Beside,  'tis  known  he  could  speak  Greek
As  naturally  as  pigs  squeak  ;
That  Latin  was  no  more  di£5cile.
Than  to  a  blackbird  'tis  to  whistle  :
Being  rich  in  both,  he  never  scanted
His  bounty  unto  such  as  wanted  ;


270


SAMUEL   BUTLER.
But  much  of  either  would  afford
To  many  that  had  not  one  word.
For  Hebrew  roots,  although  they're  found
To  flourish  most  in  barren  ground.
He  had  such  plenty  as  sufficed
To  make  some  think  him  circumcised  ;
And  truly  so  he  was  perhaps
Not  as  a  proselyte,  but  for  claps.
He  was  in  logic  a  great  critic,
Profoundly  skill*d  in  analytic  :
He  could  distinguish,  and  divide
A  hair  *twixt  south  and  south-west  side  ;
On  either  which  he  would  dispute.
Confute,  change  hands,  and  still  confute  :
He'd  undertake  to  prove,  by  force
Of  argument,  a  man's  no  horse ;
He*d  prove  a  buzzard  is  no  fowl.
And  that  a  lord  may  be  an  owl ;
A  calf  an  alderman,  a  goose  a  justice.
And  rooks  committee-men  and  trustees.
He*d  run  in  debt  by  disputation.
And  pay  with  ratiocination :
All  this  by  syllogism  true.
In  mood  and  figure  he  would  do.
For  rhetoric,  he  could  not  ope
His  mouth,  but  out  there  flew  a  trope :
And  when  he  happen'd  to  break  off
I'  th'  middle  of  his  speech,  or  cough,
H'  had  hard  words  ready  to  show  why,
And  tell  what  rules  he  did  it  by ;
Else  when  with  greatest  art  he  spoke.
You'd  think  he  talk'd  like  other  folk ;
For  all  a  rhetorician's  rules
Teach  nothing  but  to  name  his  tools.
But,  when  he  pleased  to  show't,  his  speech.
