Provincial, claffic, national;
Mere human creature-cobwebs all.
Thirdly, It is idolatrous ;
For when men run a-whoring thus
With their inventions, whatfoe'er
The thing be, whether dog or bear,
It is idolatrous and pagan,
No less than worshipping of dagon.
Quoth Hudibras, I smell a rat;
Ralpho, thou dost prevaricate :
For tho' the thesis which thou lay'st
Be true, ad amuffim, as thou say'st;
For the bear-baiting fhould appear,
Jure divino, lawfuller
Than fynods are, thou doft deny,
Totidem verbis-fo do I;
Yet there's a fallacy in this;
For if by fly homæofis,
Thou wouldst sophistically imply
Both are unlawful—I deny.
And I, quoth Ralpho, do not doubt But bear-baiting may be made out,
In gospel-times, as lawful as is
Provincial, or parochial claffis
And that both are so near of kin,
And like in all, as well as fin,
That, put 'em in a bag and shake 'em,
Yourself o' th' fudden would mistake 'em, 840
And not know which is which, unless
You measure by their wickedness ;
For 'tis not hard t'imagine whether
O'th' two is worst, tho' I name neither.
Quoth Hudibras, Thou offer'st much, But art not able to keep touch.
Mira de lente, as 'tis i' th' adage,
Id eft, to make a leek a cabbage;
Thou canst at best but overstrain
A paradox, and th' own hot brain;
For what can fynods have at all
With bear that's analogical?
Or what relation has debating im
Of church-affairs with bear-baiting?
A juft comparison still is al
Of things ejufdem generis:
And then what genus rightly doth
Include, and comprehend them both?
If animal, both of us may
As justly pass for bears as they ç
For we are animals no lefs,
Altho' of diff'rent specieses.
But, Ralpho, this is no fit place,
Nor time, to argue out the cafe :
We read, in Nero's time, the Heathen,
When they destroy'd the Christian brethren,
They few'd them in the skins of bears,
And then fet dogs about their ears;
From whence, no doubt, th' invention came
Of this lewd antichristian game.
To this, quoth Ralpho, verily The point seems very plain to me ; It is an antichristian game,
Unlawful both in thing and name.
First, for the name; the word bear-baiting
Is carnal, and of man's creating;
For certainly there's no fuch word
In all the Scripture on record;
Therefore unlawful, and a fin;
And fo is, fecondly, the thing:
A vile affembly 'tis, that can
No more be prov'd by Scripture, than
Provincial, claffic, national;
Mere human creature-cobwebs all.
Thirdly, It is idolatrous ;
For when men run a-whoring thus
With their inventions, whatfoe'er
The thing be, whether dog or bear,
It is idolatrous and pagan,
No less than worshipping of dagon.
Quoth Hudibras, I smell a rat;
Ralpho, thou doft prevaricate:
For tho' the thesis which thou lay'st
Be true, ad amuffim, as thou fay'st;
For the bear-baiting should appear,
Jure divino, lawfuller
Than fynods are, thou dost deny,
Totidem verbis-fo do I;
Yet there's a fallacy in this;
For if by fly homeofis,
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