Samuel Butler

For though to smatter ends of Greek
Or Latin be the rhetoric
Of pedants counted, and vain-glorious,
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For though to smatter ends of Greek
Or Latin be the rhetoric
Of pedants counted, and vain-glorious,
To smatter French is meritorious.
- Samuel Butler (1),

So 'ere the storm of war broke out,
Religion spawn'd a various rout
Of petulant capricious sects,
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So 'ere the storm of war broke out,
Religion spawn'd a various rout
Of petulant capricious sects,
That maggots of corrupted texts,
That first run all religion down,
And after every swarm its own.

For blocks are better cleft with wedges,
Tan tools of sharp or subtle edges,
And dullest nonsense read more

For blocks are better cleft with wedges,
Tan tools of sharp or subtle edges,
And dullest nonsense has been found
By some to be the most profound.

Is not the winding up witnesses,
And nicking, more than half the bus'ness?
For witnesses, like watches, read more

Is not the winding up witnesses,
And nicking, more than half the bus'ness?
For witnesses, like watches, go
Just as they're set, too fast or slow;
And where in Conscience they're strait-lac'd,
'Tis ten to one that side is cast.

Some have been beaten till they know
What wood a cudgel's of by th' blow:
Some kick'd read more

Some have been beaten till they know
What wood a cudgel's of by th' blow:
Some kick'd until they can feel whether
A shoe be Spanish or neat's leather.