Hudibras

by Samuel Butler, Zachary Grey, Treadway Russell Nash

Butler (1613-80) was a poet and satirist best remembered for his long satirical poem Hudibras. This mock-heroic narrative poem is a satirical polemic upon Roundheads, Puritans, Presbyterians and many of the other factions involved in the English Civil War. According to the title page, the work was begun during the war and published in three parts in 1663, 1664 and 1678, with the first edition encompassing all three parts appearing in 1684. Published only four years after the restoration of Charles II, and Cromwell's Protectorate completely over, the poem found an appreciative audience. As Butler was fiercely royalist, his satire is not balanced and only the parliamentarian side are singled out for ridicule. It is also used as a vehicle for parodying some of the dreadful poetry of the time. The work is clearly influenced by Cervantes' Don Quixote, but whereas Cervantes' noble knight, although being mocked, is supposed to draw readers' sympathies, Butler's Sir Hudibras is offered nothng but derision. Hudibras has been reprinted many times in the centuries following Butler's death but most of his other writings never saw print until they were collected posthumously by the writer and literary editor Robert Thyer in 1759.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction, 17th Century, British Literature, Literature, Religion

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1663

About the author

Author of Hudibras.

For the author of Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh, see Samuel Butler.

Samuel Butler was the son of a farmer. His date of birth is unknown, but there is documentary evidence for the date of his baptism. He was educated at the King's School, Worcester, under Henry Bright whose teaching is recorded favourably by Thomas Fuller, a contemporary writer, in his Worthies of England. In early youth he was a servant to the Countess of Kent. Through Lady Kent he met her steward, the jurist John Selden who influenced his later writings. He also tried his hand at painting but was reportedly not very good at it; one of his editors reporting that "his pictures served to stop windows and save the tax" (on window glass).

After the Restoration he became secretary to Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery, Lord President of Wales. In late 1662 the first part of Hudibras was published, and the other two in 1664 and 1678 respectively. One early purchaser of the first two parts was Samuel Pepys. While the diarist acknowledged that the book was the "greatest fashion" he could not see why it was found to be so witty.

The popularity of Hudibras notwithstanding, Butler was not offered a place at Court. However, Butler is thought to have been in the employment of the Duke of Buckingham in the summer of 1670, and accompanied him on a diplomatic mission to France. Butler also received financial support in the form of a grant from King Charles II.

Butler was buried at St. Paul's, Covent Garden. Aubrey in Brief Lives describes his grave as "being in the north part next to the church at the east end.. 2 yards distant from the pillaster of the dore". Also, a monument to him was placed in Westminster Abbey in 1732 by a printer with the surname Barber, and the Lord Mayor of London. There is a memorial plaque to him in the small village church of Strensham, Worcestershire, near the town of Upton upon Severn, his birthplace.

Reviews

[Graychin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly written for a particular time and place, but anyone with a smidge of 17th century British history and some familiarity with the debates that swirl around Reformed theology will find this utterly hilarious – unless, that is, you’re a Presbyterian.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED IT!! Hilarious, electric writing. Hudibras and squire Ralpho are the heroes, and they bumble through a post-Cromwell England. Lampoons Puritans and pokes fun at knight-errantry.

[Adam Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samuel Butler’s Hudibras is in many ways a take on Don Quixote. An opinionated, high-minded knight sets off with his squire and they find themselves embroiled in petty street fights, tangles with wizards and having philosophical discussions about their different views on the world. Though, in Hudibras, these discussions often end up in vigorous arguments also.

The difference is that Hudibras has not been turned by reading chivalric fiction, but religious and political pamphlets, being a Colonel in the parliamentary army during the English Civil War. Ralph, his squire has been equally radicalised by the works of dissenters and puritans. The book is set after the death of Oliver Cromwell and the failure of his son, to be known to history as Tumble-Down Dick, to successfully replace him. Change is in the air and King Charles II will shortly be invited back onto the throne. Their time is over.

At the outset, they spy a street-fiddler and some people setting up a session of bear-baiting. Having various reasons to dislike these practices (mainly odd ones about the symbolism of the bear-baiting) they wade into the crowd, imprison the fiddler and accidentally set the bear free, causing chaos. Having won this battle, they congratulate themselves on their goodness before the crowd come back, beat them up and put them in the pillory as punishment for the damage they’ve done.

A rich widow comes and pays their bail, on the proviso that Hudibras promises to whip himself in contrition. He, falling in love with her money, tries to woo her but she is immune, declaring she will only love someone who doesn’t love her. Winning this widow is now Hudibras’s chief goal in the book.

He goes to the wizard Sidrophel to get advice on the best way to woo the widow, but the two get into an argument about the legality of magic and Hudibras knocks him and his assistant down. Ralph goes to get the authorities, but Hudibras robs the wizard and runs away, hoping to lay the blame on his squire.

Hudibras goes to the widow, to boast of his beating of Sidrophel and claim he was whipped himself, claiming her hand (and fortune) in marriage but Ralph has already been there and told her what really happened. Ralph and the widow lay a trap for Hudibras, dressing citizens as devils and attacking him, making him admit his bad intentions towards the widow. Finally, Hudibras gets advice from a lawyer and writes a letter to the widow, hoping she’ll admit to agreeing to marry her, which he can use to sue her into doing so. The widow writes a letter back, avoiding that trap and upbraiding Hudibras and men and general - then it ends.

Another important difference between Don Quixote and Hudibras is the style. Don Quixote is sometimes named as the first novel, and although this can easily be debated, it is in a long, prose style. Hudibras is written in rhymed octosyllabic couplets, sometimes called the Hudibrastic and used by later writers (especially 18th century ones) to write mock-epics and satirical verse. The style well suits its use, there’s an epic-poem quality to the metre that the forced/weak/surprising rhymes then puncture. Though, over the length of the whole poem, it can get tired and repetitive, and I often found my attention straying as I read. Ned Ward, of The London Spy fame, once tried to translate the whole of Don Quixote into Hudibrastic verse. I’m fond of Ned, but I don’t think I could read that.

The humour is often very bottom focused, the word bum being used fifteen times in the text (Oddly the word trepan is used thirteen). I’m not immune to an arse joke, especially delivered elegantly and in verse. There’s a description of Hudibras being enamoured by his lover’s fart that I enjoyed; “When i’mprisoned air escaped her/ It pufft him with poetic rapture.” I think it’s the verb ‘pufft’ that really works here.

There’s also a very good bit which takes the piss of bagpipes;
“Then bagpipes of the loudest drones,
With snuffling broken-winded tones,
Whose blasts of air, in pockets shut
Sound filthier than from the gut,
And make a viler noise than swine
In windy weather, when they whine.”

Butler does have an eye-catching way of putting things and, when he isn’t stringing a metaphor along beyond breaking point, has a decent sense of aphorism. I’m sure I’ve heard the phrase, “Doubtless the pleasure is as great/ Of being cheated as to cheat”. I also enjoyed the description of “moist and crazy brains” and of wives who “ride their husbands like night-mares.”

Another very engaging part was the discussion about politics since the Civil War and the sense that after killing a king, anything is possible, no matter how absurd - a feeling I’ve had since Brexit. Some people want to ban wedding rings, as it means a person is marrying only a person’s finger, not their person. Some want to detach themselves from Catholicism by renaming every place, street, church and person named after a saint. Some are for abolishing black-pudding, unthinkable.

Strangely, for all the knock-about humour and talk about religion and politics, Hudibras is best when talking about the positions of men and women, and even finds itself in a place that could be labelled feminist.

Hudibras initially tries to flatter and woo the widow in a traditional way. He tells her that he will honour the very shadows of her shoelaces. She immediately puts him in her place, noting that he’s not interested in her at all, but her money. She tells Hudibras he can pay her back by whipping himself, and that maybe she might consider his suit, something he keeps trying to wiggle out of and she enforce.

They have many back and forwards about the place and nature of women. Hudibras compares them to pirates, using make-up as a false flag to trap their prey. She says that women to have to conceal themselves and, like a face behind a carnival mask, women have to hide their talents, playing stupid before prospective lovers. Finally, Hudibras declares that women, being made by God for men, should give themselves up for any men and have no freedom of their own. The widow replies by asking why women always have men in their debt then. She lists all the women who have secretly, and not so secretly ruled and exerted power through men. That men are weak and easily lead, and that women know how to lead them. She, and the book, concludes; “Let men usurp th’ unjust dominion, as if they were the better women.” It’s a powerful ending to a mostly silly book.

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sir Walter Scott referenced it, so I read it. Boy, so much of 17th century satire needs must go over a modern reader's head, and the editorial notes are just annoying, but still, for all my ignorance, I could tell this was a brilliant piece of work - and so sharply funny. The more satires I read of this period the more astonished I am at the wide breadth of knowledge these writers had, and the admirable level of their wit. This is one to return to over and over again throughout the years, and to anticipate having a greater appreciation (hopefully) the more I am able to glean with each re-read.

I would highly recommend, but it is not an easy read.

[Rex Libris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cross between Spenser's Faerie Queen and Cervante's Don Quixote. Hudibras and his squire Ralpho start their adventure with a debate overt he ethics of bear baiting. Ralpho compares bear baiting to ecclesiastic authority and governance. This criticism is the underlying theme throughout the rest of the poem.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anything written during before, during and right after the Restoration is my kind of read.
Very very cool read.

[Forked Radish]

By Samuel Butler the Poet.