Next march'd brave Orsin, famous for
Wise conduct and success in war;
A skilful leader, stout, severe,
Now marshal to the champion bear.

150

147. Orsiu, as represented in

Fig. 15.

до визна

Y

sal to shve
પથાર

With truncheon tipt with iron head,
The warrior to the lists he led:
With solemn march, and stately pace,
But far more grave and solemn face:
Grave as the emperor of Pegu,
Or Spanish potentate Don Diego.
This leader was of knowledge great,
Either for charge, or for retreat.
He knew when to fall on pell-mell,
To fall back and retreat as well.
So lawyers, lest the bear defendant,
And plaintiff dog, should make an end on't,
Do stave and tail with writs of error,
Reverse of judgment, and demurrer,
To let them breathe a while, and then
Cry whoop, and set them on again.
As Romulus a wolf did rear,
So he was dry-nurs'd by a bear,
That fed him with the purchas'd prey
Of many a fierce and bloody fray;—

That which so oft by sundry writers
Has been apply'd t'almost all fighters,
More justly may b'ascrib'd to this,
Than any other warrior, (viz.)

155

160

165

170

201

His prototype may be traced on the left side of the moon, the north being still uppermost; and it is determined by the

None ever acted both parts bolder,
Both of a chieftain and a soldier.
He was of great descent, and high
For splendor and antiquity,

And from celestial origine

Deriv'd himself in a right line.

205

210

resemblance it bears to a leech, as mentioned in line 245,

and drawn in

Fig. 16.

Arctophylax in northern sphere
Was his undoubted ancestor :

From him his great forefathers came,
And in all ages bore his name.
Learned he was in med'c'nal lore;

For by his side a pouch he wore,

Replete with strange hermetic powder,

219

225

That wounds nine miles point-blank would

solder;

By skilful chymist with great cost

Extracted from a rotten post;

But of a heav'nlier influence

Than that which mountebanks dispense; 230

Though by Promethean fire made,

As they do quack that drive that trade,

For as when slovens do amiss

At others' doors, by stool or p-:
The learned write, a red-hot spit
B'ing prudently apply'd to it,
Will convey mischief from the dung
Unto the part that did the wrong:
So this did healing, and as sure

As that did mischief this would cure.
Thus virtuous Orsin was endu'd
With learning, conduct, fortitude,
Incomparable and as the prince
Of poets, Homer, sung long since,

235

240

A skilful leech is better far

Than half a hundred men of war;

So he appear'd, and by his skill,

No less than dint of sword, could kill.
The gallant Bruin march'd next him,

With visage formidably grim,

And rugged as a Saracen,

245

250

Or Turk of Mahomet's own kin:
Clad in a mantle della guerre

Of rough impenetrable fur;

And in his nose, like Indian king,
He wore, for ornament, a ring;
About his neck a threefold gorget,
As rough as trebled leathern target;
Armed, as heralds cant, and langued,
Or, as the vulgar say, sharp-fanged.
For as the teeth in beasts of prey
Are swords, with which they fight in fray;
So swords, in men of war, are teeth
Which they do eat their vittle with.

255

260

He was by birth, some authors write,

265

A Russian, some a Muscovite;

257. The three-fold gorget of the bear is referable to the wheals or marks of light before noticed on the body of Hudibras, which, as viewed in front of the bear's body, appear to comprize three divisions of iron-pointed bars or chains.