(As thou hast prov'd,) yet 'tis profane,

And sinful when men swear in vain.

On deep importances repair;

When brass and pewter hap to stray,
And linen slinks out of the way:

When geese and pullen are seduc'd,

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And sows of suckling pigs are chous'd;

When cattle feel indisposition,

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And need th' opinion of physician,

When murrain reigns in hogs or sheep,
And chickens languish of the pip;

When yeast and outward means do fail,
And have no power to work on ale;

When butter does refuse to come,

And love proves cross and humoursome;

To him with questions, and with urine,
They for discov'ry flock, or curing.
Quoth Hudibras, This Sidrophel
I've heard of; and should like it well,

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If thou cau'st prove the saints hath freedom.

To go to sorc'rers when they need 'em.

Says Ralpho, There's no doubt of that;

Those principles I quoted late,

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Prove that the godly may allege
For any thing their privilege;
And to the dev'l himself may go,
If they have motives thereunto.
For as there is a war between

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The dev❜l and them, it is no sin,

If they by subtle stratagem

Make use of him, as he does them.

Hang'd threescore of 'em in one shire?

Some only for not being drown'd,

And some for sitting above ground,

Whole days and nights upon their breeches,
And feeling pain, were hang'd for witches;
And some for putting knavish tricks
Upon green geese, and turkey-chicks,

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Or pigs that suddenly deceas'd
Of griefs unnatʼral, as he guess'd;
Who after prov'd himself a witch,
And made a rod for his own breech.

Did not the devil appear to Martin
Luther in Germany, for certain;

And wou'd have gull'd him with a trick,
But Mart. was too, too politic?

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Did he not help the Dutch to purge,

At Antwerp, their cathedral church?

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Sing catches to the saints at Mascon,
And tell them all they came to ask him?
Appear in divers shapes to Kelly,
And speak i' th' nun of London's belly,
Meet with the Parliament's committee,
At Woodstock on a pers'nal treaty?
At Sarum take a cavalier

I' th' cause's service prisoner?
As Withers in immortal rhyme
Has register'd to after time.
Do not our great reformers use
This Sidrophel to forbode news;
To write of victories next year,
And castles taken yet i' th' air?

Of battles fought at sea, and ships

Sunk two years hence, the last eclipse? ́ A total o'erthrow giv'n the King

In Cornwall, horse and foot next spring?
And has not he point black foretold

Whats'e'er the close committee would?
Made Mars and Saturn for the cause,
The Moon for fundamental laws;
The Ram, the Bull, and Goat declare
Against the Book of Common-pray'r;
The Scorpion take the protestation,
And Bear engage for reformation;
Made all the royal stars recant,
Compound, and take the covenant?
Quoth Hudibras, The case is clear,
The saints may 'mploy a conjurer ;
As thou hast prov'd it by their practice;
No argument like matter of fact is.

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Magic, horoscopy, astrology,
And was old dog at physiology:
But, as a dog that turns the spit,
Bestirs himself, and plies his feet

To climb the wheel, but all in vain,

His own weight brings him down again;

And still he's in the self-same place

Where at his setting out he was:

So in the circle of the arts

Did he advance his natʼral parts;

Till falling back still, for retreat,
He fell to juggle, cant, and cheat:
For as those fowls that live in water
Are never wet, he did but smatter;
Whate'er he labour'd to appear,
His understanding still was clear.

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