Quoth Hudibras, "I smell a rat!

Women, that left no stone unturn'd In which the cause might be concern’d, Brought in their children’s spoons and whistles, To purchase swords, carbines, and pistols.

A News-monger is a Retailer of Rumour, that takes up upon Trust, and sells as cheap as he buys. He deals in a perishable Commodity, that will not keep: for if it be not fresh it lies upon his Hands, and will yield nothing. True or false is …

Authority intoxicates, And makes mere sots of magistrates; The fumes of it invade the brain, And make men giddy, proud and vain; By this the fool commands the wise, The noble with the base complies, The sot assumes the rule of wit, and …

There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.

And poets by their sufferings grow; As if there were no more to do, To make a poet excellent, But only want and discontent.

When civil fury first grew high, And men fell out, they knew not why; When hard words, jealousies, and fears, Set folks together by the ears, And made them fight, like mad or drunk, For Dame Religion, as for punk; Whose honesty they all …