Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/67

CANTO I.] And tell, with hieroglyphic spade, Its own grave and the state's were made. Like Samson's heart-breakers, it grew In time to make a nation rue; Tho' it contributed its own fall, To wait upon the public downfal: It was canonic, and did grow In holy orders, by strict vow: Of rule as sullen and severe As that of rigid Cordeliere. 'Twas bound to suffer persecution And martyrdom with resolution; T' oppose itself against the hate And vengeance of th' incensed state: In whose defiance it was worn. Still ready to be pull'd and torn, With red-hot irons to be tortured. Reviled, and spit upon, and martyr'd.