Page 211

Samuel Butler. (1612–1680) (continued)

2361

As if religion was intended
For nothing else but to be mended.

Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 205.

2362

Compound for sins they are inclined to,
By damning those they have no mind to.

Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 215.

2363

The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty,
For want of fighting was grown rusty,
And ate into itself, for lack
Of somebody to hew and hack.

Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 359.

2364

For rhyme the rudder is of verses,
With which, like ships, they steer their courses.

Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 463.

2365

He ne’er consider’d it, as loth
To look a gift-horse in the mouth. 1

Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 490.

2366

And force them, though it was in spite
Of Nature and their stars, to write.

Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 647.

2367

Quoth Hudibras, “I smell a rat! 2
Ralpho, thou dost prevaricate.”

Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 821.

2368

Or shear swine, all cry and no wool. 3

Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 852.

2369

And bid the devil take the hin’most. 4

Hudibras. Part i. Canto ii. Line 633.

2370

With many a stiff thwack, many a bang,
Hard crab-tree and old iron rang.

Hudibras. Part i. Canto ii. Line 831.

2371

Like feather bed betwixt a wall
And heavy brunt of cannon ball.

Hudibras. Part i. Canto ii. Line 872.

2372

Ay me! what perils do environ
The man that meddles with cold iron! 5

Hudibras. Part i. Canto iii. Line 1.

2373

Who thought he ’d won
The field as certain as a gun. 6

Hudibras. Part i. Canto iii. Line 11.

Note 1.
See Heywood, Quotation 23. [back]

Note 2.
See Middleton, Quotation 4. [back]

Note 3.
See Fortescue, Quotation 1. [back]

Note 4.
Bid the Devil take the slowest.—Matthew Prior: On the Taking of Namur.

Deil tak the hindmost.—Robert Burns: To a Haggis. [back]

Note 5.
See Spenser, Quotation 7. [back]

Note 6.
Sure as a gun.—John Dryden: The Spanish Friar, act iii. sc. 2. Cervantes: Don Quixote, part i. book iii. chap. vii. [back]