore much the same meaning that it does now, the knight not only proclaims his abhorrence of the Skimmington, but also the puritan hostility to musical and dramatic entertainments.
↑ The author of the Ladies' Calling observes, in his preface, "It is a memorable attestation Christ gives to the piety of women, by making them the first witnesses of his resurrection, the prime evangelists to proclaim these glad tidings, and, as a learned man says, apostles to the apostles." Butler, of course, alludes to the zeal which the ladies manifested for the good cause. The case of Lady Monson has already been mentioned. The women and children worked with their own hands in fortifying the city of London, and other towns. The women of Coventry went by companies to fill up the quarries in the great park, that they might not harbour an enemy; and being called together with a drum, marched into the park with mattocks and spades. Annals of Coventry, MS. 1643.
↑ In the reign of Richard II. a. d. 1382, Henry le Spencer, bishop of Norwich, set up the cross, and made a collection to support the cause of the enemies of Pope Clement, to which it is said ladies and other women contributed just in the manner Hudibras describes. See Part I. Canto ii. line 569, and note on line 561.

[1] By the use of this word, which bore much the same meaning that it does now, the knight not only proclaims his abhorrence of the Skimmington, but also the puritan hostility to musical and dramatic entertainments.

[2] The author of the Ladies' Calling observes, in his preface, "It is a memorable attestation Christ gives to the piety of women, by making them the first witnesses of his resurrection, the prime evangelists to proclaim these glad tidings, and, as a learned man says, apostles to the apostles." Butler, of course, alludes to the zeal which the ladies manifested for the good cause. The case of Lady Monson has already been mentioned. The women and children worked with their own hands in fortifying the city of London, and other towns. The women of Coventry went by companies to fill up the quarries in the great park, that they might not harbour an enemy; and being called together with a drum, marched into the park with mattocks and spades. Annals of Coventry, MS. 1643.

[3] In the reign of Richard II. a. d. 1382, Henry le Spencer, bishop of Norwich, set up the cross, and made a collection to support the cause of the enemies of Pope Clement, to which it is said ladies and other women contributed just in the manner Hudibras describes. See Part I. Canto ii. line 569, and note on line 561.

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