lere:

And though you overcame the Bear,
The dogs beat you at Brentford fair,
Where sturdy butchers broke your noddle.

Ver. 678.] This game is ushered into the Poem ith more folemnity than those celebrated ones Homer and Virgil. As the Poem is only adornwith this game, and the Riding Skimmington, it was incumbent on the Post to be very parti ilar and full in the defcription: and may we not Entre to affirm, they are exactly fuitable to e nature of thefe adventures, and, confequentto a Briton, preferable to thofe in Homer or irgil ?

Ver. 689, 690. Alluding to the bull-running Tutbury in Staffordshire; where folemn proamation was made by the Steward before the ull was turned loofe; "That all manner of perfons give way to the bull, none being to come

VOL. II.

Ver. 714.] This fpeech is fet down, as it was del.vered by the Knight in his own words: but fince it is below the gravity of Heroical poetry to admit of humour, but all men are obliged to ipeak wifely alike, and too much of fo extravagant a folly would become tedious and impertinent, the reft of his harangues have only his sente expreed in other words, unless in fome few places, where his own words could not be fo well avoided.

Ver. 715.] Had that remarkable motion in the To ife of Commons taken place, the Contables

might have vied with Sir Hudibras for an equality

at leaft; "That it was neceif ry for the House of Commons to have a High Constable of their own, that will make no fcruple of laying his "Majesty by the heels;" but they proceeded not fo far as to name any body; becaufe Harry Martyn (out of tenderness of confcience in this particular) immediately quathed the motion, by fay ing, the power was too great for any man.

3 [C]

Quantum in nobis, have thought good
To fave th' expence of Chriftian blood,
And try if we by mediation
Of treaty and accommodation,
Can end the quarrel, and compofe
The bloody duel without blows.
Are not our liberties, our lives,
The laws, religion, and our wives,
Enough at once to lie at stake

For Covenant and the Caufe's fake?
But in that quarrel Dogs and Bears,
As well as we, must venture theirs?
This feud, by Jefuits invented;
By evil counfel is fomented;
There is a Machiavilian plot,
(Though every nare olfact it not)
And deep defign in 't to divide
The well-affected that confide,
By fetting brother against brother,
To claw and curry one another.
Have we not enemies plus fatis,
That cane & angue fejus hate us?
And fhall we turn our fangs and claws
Upon our own felv. s without caufe?
That fome occult defign doth lie
In bloody cynarctomachy,

Is plain enough to him that knows
How Saints lead Brothers by the nofe.
I wish my felf a pleudo-prophet,
But fure fome mifchief will come of it,

735

755

Ver. 736.] This was the Solemn League and Covenant, which was firft framed and taken by the Scottish Parliament, and by them fent to the Parliament of England, in order to unite the two nations more clofely in religion. It was received and taken by both Houfes, and by the City of London; and ordered to be read in all the churches throughout the kingdom; and every perfon was bound to give his confent, by holding up his hand, at the reading of it.

Ibid.-and Caufe's fake] Sir William Dugdale informs us that Mr. Bond, preaching at the Savoy, told his auditors from the pulpit, "That they "ought to contribute and pray, and do all they 66 were able, to bring in their brethren of Scot"land for fettling of God's caufe: I fay (quoth "he) this is God's caufe; and if our God hath

any caufe, this is it; and if this is not God's "caufe, then God is no god for me; but the "Devil is got up into heaven.' Mr. Calamy, in his fpeech at Guildhall, 1643, fays, “I may truly "fay, as the Martyr did, that if I had as many "lives as hairs on my head, I would be willing to facrifice all thefe lives in this caufe;"

For man, as for his God, to flight.
They have more wit, alas! and know
Themselves and us better than fo:
But we, who only do infufe
The rage in them like boute-feus,
'Tis our example that inftils
In them th' infection of our ills.
For, as fome late philofophers
Have well obferv'd, beasts that converfe
With man take after him, as hogs
Get pigs all th' year, and bitches dogs.
Just so, by our example, cattle
Learn to give one another battle.
We read in Nero's time the Heathen,
When they deftroy'd the Chriftian brethre
They few'd them in the fkins of bears,
And then fet dogs about their ears;
From whence, no doubt, th' invention ca
Of this lawd antichriftian game.

To this, quoth Ralpho, Verily
The point feems very plain to me;

Ver. 765.] Nor for free Liberty of Confc Thus the two first editions read: the word was left out in 1674, and all the fubfequent tions; and Mr. Warburton thinks for the w free liberty being a most beautiful and fatirical phrafis for licentioufnefs, which is the idea Author here intended to give us.

Ver. 766.] The King being driven from

the aws,

To fet up an Idol, then nick-nam'd The Caufe, Like Bell and Dragon to gorge their own maws;

as it is expreffed in "The Rump Carbonaded."

made; therefore when the Lords and Comm had agreed upon any bill, they published it, required obedience to it, under the title of Ordinance of Lords and Commons, and f times, An Ordinance of Parliament.

A controverfy that affords

Actions for arguments, not words;

human creature-cobwebs all.

ly, It is idolatrous;

815

when men run a-whoring thus

their inventions, whatfoe'er thing be, whether Dog or Bear, dolatrous and Pagan,

efs than worshiping of Dagon.

goth Hudibras, I fmell a rat; ho, thou doft prevaricate:

though the thefis which thou lay'st tee ad amuffim, as thou fav'st;

that bear-baiting should appear divino law fuller

Synods are, thou doft deny lem verbis, fo do I)

there's a fallacy in this;

if by fly boma ofis,.

pro crepitu, an art

ler a cough to flur a f—t,

wouldft fophiftically imply

are unlawful, I deny.

and I, quoth Ralpho, do not doubt

Bear-baiting may be made out,

fpel-times, as lawful as is

vincial or Parochial Claffis ;

Ithat both are so near a kin,

ilike in all, as well as fin,

t, put them in a bag, and thake them,

arfelf o' th' fudden would mistake them,

d not know which is which, unless measure by their wickedness;

'tis not hard t' imagine whether

h' two is worit, though I name neither. Quoth Hudibras, Thou offer'ft much,

art not able to keep touch.

a de lente, as 'tis i' th' adage,

, to make a leek a cabbage; ou wilt at best but fuck a bull, fhear fwine, all cry, and no wool;

830

835

Nor fhall they be deceiv'd, unless
We 're flurr'd and outed by fuccefs;
Succefs, the mark no mortal wit,
Or fureft hand, can always hit:
For whatfoe'er we perpetrate,

880

Ver. 831, 832.1 Thefe two lines left out in the ions 1674, 1684, 1639, 1700, and reftored

4.

Ver. 851.] This and the following line thus al1674,

Thou canst at best but overstrain

A paradox, and thy own brain.

as they continued in the editions 1684, 1689, . Reftored in 1704, in the following bluning manner,

Thou 'It be at beft but fuch a bull, &c.

the blunder continued in all the editions till Gray's.

Attempt this province, nor the firft.
In northern clime a valourous knight
Did whilom kill his Bear in fight,
And wound a Fiddler: we hav: both
Of thefe the objects of our wroth,
And equal fame and glory from
Th attempt, or victory to come.
'Tis fung there is a valiant Mamaluke,
In foreign land yclep'ď·

900

Ver. 860. Include, &c.] In the two first editions of 1063,

Comprehend them inclufive both.

Ver. 862.] As likely, in the two fiest editions. Ver. 954.] The writers of the General Lifical Dictionary, vol. vi, p. 291, imagine. "That the "chaf here is to be filled with the swords Sir "Samuel Luke, because the line before it is of ten "flables, and the meafure of the verte gere "rally ufed in this poem is of eight." 3 [C] 2

To whom we have been oft compar'd
For perfon, parts, addrefs, and beard;
Both equally reputed ftout,

And in the fame caufe both have fought;
He oft in fuch attempts as these
Came off with glory and fuccefs.
Nor will we fail in th' execution;
For vant of equal refolution,
Honour is like a widow, won
With brisk attempt and putting on;
With entering manfully, and urging;
Not flow approaches, like a virgin.

This faid, as erft the Phrygian knight,
So our's, with rusty steel did ímite
His Trojan horse, and just as mach
He mended pace upon the touch; ~
But from his empty stomach groan'd
Just as that hollow beast did found,
And angry anfwer'd from behind,

With b. andifh'd tail and blaft of wind. So have I feen, with armed heel,

A wight beftride a Common-weal,

Whileftill, the more he kick'd and fpurr'd, The lefs the fullen jade has ftirr'd.

905 They never care how many others
They kill, without regard of mothers,
Or wives, or children, fo they can
Make up fome fierce, dead-doing man,
Compos'd of many ingredient valours,
It like the manhood of nine tailors:
So a wild Tartar, when he spies

910

915

920

925

A man that 's handfome, valiant, wife,
If he can kill him, thinks t' inherit
His wit, his beauty, and his fpirit:
As if just fo much he enjoy'd,
As in another is destroy'd:

For when a giant 's flain in fight,

And mow'd o'erthwait, or cleft downright,
It is a heavy cafe, no doubt,

A man should have his brains beat out,
Because he 's tall, and has large bones,
As men kill beavers for their stones.
But as for our part, we shall tell
The naked truth of what befel,
And as an equal friend to both

The Knight and Bear, but more to Troth,
With neither faction thall take part,

But give to each his due defert,

And never coin a formal lye on 't,

To make the knight o'ercome the giant.
This b'ing profest, we've hopes enough,
And now go on where we left off.

They rode, but authors having not
Determin'd whether pace or trot,
(That is to fay, whether tollutation,
As they do term 't, or fuccuffation)
We leave it, and go on, as now
Suppofe they did, no matter how ;
Yet fome, from fubtle hints, have got
Mysterious light it was a trot :
But let that pafs; they now begun
To fpur their living engines on:

For as whipp'd tops and bandy'd balls,
The learned hold, are animals;
So horfes they affirm to be

Mere engines made by Geometry,
And were invented first from engines,
As Indian Britains were from Penguins.
So let them be, as I was faying,
They their live engines ply'd, not staying
Until they reach'd the fatal champain
Which th' enemy did then encamp on ;
The dire Pharfalian Plain, where battle
Was to be wag'd 'twixt puiffant cattle
And fierce auxiliary men,

That came to aid their brethren;
Who now began to take the field,

5

As Knight from ridge of fteed beheld. For as our modern wits behold,

To treat of, but a world o' the latter,

In which to do the injur'd right,

We mean in what concerns just fight. Certes our authors are to blame,

10

For to make fome well-founding-namę
A pattern fit for modern knights
To copy out in frays and fights

(Like thofe that a whole ftreet do raze To build a palace in the place)

35

Mounted a pick-back on the old,

Much further off, much further he,

Rais'd on his aged beaft, could fee; Yet not fufficient to descry

All postures of the enemy;

Ver. 74. Rais'd on, &c.] From off, in the two first editions of 1663.

Wherefore he bids the Squire ride further,
T' obferve their numbers and their order,
That when their motions he had known,
He might know how to fit his own.
Meanwhile he ftopp'd his willing steed,
To fit himself for martal deed:
Both kinds of metal he prepar'd,
Either to give blows or to ward;
Courage and fteel, both of great force,
Prepar'd for better or for worse.

His death-charg'd piftols he did fit well,
Drawn out from life-preferving vittie.
Thefe being prin'd, with force he labour'd
To free 's fword from retentive scabbard;
And after many a painful pluck,
From rufty durance he bail'd tuck:
Then fhook himself, to fee that prowess
In fcabbard of his arms fat looie ;
And, rais'd upon his desperate foot,
On tirrup-fide he gaz'd about,
Portending blood, like blazing ftar,
The beacon of approaching war.
Ralpho rode on with no lefs fpeed
Than Hugo in the foreft did;

But far more in returning made;
For now the foe he had furvey'd,
Rang'd, as to him they did appear,
With van, main-battle, wings, and rear.
Ith head of al! this warlike rabble,
Crowdero march'd, expert and able.

Ver. 85, 86.] Thus altered, 1674,

Courage within, and steel without, To give and to receive a rout,

By chance of war was beaten down,

With folemn march, and stately pace,
But far more grave and folemn face;
Grave as the Emperor of Pegu,
Or Spanish potentate, Don Diego.
This leader was of knowledge great,
Either for charge or for retreat :

155

ferve in this place, that we have the exact characters of the ufual attendants at a bear-beating fully drawn, and a catalogue of warriors, conformable to the practice of Epic poets.

Ver. 147. Next march'd brave Orfin.] Next follow'd, in the two fift editions of 1663. Joshua Gofling, who kept hears at Paris-garden in Southwark. However, fays Sir Roger, he stood hard and faft for the Rump Parliament.