Exchang'd to love's more gentle style,
To let our reader breathe a while:
In which, that we may be as brief as
Is poffible, by way of preface,

Is 't not enough to make one ftrange,

That fome men's fancies should ne'er change, 10
But make all people do and fay

The fame things ftill the felf-fame way?
Some writers make all ladies purloin'd,

And knights pursuing like the whirlwind:

Others make all their knights, in fits

Of jealousy, to lofe their wits;

Till, drawing blood o' th' dames, like witches,

15

20

Make former times thake hands with latter, 25
And that which was before come after.
But thofe that write in rhyme ftill make
The one verfe for the other's fake;
For one for fenfe, and one for rhyme,
I think, 's fufficient at one time.

But we forget in what fad plight
We whilom left the captive Knight
And penfive Squire, both bruis'd in body,
And nonjur'd into safe custody.

Tir'd with difpute, and speaking Latin,
As well as bafting and Bear-baiting,

And defperate of any course,

To free himself by wit or force,
His only folace was, that now
His dog-bolt fortune was fo low,
That either it muft quickly end,
Or turn about again, and mend,
In which he found th' event, no less
Than other times, beside his guess.
There is a tall long-sided dame,
"(But wond'rous light) ycleped Fame,
That like a thin camelion boards
Herself on air, and eats her words;

35

49

Upon her shoulders wings the wears

Like hanging fleeves, lin'd through with ears, so
And eyes, and tongues, as poets lift,
Made good by deep mythologift:
With these the through the welkin flies,
And fometimes carries truth, oft lies;
With letters hung, like eastern pigeons,
And Mercuries of furthest regions;
Diurnals writ for regulation

Of lying, to inform the nation,
And by their public ufe to bring down
The rate of whetstones in the kingdom.
About her neck a pacquet-mail,

Fraught with advice, fome fresh, some stale,
Of men that walk'd when they were dead,
And cows of monsters brought to bed;
Of halftones big as pullets' eggs,

And puppies whelp'd with twice two legs;
A blazing-star seen in the weft,

By fix or seven men at least.

Two trumpets she does found at once,
But both of clean contrary tones;
But whether both with the fame wind,
Or one before, and one behind,
We know not, only this can tell,

30 The one founds vilely, th' other well,
And therefore vulgar authors name
Th' one Good, th' other Evil Fame.
This tattling goffip knew too well
What mischief Hudibras befel,
And straight the spiteful tidings bears
Of all, to th' unkind Widow's ears.
Democritus ne'er laugh'd fo loud,
To fee bawds carted through the crowd,
Or funerals, with stately pomp,
March flowly on in folemn dump,
As the laugh'd out, until her back,
As well as fides, was like to crack.
She vow'd she would go fee the fight,
And vifit the distreffed Knight;
To do the office of a neighbour,
And be a goffip at his labour,
And from his wooden jail the stocks,
To fet, large his fetter-locks;
And by exchange, parole, or ransom,
To free him from th' inchanted mansion.
This being refolv'd, the call'd for hood
And uther, implements abroad
Which ladies wear, befide a flender
Young waiting-damfel to attend her,
All which appearing, on fhe went
To find the Knight, in limba pent:

45

Ver. 5.] And the three following lines, ftood in the two first editions of 1663, as follow:

And unto love turn we our style,
To let our readers breathe a while,
By this time tir'd with the horrid founds
Of blows, and cuts, and blood, and wounds.

Ver. 10.] That fome men's fancies, &c. That a man's fancy, in the two first editions of 1664. Ver. 30.] Wbilem. Formerly, or, fome time go. Altered to lately, 1674. Reftored 1,704. Ver. 48.] The beauty of this confifts in the ouble meaning; the first alludes to Fame's livng on Report. The second is an infinuation, hat if a report is narrowly enquired into, and raced up to the original author, it is made to ontradict itself,

Ver. 77.] This tattling goffip, &c. geffip, in the two first editions of 1663. as it ftands here, 1674.

65

70

73

90

95

100

Twattling
Altered,

Ver. 91. And from bis wooden jail, &c. This and the following line stand in the two editions of 1664 thus,

That is to fee him deliver'd fafe

Of 's wooden burden, and Squire Ralph.

And 'twas not long before the found
Him and his ftout Squire in the pound;
Both coupled in inchanted tether,
By further leg behind together;
For as he fat upon his rump,

His head, like one in doleful dump,
Between his knees his hands apply'd
Unto his ears on either fide,
And by him, in another hole,
Afied Ralpho, cheek by jowl,
She came upon him in his wooden
Magician's circle, on the fudden,
As fpirits do t' a conjurer,

When in their dreadful fhapes th' appear.

No fooner did the Knight perceive her,

But ftraight he fell into a fever,

Infiam'd all over with difgrace,

To be feen by her in fuch a place:

Which made him hang his head and fcoul,
And wink and goggle like an owl;

He felt his brains begin to fwim,
When thus the Dame acconted him.

This place (quoth the) they fay's inchanted, And with delinquent fpirits haunted,

115

120

Than to be feen with beard and face
By you in fuch a homely cafe.

Quoth the, Thofe need not be afham'd
For being honourably maim'd;
If he that is in battle conquer'd,

Have any title to his own beard,

Though your's be forely lugg'd and torn,
It does your visage more adorn

160

170

Than if 'twere prun'd, and starch'd, and lander'
And cut fquare by the Ruffian standard.

A torn beard 's like a tatter'd enfign,

That 's bravest which there are most rents in.
That petticoat about your shoulders,
Does not fo well become a foldier's;

And I'm afraid they are worse handled,
Although i' th' rear, your beard the van led;
And those uneafy bruises make

130 My heart for company to ake,
To fee fo worshipful a friend

I' th' pillory fet, at the wrong end.
Quoth Hudibras, This thing call'd Pain
Is (as the learned Stoics maintain)
134 Not bad fimpliciter, nor good,

That here are ty'd in chains, and scourg'd, 125
Until their guilty crimes be purg'd:
Look, there are two of them appear,
Like perfons I have feen fomewhere.
Some have mistaken blocks and posts
For fpcctres, apparitions, ghoits,
With faucer-eyes and horns; and fome
Have heard the devil beat a drum;
But if our eyes are not falfe glattes,
That give a wrong account of faces,
That beard and Iibould be acquainted,
Before 'twas conjur'd and inchanted;
For though it be disfigur'd fomewhat,
As if 't had lately been in combat,
It did belong to a worthy Knight,
Howe'er this goblin is come by 't.
When Hudibras the Lady heard
Difcourfing thus upon his beard,
And fpeak with fuch respect and honour
Both of the beard and the beard's owner,
He thought it beft to fet as good

A face upon it as he cou'd ; ·

And thus he fpoke: Lady, your bright
And radiant eyes are in the right;
The beard's th' identique beard you know,
The fame numerically true;

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145

But merely as 'tis understood.
Senfe is deceitful, and may feign
As well in counterfeiting pain
As other grofs phænomenas

In which it oft mistakes the cafe.
But fince th' immortal intelle&
(That 's free from error and defect,
Whofe objects ftill perfift the fame)
Is free from outward bruife or maim,
Which nought external can expofe
To grofs material bangs or blows,
It follows we can ne'er be fure
Whether we pain or not endure,
And juft fo far are fore and griev'd
150 As by the fancy is believ'd.

Ver. 111, 112.] There was never, certainly, a pleasanter fcene imagined than this before us; it is the most diverting incident in the whole Poem. The unlucky and unexpected vifit of the Lady; the attitude and furprize of the Knight; the confusion and blushes of the lover; and the fatirical raillery of a miftrefs, are reprefented in lively colours, and confpire to make this interview wonderfully pleafing.

Ver. 142. Difcourfing thus upon bis beard. Altered, 1674. To take kind notice of bis beard. Reftored 1704.

Some have been wounded with conceit,
And dy'd of mere opinion ftraight;
Felt no contufion, nor difcretion.
Others, though wounded fore in reason,
A Saxon duke did grow fo fat,
That mice (as hiftories relate)
Ate grots and labyrinths to dwell in
His poftique parts, without his feeling;
Then how 's it poffible a kick
Shou'd e'er reach that way to the quick ?

Ver. 164.] In fuch a homely cafe. In fucb elenctique cafe, in the two first editions of 1664.

And cannons shoot the higher pitches,
The lower we let down their breeches;
I'll make this low dejected fate

Advance me to a greater height.

Quoth the, You 'ave almost made me' in love With that which did my pity move.

Great wits and valours, like great ftates,

Do fometimes fink with their own weights: 270

Th' extremes of glory and of thame,

Like east and weft, become the fame.
No Indian prince has to his palace-

More followers than a thief to the gallows.
But if a beating feem fo brave,

What glorics must a whipping have?

Such great atchievements cannot fail
To caft falt on a woman's tail:

For if I thought your natural talent
Of paffive courage were fo gallant,

As

I could grow amorous, and doat.

He prick'd up 's ears, and ftronk'd his beard.
Thought he, this is the lucky hour,

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260

Ver. 232.] Pultroons. So in all editions to 1716, inclufive. Altered, afterwards, to poltroons.

Ver. 239-] A King of Æthiopia.

Ver. 241.] And pardon'd for fome great offence. This and the following line, in the two editions of 1664, stand thus;

To his good grace, for fome offence Forfeit before, and pardon'd fince. VOL. II.

305

Ver. 483.] Sorning. Thus it ftands in all edi. tions to 1684, inclufive. Altered to fwooning,