A! Ai 0! 0: 1 ; 4: 0; 2i 9: 7: -'Hi 'P>'-':^: -■ - ■■, - - /■] r ■. ^ ■-^^- it - \, i 'A i. •\ i % H // r :. 1 V ^- ::\ mimmmfmii^ LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PRESENTED BY MISS ROSARIO CURLETTI -»^ ,J>: 3 ] ^ %~1> >5> Ol^ >-^^ ::> ''^^^iss* '^^ ^ J> S >:>:^:^ fe^ rS> 3k ^3£,- .^^» *i:? -^S ^c^ 33f:^*:^fe^ o^2^ i^/O-'T-y ^- ^:^4n^x^^ * . HUDIBRAS. SAMUEL BUTLER NOTES AND A LITERARY MEMOIR EEV. TREADWAY RUSSEL NASH, D. D. ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS, AND CONTAINING A NEW AND COMPLETE INDEX. " Non deeruiit fortasse titilitis^atores, qui caluninientur, partim leviores «sJ« uugas, quam ut theolo|rum deceant, partim mordaciores, quam ut Christians conveoiaut modestiai." Erasm. MoricE. Encom. PrcE/aU NEW- YORK: D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 443 & 445 BKOADWAT. 1865. UMVEF.SITY OF CAUFORP SANTA BARBARA ADVERTISEMENT * Little or no apology need be offered to the Public for presenting it with a new edftion of Hudibras; the poem ranks too high in English literature not to be wel- comed if it appear in a correct text, legible type, and on good paper : ever since its first appearance it has been as a mirror in which an Englishman might have seen his face without becoming. Narcissus-like, enamored of it ; such an honest looking-glass must ever be valuable, if there be worth in the aphorism of nosce teipsum. May it not in the present times be as useful as in any that are past ? Perhaps even in this enlightened age a little self-examination may be wholesome ; a man will take a glance of recognition of himself if there be a glass in the room, and it may happen that some indica- tion of the nascent symptoms of the wrinkles of treason, of the crows-feet of fanaticism, of the drawn-down mouth of hypocrisy, or of the superfluous hairs of self- conceit, may startle the till then unconscious possessor of such germs of vice, and afford to his honester quali- ties an opportunity of stifling them ere they start forth in their native hideousness, and so, perchance, help to avert the repetition of the evil times the poet satirizes, which, in whatever point they are viewed, stand a Wot in the annals of Britain. The edition in three quarto volumes of Hudibras, ed- ited by Dr. Nasht in 1793, has become a book of high * Prefixed to the Edition in 2 vols. 8vo. 1833. k t " January 26, 1811. — At his seat at Bevere, near Worcester, " in his 8i3th year, Treadway Kussel Nash, D. D., P. S. A., Rec " tor of Leigh. He was of Worcester College in Oxford ; M. A " 1746 ; B. and D. D- IT.'JB. He was the venerable Father of the " Magistracy of the County of Worcester ; of which he was an " upright and judicious member nearly fifty years ; and a gentle- " man of profound erudition and critical knowledge in the seve- ' ral branches of literature : particularly the History of his na- " live county, which he illustrated with indefatigable labor and " expense to himself. In exemplary prudenee, moderation, atfa- ' bility, and unostentatious manner of living, he has left no sn ADVERTISEMENT. price and uncommon occurrence. It may justly bfl called a scholar's edition, although the Editor thus mod- estly speaks of his annotations : " The principal, if not " the sole view, of the annotations now offered to the *' public, hath been to remove these difficulties, (fluctua- " tions of language, disuse of customs, &i,c.,) and point " out some of the passages in the Greek and Roman " authors to which the poet alludes, in order to render " Hudibras more mtelligible to persons of the commenta- " tor's level, men of middling capacity, and limited in- " formation. To such, if his remarks shall be founG " useful and acceptable, he will be content, though they " should appear trifling iu the estimation of the more " learned." Dr. Nash added plates* from designs by Hogarth and La Guerre to his edition, but it may be thought without increasing its intrinsic value. The Pencil has never successfully illustrated Hudibras ; perhaps the wit, the humor, and the satire of Butler have naturally, fro:n " perior ; of the truth of which remark the writer of tliis article " could produce abundant proof from a personal intercourse of " long continuance ; and which he sincerely laments has now " an end. — K." — Ocntlemaii's Magazine. * Dr. Nash thus mentions them: "The engravings in this " edition are chiefly taken from Hogarth's designs, an artist " whose genius, in some respects, was congenial to that of our " poet, though here he cannot plead the merit of originality, so " much as in some other of his works, having borrowed a great "deal from the small prints in the duodecimo edition of niO.f " Some plates are added from original designs, and some from " drawings by La Guerre, now in my possession, and one print " representing Oliver Cromwell's guard-room, from an e.xcellenl " picture by Dobson, very obligingly communicated by my wor- " thy friend, Robert Bromley, Esq., of Abberley-lodge, in Wor- " cestershire ; the picture being seven feet long, and four high, " it is difficult to give the likenesses upon so reduced a scale, " but the artists have done themselves credit by preserving the "characters of each figure, and the features of each face more " exactly than could be expected : the picture belonged to Mr. " Walsh, the poet, and has always been called Oliver Crom- " well's guard-room : the figures are certainly portraits; but I " leave it to the critics in that line to find out the originals. '' When I first undertook this work, it was designed that the " whole should be comprised in two volumes : the first compre- " hending the pnem, the second the notes, but the thickness of ' (he paper, and size of the type, obliged the binder to divide " eacli volume into two tomes ; this has undesignedly increased "the number of tomes, and the price of the work." [In this edition the notes are placed under the text.] t "Hogarth was born in 1698, nnd the pdiiioii of Hudibras, with hia cut* published 1726." ADVERTISEMFNT. 7 their general application, not sufficient of a local habita- tion and a name to be embodied by the painter's art. To some few of the notes explanatory of phrases and words, the printer has ventured to make trifling additions, which he has placed within brackets that they may not be supposed to be Dr. Nash's, though had the excellent dictionary of the truly venerable Archdeacon Todd, and the Glossary of the late Archdeacon Nares, from which they are principally taken, been in existence in 1793, there can be little doubt but Dr Nash would have availed himself of them. W N P5 •-^ H P n w o W PL, o o ^ an SAMUEL BUTLER, ESQ, AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. The life of a retired scholar can furnish but little matter to the biographer: such was the character of Mr. Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras. His father, whose name likewise was Samuel, had an estate of his own of about ten pounds yearly, which still goes by the name of Butler's tenement : he held, likewise, an estate of three hundred pounds a year, under Sir William Russel, lord of the manor of Strensham, in Worcester- shire.* He was not an ignorant farmer, but wrote a very clerk-like hand, kept the register, and managed all the business of the parish under the direction of his landlord, near whose house he lived, and from whom, very probably, he and his family received instruction and assistance. From his landlord they imbibed their principles of loyalty, uS Sir William was a most zealous royalist, and spent great part of his fortune in the cause, being the only person exempted from the benefit of the treaty, when Worcester surrendered to the parliament in the year 1646. Our poet's father was churchwarden of the parish the year before his son Samuel was born, and has entered his baptism, dated February 8, 1612, with his own hand, in the parish register. He had four sons and three daughters, born at Strensham ; the three daughters, and one son older than our poet, and two * This information came from Mr. Gresley, rector of Strens- ham, from the year 1706 to the year 1773, when he died, aged 100 : so that he was bom seven years before the poet died 10 ON SAMUEL BUTLER, ESQ., sons younger : none of his descendants remain in th« parish, though some of them are said to be in the neigh- boring villages. Our author received his first rudiments of learning a* home ; he was afterwards sent to the college school at Worcester, then taught by Mr. Henry Bright,* pre- bendary of that cathedral, a celebrated scholar, and many years the famous master of the King's school there ; one who made his business his delight ; and, though in veiy easy circumstances, continued to teach for the sake of doing good, by benefiting the families of the neighboring gentlemen, who thought themselves happy in having their sons instructed by him. How long Mr. Butler continued under his care is not known, but, probably, till he was fourteen years old * Mr. Bright is buried in the cathedral church of Worcester, near the north pillar, at the foot of the steps which lead to the choir. He was born 1502, appointed schoolmaster 1586, made prebendary 1619, died 1G26. The inscription in capitals, on a mural stone, now placed in what is called tlie Bisliop's Chapel is as follows : Slane hospes et lepe, Magister HENRICUS BRIGHT, Celeberriinus gymnasiarcha. Qui scholoB refiiiB istic fundatse per totos 40 annos suinma cum laude prajfuit, Guo non alter inagis sedulus 'uit, scitusve, ac dexter, in Latinis Gra-cis Hebraicis litteris, feliciter edocendis : Teste utraqne academia quarn iiistruxit affatim numerosa plebe literaria: Bed et totidem annis eoque anipllus theologiam professus Et hujus ecclesire per septennium canonicus major, Saipissime hie et alibi sacrum dei praeconem magno cum zelo et fructu egit. Vir pins, doctus, integer, frugi, de republica deque ecclesia optima uieritus. A laboribus per diu noctuque ab anno 1562 ad 16-26 strenue usque exantlatis 4° Martii suaviler requievit in Domino. See this epitaph, written by Dr. Joseph Hall, dean of Worces- ter, in Fuller's Worthies, p. 177. I have endeavored to revive the memory of this great and good teacher, wishing to excite a laudable emulation in our provincial sclioolmasters ; a race of men, who, if they execute their trust with abilities, industry, and in a proper manner, de- serve the highest honor and patronage their country can bestow, as they have an opportunity of communicating learning, at a moderate expense, to the middle rank of gentry, without the danger of ruining their fortunes, and corrupting their morals or their health : this, though foreign to my present purpose, the vsspect and affection I bear to my neighbors extorted from me. AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. 11 Whether he was ever entered at any university is un- certain. His biographer says he went to Cambridge, but was never matriculated : Wood, on the autliority of Butler's brotlier, says, the poet spent six or seven yeara there ;* but as other tilings are quoted from tiie same authority, which I beheve to be false, I should very much suspect the truth of this article. Some expres- sions, in his works, look as if he were acquainted with the customs of Oxford. Coursing was a term peculiar to that university ; see Part iii. c. ii. v. 1244. Returning to his native country, he entered into the service of Thomas JefFeries, Esq., of Earls Croombe, who, being a very active justice of the peace, and a leading man in the business of the province, his clerk was in no mean office, but one that required a know- ledge of the law and constitution of his country, and a proper behavior to men of every rank and occupation : besides, in those times, before the roads were made good, and short visits so much in fashion, every large family was a community within itself: the upper ser- vants, or retainers, being often the younger sons of gentlemen, were treated as friends, and the whole family dined in one common hall, and had a lecturer or clerk, who, during meal times, read to them some useful or entertaining book. Mr. JefFeries's family was of this sort, situated in a retired part of the country, surrounded by bad roads, the master of it residing constantly in Worcestershire. Here Mr. Butler had the advantage of living some time in the neighborhood of his own family and friends : and having leisure for indulging his inclinations for learning, he probably improved himself very much, not only in the abstruser branches of it, but in the pohte arts : here he studied painting, in the practice of which indeed his proficiency was but moderate ; for I recollect seeing at Earls Croombe, in my youth, some portraits said to bo painted by him, which did him no great honor as an artist.T I have heard, lately, of a portrait of Oliver Cromwell, said to be painted by our author. * His residing in the neighborhootl might, perhaps, occasion the idea of his having been at Cambridge. t In his MS. Common-place book is the following observation ; It is more difficult, and requires a greater mastery of art in painting, to foreshorten a figure exactly, than to draw three at their just length ; so it is, in writing, to express any thing natu lally and briefly, than to enlarge and dilate • 12 ON SAMUEL BUTLER, ESQ., Al'ter continuiiisr some time in this service, he was recommended to Elizabeth Countess of Kent, who lived at Wresl, in Bedfordsliir*. Here he enjoyed a literary retreat during great part of the civil wars, and here probably laid the groundwork of his Hudibras, as ho had the benefit of a good collection of books, and the society of that living library, the learned Selden. His biographers say, he lived also in the service of Sir Samuel Luke, of Cople Hoo Farm, or Wood End, in that county, and that from him he drew the character of Hudibras :* but such a prototype was not rare in those times. We hear little more of Mr. Butler till after the Restoration: perhaps, as Mr. Selden was left executor to the Countess, his employment in her affairs might not cease at her death, though one might suspect by Butler's MSS. and Remains, that his friendship with that great man was not witiiout interruption, for his satirical wit could not be restrained from displaying itself on some particularities in the character of that eminent scholar. Lord Dorset is said to have first introduced Hudibras to court. November 11, 16G2, the author obtained an imprimatur, signed J. Berkeuhead, for printing his poem ; accordingly m the following year he published the first part, containing 125 pages. Sir Roger L'Estrange grant- ed an imprimatur for the second part of Hudibras, by And therefore a judicious authnr's lilots Are more ingenious than his tirst free thouglits. This, and many other passages from Butler's MSS. are inserted, not so much for their intrinsic merit, as to please those who are unwilling to lose one drop of that immortal man; as Garrick says of Shatvspeare : It is my pride, my joy, my only plan, To h)se no drop of that immortal man. * The Lukes were an ancient family at Cople, three miles south of Bedford : in the church are many monuments to the family an old one to the memory of Sir Walter Luke knight, one of the ju~;tices of the pleas, holden hefore the iTiost excellent prince King Henry the Eighth, and daufs Anna his wife: anoth- er in rememhrance of Nicholas Luke, and liis wife, vvitli five sons and four daughters. On a fiat stone in the chancel is written. Here lieth the hotly of George Luke, Esq. ; he departed tliislife Feb. 10, 1732, aged 74 years, the last Luke of Wood End. Sir Samuel Luke was a rigid Presbyterian, and not an eminent commander under Oliver Cromwell ; probably did not approvo of the king's trial and execution, and therefore, with other Pres byterians, boHi he and hi? father Sir Oliver were among the s^ eluded members. See Rushworth's collections AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. 13 the author of the first, November 5, 1663, and it waa printed by T. R. for John Martin, 1664. In the Mercurius Auliciis, a ministerial jiewspaper, from January 1, to January 8, 1662, quarto, is an ad- vertisement saying, that " there is stolen abroad a most " false and imperfect copy of a poem called Hudibras, " without name either of printer or bookseller ; the true " and perfect edition, printed by the author's original, is *' sold by Richard Marriott, near St. Dunstan's Church, " in Fleet-street ; that other nameless impression is a " cheat, and will but abuse the buyer, as well as the " author, whose poem deserves to have fallen into better " hands." Probably many other editions were soon af- ter printed : but the first and second parts, with notes to both parts, were printed for J. Martin and H. Herring- ham, octavo, 1674. The last edition of the third part, before the author's death, was printed by the same per- sons in 1678 : this I take to be the last copy corrected by himself, and is that from which this edition is in general printed: the third part had no notes put to it during the author's life, and who furnished them after his death is not known. In the British Museum is the original injunction by authority, signed John Berkenhead, forbidding any print- er, or other person whatsoever to print Hudibras, or any part thereof, without the consent or approbation of Sam- uel Butler, (or Boteler,) Esq.,* or his assignees, given at Whitehall, 10th September, 1677; copy of this injunc- tion may be seen in the note.t It was natural to suppose, that after the restoration, and the publication of liis Hudibi'as, our poet should have * Induced by this injunction, and by the office he held as sec- retary to Richard earl of Carbuiy. lord president of Wales, I have ventured to call our poet Samuel Butler, Esq. t CHARLES R. Our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby strictly charge and onimand, that no printer, bookseller, stationer, or other person whatsoever within our kingdom of England or Ireland, do print, re- print, utter or sell, or CH use to be primed, reprinted, uttered or sold, %book or pnem called Hudibras, or any part thereof, without the consent and approbation of Samuel Boteler, Esq., or his as- signees, as they and every of them will answer the contrary at .heir perils. Given at our Court at Whitehall, the tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord God 1677, and in the 29tli ^ear of our reign, By his Majesty's command, Jo. BERKENHEAD. Miscel. Papers, Mus. Bibl. Bircli. No. 4293 Plut. 11. J. original. 14 ON SAMUEL BD TLER, ESQ., appeared in public life, and have been rewarded for tha eminent service his poem did the royal cause ; but his innate modesty, and studious turn of mind, prevented so- licitations : never having tasted the idle luxuries of life, he did not make to himself needless wants, or pine after imaginary pleasures : his fortune, indeed, was small, and so was his ambition ; his integrity of life, and modest temper, rendered him contented. However, there is good authority for believing that at one time he was grat- ified with an order on the treasury for 300Z., which is said to have passed all the offices witliout payment of fees, and this gave him an opportunity of displaying his disinterested integrity, by conveying the entire sum im- mediately to a friend, in trust for the use of his creditors. Dr. Zachary Pearse,* on the authority of Mr. Lowndes of the Treasury, asserts, that Mr. Butler received from Charles the Second an annual pension of lOOL ; add to this, he was appointed secretary to the lord president of tjje principality of Wales, and, about the year 1667, steward of Ludlow castle. With all this, the court was thought to have been guilty of a glaring neglect in his case, and the public were scandalized at the ingratitude. The indigent poets, who have always claimed a prescrip- tive riglit to live on the munificence of their cotempora- ries, were tlio loudest in their remonstrances. Dryden, Oldham, and Otway, while in appearance they com- plained of the vmrewarded merits of our author, oblique- ly lamented their private and particular grievances ; IldTpoKXov Trp6(paaiv, dpSiv 6' avrdv Kt'jit tKa^o; ;t or, as Sal- hist says, nulli mortalium injuriae sute parvffi videntur. Mr. Butler's own sense of the disappointment, and the impression it made on his spirits, are sufficiently marked by the circumstance of his having twice transcribed the following distich with some variation in his MS. com- mon-place book: To think how Spenser died, how Cowley monrn'd, How Butler's faith and service were return'd.J * See Granger's Biographical History of England, octavo, vol. iv. p. 40. t Homer— Iliad. 19, ."JOX t I am aware of a difficulty that maybe started, that the Tra gcdy of Constanline the Great, to which Otway wrote the pro- logue, according to Giles Jacob in his poetical Register, was not Bcted at the Theatre Royal till 1681, four years after our poet's death, but probably he had seen the MS. or heard the thought, as both his MSS. differ somewhat from the printed copy. AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. 15 lu the same MS. he says, " wit is very chargeable, •• and not to be maintained in its necessary expenses at '' au ordinary rate : it is the worst trade in the world to •' live upon, and a commodity that no man thinks he ' has need of, for those who have least believe they havo " most." Ingenuity and wit Do only make the owners fit For nolhinj;, but to be undone Much easier than if th' had none. Mr. Butler spent some time in France, probably wh'3ii Lewis XIV. was in the height of his glory and vanity : however, neither the language nor manners of Paris wore pleasing Jo our modest poet ; some of his observa- tions may be amusing,,! shall therefore insert them in a note.* He married Mrs. Herbert : whether she was a * "The French use so many words, upon all occasions, that if they did not cut them short in pronunciation, they would grow tedious and insufferable. "They infinitely affect rhyme, though it becomes their lan- guage the worst in the world, and spoils the little sense they have to make room for it, and make the same syllable rhyme to itself, which is worse than metal upon metal in heraldry : they find it much easier to write plays in verse than in prose, for it is much harder to imitate nature, than any deviation from her ; and prose requires a more proper and natural sense and expres- sion than verse, that has something in the stamp and coin to an- swer for the alloy and want of intrinsic value. I never came among them, but the following line was in my mind: Raucaque garrulitas, studiumque inane loquendi ; for they talk so much, they have not time to think ; and if they had all the wit in the world, their tongues would run before it. "The present king of France is building a most stately tri umphal arch in memory of his victories, and the great actions which he has performed : but, if 1 am not mistaken, those edifi- ces which bear that name at Rome, were not raised by the em- perors vvliose names they bear, (such as Trajan, Titus, &c.,) but were decreed by the Senate, and built at the expense of the pub- lic ; for that glory is lost, which any man designs to consecrate to himself. "The king takes a very good course to weaken the city of Pa- ris by adorning of it, and to render it less, by making it appear greater and more glorious ; for he pulls down whole streets to make room for his palaces and public structures. "There is nothing great or magnificent in all the country, that I have seen, but the buildings and furniture of the king's houses and the churches; all the rest is mean and paltry. "The king is necessitated to lay heavy taxes upon his subjects in his own defence, and to keep them poor, in order to keep then, quiet ; for if they are suffered to enjoy any plenty, they are natu- rally so insolent, that they would become ungovernable, and use him as they have done his predecessors : but he has rendered himself so strong, that they have no thoughts of attempting any thing in bis time. 16 ON SAMUEL BUTLER, ESQ... widow, or not, is uncertain ; with her he expected a con- siderable fortune, but, through various losses, and kna- very, he found himself disappointed : to this some have attributed his severe strictures upon the professors of the law ; but if his censures be properly considered, they will be found to bear hard only upon tlie disgraceful part of each profession, and upon false learning in general : this was a favorite subject with him, but no man had a great- er regard for,orwas abetterjudgeof the worthy part of the three learned professions, or learning in general, than Mr. Butler. How long he continued in office, as steward of Lud- low Castle, is not known ; but he lived the latter part of his life in Rose-street, Covent Garden, in a studiou? retired manner, and died there ju the year 1680. — He is said to have been buried at the expense of Mr. Wil- liam Longueville, though he did not die in debt. Some of his friends wished to have interred him in Westminster Abbey with proper solemnity ; but not finding others willing to contribute to the expense, his corpse was deposited privately in the yard belonging to the church of Saint Paul's, Covent Garden, at the west end of the said yard, on the nortli side, under the wall of the said church, and under that wail which parts the yard from the common highway.* I have been thug particular, because, in the year 1786, when the church was repaired, a marble monument was placed on the south side of the church on the inside, by some of the parishioners, which might tend to mislead posterity as to the place of his interment : their zeal for the memory of the learned poet does them honor ; but the writer of the verses seems to have mistaken the character of Mr. Butler. The inscription runs thus: " This little monument was erected in the year 1786, " by some of the parishioners of Covent Garden, in " The churchmen overlook all other people as haughtily as the tnurches and steeples do private houses. "The French do nothing without ostentation, and the king himself is not behind with his triumphal arrhes consecrated to himself, and his impress of the sun, nee pluribus impar. "The French king having copies of the best pictures from RoniR, is as a great prince wearing clothes at second hand : the king in his prodigious charge ol' buildings and furniture does the same thing to himself that he means to do by Paris, renders him- self weaker, by endeavoring to appear the more magniticent: lets go the substance for shadow." * See Butler's Life, printed before the small edition of Hudl bras in 1710, and reprinted by Dr. Grey AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. 17 " memory of the celebrated Samuel Butler, who waa " buried in this church, A. D. 1680. " A few plain men, to pomp and state unknown, "O'er a poor bard have raised this humble stone, " Whose wants alone his genius could su'pass, " Victim of zeal ! the matchless Hudibras . " What though fair freedom suffer'd in his page, " Reader, forgive the author for the age ! " How few, alas ! disdain to cringe and cant, " When 'tis the mode to play the sycophant. " But, oh ! let all be taught, from Butler's fate, " Who hope to make their fortunes hy the great, "That wit and pride are always dangerous things, " And little faith is due to courts and kmgs." In the year 1721, John Barber, an eminent printer, and alderman of London, erected a monument to our poet in Westminster Abbey ; the inscription is as fol- lows : M.S. Samuelis Butler Qui StrenshamicE in agro Vigorn. natus 1612, Obiit Lond. 1680. Vir doctus imprimis, acer, integer, Operibus ingenii non item prjemiis felix. Satyrici apud nos carminis artifex egregius. Qui simulatte religionis larvam detraxit Et perduellium scelera liberrime exagitavit, Scriptoruni in suo genere primus et postremus. Ne cui vivo deerant fere omnia Deesset etiam mortuo tumulus Hoc tandem posito marmore curavit Johannes Barber civis Londinensis 1721. On the latter part of this epitaph the ingenious Mr Samuel Wesley wrote tlie following lines : While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive, No generous patron would a dinner give ; See him, when starved to death, and turn'd to dust, Presetted with a monumental bust. The poet's fate is here in emblem shown, He ask'd for bread, and he received a stone. Soon after this monument was erected in Westminster Abbey, some persons proposed to erect one in Covent Garden church, for which Mr. Dennis wrote the follow- iiig inscription : Near this place lies interr'd The body of Mr. Samuel Butler, Author of Hudibras. He was a whole species of poets in one : Admirable in a manner In which no one else has been tolerable : A manner which began and ended in him, 18 ON SAMUEL BDTLER ESQ., In which he knew no guide, And has found no I'ol lowers. Nat. 1G12. Ob. I(i80. Hudibras is Mr. Butler's capital work, and though the characters, poems, thoughts,, &c., published by Mr. Thyer, in two volumes octavo, are certainly written by the same masterly hand, though they abound in lively Eallies of wit, and display a copious variety of erudition, yet the nature of the subjects, their not having received the author's last corrections, and many other reasons which might be given, render them less acceptable to the present taste of the public, which no longer relishes tiie antiquated mode of writing characters, cultivated when Butler was young, by men of genius, such as Bishop Earle and Mr. Cleveland ; the volumes, how- ever, are very useful, as they tend to illustrate many passages in Hudibras. The three small ones entitled, Posthumous Works, in Prose and Verse, by Mr. Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras, printed 1715, 171G, 1717, are all spurious, except the Pindaric ode on Duval the highwayman, and perhaps one or two of the prose pieces. As to the MSS. which after Mr. Butlers death came into the hands of Mr. Longueville, and from whence Mr. Tiiycr published his genuine Remains in the year 1759 ; what remain of them, still unpublished, are either in the hands of the ingenious Doctor Farmer, of Cambridge, or myself: for Mr. Butler's Common-place Book, mentioned by Mr. Thyer, I am indebted to the lib- eral and public-spirited James Massey, Esq., of Rosthern, near Knotsford, Cheshire. The poet's frequent and correct use of law-terms* is a sufficient proof that he was well versed in that science ; but if further evidence were wanting, I can produce a MS. purchased of some of our poet's relations, at the Hay, in Brecknockshire ; it appears to be a collection of legal cases and principles, regularly related from Lord Coke's Commentary on Littleton's Tenures : the language is Norman, or law French, and, in general, an abridgment of the above- mentioned celebrated work ; for the authorities in the margin of the MS. correspond exactly with those given on the same positions in the first institute ; and the sub- ject matter contained in each particular section of But- Jer's legal tract, is to be found in the same numbered * Butler is said to have been a member of Gray's-inn, and of t club with Cleveland and other wits inclined to the royal cause AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. 19 section of Coke upon Littleton : the first book of the MS. Hkewise ends with the 84th section, which same number of sections also terminates the first institute; and the second book of the IMS. is entitled by Butler, Le second livre del primer part del institutes de ley d'Engleterre. The titles of the respective chapters of the MS. also precisely agree with the titles of each chapter in Coke upon Littleton ; Jt may, therefore, rea- sonably be presumed to have been compijed by Butler solely from Coke upon Littleton, with no other object than to impress strongly on his mind the sense of that author; and written in Norman, to familiarize. himself with the barbarous language in which the learning of the common law of England was at that period almost uniformly expressed. The MS. is imperfect, no title existing, some leaves being torn, and is continued only' to the 193d section, which is about the middle of Coke's second book of the first institute. As another instance of the poet's great industry, I have a French dictionary, compiled and transcribed by him : thus did our ancestors, with great labor, draw truth and learning out of deep wells, whereas our mod- ern scholars only skim the surface, and pilfer a super- ficial knowledge from encyclopaedias and reviews. It doth not appear that he ever wrote for the stage, though I have, in his MS. Common-place book, part of an un- finished tragedy, entitled Nero. , Concerning Hudibras there is but one sentiment — it is universally allowed to be the first and last poem of its kind ; the learning, wit, and humor, certainly stand un- rivalled ; various have been the attempts to define or describe the two last ; the greatest English writers have tried in vain ; Cowley,* Barrow,t Dryden,| Locke, § Addison, II Pope, IT and Congreve, all failed in their at- tempts ; perhaps they are more to be felt than explain- ed, and to be understood rather from example than pre- cept ; if any one wishes to know what wit and humor are, let him read Hudibras with attention, he will there see them displayed in the brightest colors : there is lus- tre resulting from the quick elucidation of an object, by * In his Ode on Wit,— t in his Sermon againr.t Foolish Talk Ing and Jesting, — t in his Preface to an Opera tailed the State of Innocence,— 5 Essay on Human Understanding, b. ii. c. 2. — I Spectator, Nos. 35 and 32. — U Essay concerning humor ia Comedy, and Corbyn Morris's Essay on Wit, Humor, and Rail- •ery. 20 ON SAMUEL BUTLER, ESQ., a just and unexpected arrangement of it with another subject ; propriety of words, and thoughts e/egantly adapted to the occasion : objects which possess an af- finity and congruity, or sometimes a contrast to each other, assembled with quickness and variety ; in short, every ingredient of wit, or of humor, which critics have discovered on dissecting them, may be found in this poem. The reader ntay congratulate himself, that he is not destitute of taste to relish both, if lie can read it with delight ; nor would it be presumption to transfer to this capital author, Quinctilian's enthusiastic praise of a great Ancient : hunc igitur spectemus, hoc propositum sit nobis exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat cui Cicero valde placebit. Hudibras is to an epic poem, what a good farce is to a tragedy : persons advanced in years generally prefer the former, having met with tragedies enough in real life ; whereas the comedy, or interlude, is a relief from anxious and disgusting reflections, and suggests such playful ideas, as wanton round the heart and enliven the very features. The hero marches out in search of adventures, to suppress those sports, and punish those trivial oiFences, which the vulgar among the royalists were fond of, but which the Presbyterians and Independents abhorred ; and which our hero, as a magistrate of the former per- suasion, thought "it his duty officially to suppress. The diction is that of burlesque poetry, painting low and mean persons and things in pompous language, and a mag- nificent manner, or sometimes levelling sublime and pompous passages to the standard of low imagery. The principal actions of the poem are four : Hudibras's vic- tory over Crowdero — Trulla's victory over Hudibras — Hudibras's victory over Sidrophel — and the Widow's anti-masquerade : the rest is made up of the adventures of the Bear, of the Skimmingtou, Hudibras's conversa- tions with the Lawyer and Sidrophel, and his long dis- putations with Ralpho and the Widow. The verse con- sists of eight syllables, or four feet, a measure which, in unskilful hands, soon becomes tireiwme, and will ever be a dangerous snare to meaner and less masterly imi- tators. The Scotch, the Irish, the American Hudibras, are not worth mentioning : the translation into French, by an Englishman, is curious ; it preserves the sense, but cannot keep up the humor. Prior seems to have como AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS. 2i neaiest the original, though he is sensible of his own iu- feriority, and says, But, like poor Andrew, I advance, False mimic of my master's dance ; Around the cord awhile I sprawl. And thence, the' low, in earnest fall. His Alma is neat and elegant, , and his vei^iification Bupeiior to Butlers ; but his learning, knowledge, and wit, by no means equal. Prior, as Dr. Johnson says, had not Butler's exuberance of matter and variety of illustration. The spangles of wit which he could afford, he knew how to polish, but he wanted the bullion of his master. Hudibras, then, may truly be said to be the first and last satire of the kind ; for if we examuie Lu- cian's Tragopodagra, and other dialogues, the Caesars of Julian, Seneca's Apocolocyntosis,* and some frag- ments of Varro, the)' will be found very different : the battle of the frogs and mice, commonly ascribed to Ho- mer, and the Margites, generally allowed to be his, prove this species of poetry to be of great antiquity. The inventor of the modern mock heroic was Ales- sandro Tassoni, born at Jlodena, 1565. His Secchia rapita, or Rape of the Bucket, is founded on the popu- lar account of the cause of the civil war between the inhabitants of Modena and Bologna, in the time of Frederic II. This bucket was long preser\'cd, as a trophy, in the cathedral of Modena, suspended by the chain which fastened the gate of Bologna, through which the Modenese forced their passage, ai,J seized the prize. It is written in the ottava Rima, the solemn^ measure of the Italian heroic poets, has gone through many editions, and been twice translated into French : it has, indeed, considerable merit, though the reader will scarcely see Elena trasformasi in una secchia. Tassoni travelled into Spain as first secretary to Cardi- nal Colonna, and died, in an advanced age, in the court of Francis the First, duke of Modena : he was highly esteenied for his abilities and extensive learning ; but^ like Mr. Butler's, his wit was applauded, and uure- * Or the mock deification of Claudius ; a hurlesque of Apothe- osis or Anathanatosis. Reimarus renders it, nnn inter deos sed Inter fatuos relatio, and quotes a proverb from Apuleius, Colo- cyntEB caput, for a fool. Colocynta is ujetaphorically put for any thing unusually large. X/jfuai KoXoKVvTuts, in the Clouds of Aristophanes, is to have the eye swelled by an obstruction sj «ig as a gourd. 22- ON SAMUtL BUTLER, ESQ., warded, as appears from a portrait of him, with a fig io his hand, under which is written the following distich : Dextera cur ficnm qiireris mea gestat inanem, Longi operis merces haec fuit, Aula dedit. The next successful imitators of the mock-heroic, have been Boileau, Garth, and Pope, whose respective works are too generally known, and too justly admired, to require, at this time, description or encomium. The Pucelie d'Orleans of Voltaire may be deemed an imita- tion of Hudibras, and is written in somewhat the same metre ; but the latter, upon the whole, must be con- sidered as an original species of poetry, a composition sui generis. Unde nil majus generatur ipso ; Ncc viget quidquam simile aut secundum. Hudibras has been compared to the Satyre Menippde de la vertu du Catholicon d'Espagne, first published in France in the year 1593 ; the subject indeed is some- what similar, a violent civil war excited by religious zeal, and many good men made the dupes of state poli- ticians. After the death of Henry IH. of France, the Duke do Mayence called together the states of the kingdom, to elect a successor, there being many pre- tenders to the crown ; these intrigues were the founda- tion of the Satire of Menippee, so called from Menippus a cynic philosophy, and rough satirist, introducer of the burlesque species of dialogue. In this work are unveiled tlie different views and interests of the several actors in those bi'4sy scenes, who, under the pretence of public good, consulted only theif private advantage, passions, and prejudices. The book, which aims particularly at the Spanish party,* went through various editions from its first pub- * It is sometimes called Higuero del infierno, or the fig-tree of flell, alluding to the violent part the Spaniards took in the civil wars of France, and in allusion to the title of Seneca's Apocolo- cyntosis. By this tig-tree the author perhaps means the won derful bir or banian described by Milton. The fig-tree, not that kind for fruit renown'd, But sucli as at this day to Indians known In Malabar or Dccan, spreads his arms, Branching so broad and long, that in the ground The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother tree ; a pillar'd shade High over-arch'd, and echoing walks between. AUTHOR OF HUD113KAS. 23 lication to 1726, when it was printed at Ralisbone in three vokimes, with copious notes and index : it is still studied by antiquaries with delight, and in its day was as much admired as Hudibras. D'Aubign6 says of it, il passe pour un chef d'ceuvre en son gendre, et fut hie avec une egale avidite, et avec un plaisir merveilleux par les royalistes, par les pohtiques, par les Huguenots et par les ligueurs de toutes les especes.* M. de Thou's character of it is equally to its advan- tage. The principal author is said to be Monsieur le Roy, sometime chaplain to the Cardinal de Bourbon, wliom Thuanus calls vir bonus, et a factione smmnc alienus. This satire differs widely from our author's : like those of Varro, Seneca, and Julian, it is a mixture of verse and prose, and though it contains much wit, and Mr. Butler had certainly read it with attention, yet he cannot be said to imitate it : tlie reader will perceive that our poet had in view Don Quixote, Spenser, the Italian poets, together with the Greek and Roman classics : but very rarely, if ever, alludes to Milton, though Paradise Lost was published ten years before the third part of Hu- dibras. Other sorts of burlesque have been published, such as the Carmina Macaronica, the Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum, Cotton's Travesty, &c., but these are efforts Mr. Ives, in his Journey from Persia, thus speaks of this won- derful vegetable: "This is the Indian sacred tree; it grows to a '•|irodi£ious height, and Its branches spread a great way. The " limbs drop down fibrous, which take root, and become another "tree, united by its brandies to the first, and so continue to do, "until the tree cover a great extent of ground ; the arches which "those different stocks make are Golhic, like those we see in " Westminster Abbey, the stocks not being single, but appearing "as if composed of many stocks, are of a great circumference "There is a certain solemnity accompanying these trees, nor da "I remember that I was ever under the cover of any of them, " but that my mind was at the time impressed with a reverential '' awe." From hence it seems, that both these authors thought Gothic architecture similar to embowered rows of trees. The Indian fig-tree is described as of an immense size, capable of shading 800 or 1,000 men, and some of them 3,000 persons. In Mr. Marsden's History of Sumatra, the following is an account of the dimensions of a remarkable banyan-tree near Banjer, twenty miles west of Patna, in Bengal. Diameter 363 to 375 feet, circumference of its shadow at nonn 1,116 feet, circuniler- ence of the several stems, (in number 50 or GO,) 911 feet. * Henault says of this work, Peut-6tre que la satire Menipp68 ne fut gueres moins utile cl Henri IV. que la bataille d'lvri: le ridicule a plus de force qu'on ne croit 24 ON SAMUEL BUTLER, ESQ. of genius of no great importance. Man}' burlesque and satirical poems, and prose compositions, were published in France between tlie years 1593 and 1660, the au- thors of which were Rabelais,* Scarron, and others; the Cardinal is said to have severely fe)t the Maza- renade. A popular song or poem has alw ays had a wonderful effect ; the following is an excellent one from jEschylus, sung at the battle of Salamis, at which he was present, and engaged in the Athenian squadron. a TTa7Ses 'THWiJvoiv ire, eXtvdcpovTs TraTp[S\ iXevOepovrt Hi rraliai, yvva^Kas, QcHv tz Tiarp(oii)v cSr], di'jKai Tt TTpoy6v(i>v' vvv VKip Tzavrtav aydv. ^sch. Persae, 1. 400. The ode of Callistratus is supposed to have done em- inent service, by commemorating the delivery, and pre- venting the return of that tyranny in Athens, which was liappily terminated by the death of Hipparchus, and expulsion of the Pisistratidai ; I mean a song which was sung at their feasts beginning, Ev fivpTOV xXaii to ^itpos (popijorb), uffjrfp Apjioiios K Apt^oysiTwi', Htc tov Tvpavvov KTaveTrjv, laovdpov; r' AB/iva; eTTOirjadrrjv, And ending, Aa CT0(3i kXios e(jacTai Kar' ajav, (piXrad' AppdiiC k' Api^dyeirov, Sti tov Tvpavvov ktuvctov l(Sov6jiov% t Adf/vas eTroitjiraTov. Of this song the learned Lowth says, Si post idus illas Martias e Tyrannocloais quispiam tale aliquod carmen plebi tradidisset, inque suburram, et fori circulos, ct in ora vulgi intulisset, actum profecto fuisset de partibus deque domiuatione Ccesarum : plus mehercule valuisset uuuui Appoiiov fiiXoi quam Ciceronis PhilippicjB omues ; and again, Num verendum erat ne quis tyrannidem Pisistratidarum Athenis instaurare auderet, ubi cantita- retur ^xoXtov illud Callistrati. — See also Israelitarum ETTivf/cioi', Isaiah, chapter xiv. Of this kind was the famous Irish song called Lilli- * [Probably a misprint. Rabelais died in 1553, and his work was first published at Lyons in 1533.1 AUTHOR OF UUDIBKAS. 85 burlero, which just before the Revolution in 1G88, had 6uch an effect, tiiat Burnet says, " a foolisli ballad was " made at that time, treating Uie papists, and chietly "the Irish, in a very ridiculous manner, which had a " burthen said to be Irish wcrdt', Loro loro hliibarlero, " that made an impression on tho (king's) army that " cannot be imagined by those that saw it not. The " whole army, and at last the people, both in city and "country, were singing it perpetually: and perhaps " never had so slight a thing so good an effect." Of this kind in modern days was the song of God save great George our king, and the Ca ira of Paris. Thus wonderfully did Hudibras operate in beating down the hypocrisy, and false patriotism of his time. Mr. Hay- ley gives a character of him in four lines with great propriety : "Unrivall'd Butler ! blest with linppy skill "To heal by comic verse each seriGas ill, " By wit's strong flashes reason'.s lif:ht dispense, " And laugh a frantic nation into sense." For one great object of our poet's satire is to unmask the hypocrite, and to exhibit, in a light at once odious and ridiculous, the Presbyterians and Independents, and all other sects, which in our poet's days amounted to near two hundred, and were enemies to the King ; but his further view was to banter all the false, and even all the suspicious pretences to learning that prevailed in his time, such as astrology, sympathetic medicine, alchymy, transfusion of blood, trifling experimental philosophy, fortune-telling, incredible relations of travellers, false wit, and injudicious affectation of ornament to be found in the poets, romance writers, &c. ; thus he frequently alludes to Purchas's Pilgrim, Sir Kenelm Digby's books, Bulwer's Artificial Changeling, Brown's Vulgar Errors, Burton's Melancholy, the early transactions of the Royal Society, the various pamphlets and poems of his time, &c., &c. These books, though now little known, were much reat and admired in our author's days. The ad- venture with the widow is introduced in conformity with other poets, both heroic and dramatic, who hold that no poem can be perfect which hath not at least one Epi- sode of Love. It is not worth while to inquire, if the charactera painted under the fictitious names of Hudibras, Crow dero, Orsin, Talgol, Trulla, &c , were drawn from reaj life, or whether Sir Roger L'Estrange's key to Hudi- 2 26 ON SAMUEL BUILER, ESQ., bras be a true oue ; it matters )iot whether the here v;ere designed as the picture of Sir Samuel Luke, Col. .ioUs, or Sir Henry Rosewell, he is, in the language of Dr fdeu, knight of the Shire, and represents them all, that is, the whole body of the Presbyterians, as Ralplio does that of the Independents: it would be degrading the liberal spirit and universal genius of ]\Ir. Butler, to narrow his general satire to a particular libel on any characters, however marked and prominent. To a single rogue, or blockhead, he disdained to stoop ; the vices and follies of the age in wliich he lived, (et quando uberior vitiorum copia,) were the quarry at which he fled ; these he con- centrated, and embodied in the' persons of Hudibras, Ralpho, Sidrophel, &c., so that each character in this admirable poem should be considered, not as an individ- ual, but as a species. It is not generally known, that meanings still more remote and chimerical than mere personal allusions, have been discovered in Hudibras ; and the poem would have wanted one of those marks which distinguish works of superior merit, if it had not been supposed to be a perpetual allegory : writers of eminence. Homer, Plato, and even the Holy Scriptures themselves, have been most wretchedly misrepresented by commentators of this cast ; and it is astonishing to observe to what a de- gree Heraclides* and Proclus,t Philot and Origen, have lost sight of their usual good sense, when they have * The AUegoriiE HomericBB, Gr. Lat., published by Dean Gale, Anist. 1C88, though usually ascribed to Heraclides Ponticus, the Platonist, must be the woricof a more recent author, as the Dean has jiroved : his real name seems to have been Heraclitus, (not the philosopher,) and nothing more is known of him, but that Eustathius often cites him in his comment on Homer: the tract, however, is elegant and agreeable, and may be read with im- pi ovement and pleasure. t Proclus, the most learned philosopher of the fifth century, left among other writings numerous comments on Plato's works Mill subsisting, so stuffed with allegorical absurdities, that few who have perused two periods, will have patience to venture . Pope translates it, Great in the war, and great in arts of sway. //. iii. 236. Plutarch tells us, that Alexander the Great was wonderfully delighted with this line. ^ Swaddle. — That is, to beat or cudgel, says Johnson ; but the word in the Sa.von, signifies to bind up, to try to heal by propel bandages and applications : hence the verb to swathe, and the adjective swaddlivg clothes : the line therefore may signify, that his worship could either make peace, and heal disputes among his neighbors, or, if they could not agree, bind them over to the sessions for trial. II A burlesque on the usual strain of rhetorical flattery, when authors pretend to be puzzled which of their patrons' noblo qualities they should give the preference to. Something similar to this passage is the saying of Julius Capitolinus, concerning the emperor Verus ; "melior orator quain poeta, aut ut verius dicam pejor poela qnani orator " Canto i.] HUDIBRAS. 37 Complains she thought liim but au ass,* Much more she wou'd Sir Hudibras : 40 For that's the name our valiant knight To all his challenges did write. But they're mistaken very mucli, 'Tis plain enough he was no such : We grant, although he had much wit, 45 H' was very shy of using it ;t As being loth to wear it out. And therefore bore it not about, Unless on holy-days, or so, As men their best apparel do. 50 Besides, 'tis known he could speak Greek As naturally as pigs squeek : That Latin was no more^ difficile, Than to a blackbird 'tis to whistle : Being rich in both, he never scanted 55 His bounty unto such as wanted ; But much of either wou'd afford To many, that had not one word. For Hebrew roots, although they're found To flourish most in barren ground,! 60 He had such plenty, as suffic'd To make some think him circumcis'd ; And truly so, perhaps, he was, *Tis many a pious Christian's case.§ * "When my cat and I," says Montaigne, "entertRla each 'other with mutual apish tricks, as playing with a garCer, who " knows l)Ut I make her more sport than she makes me 1 shall I " conclude her simple, who has her time to begin or refuse sport- " iveness as freely as I myself? Nay, who knows but she laughs " at, and censures, my folly, for maiiing her sport, and pities me " for understanding her no better 1" And of animals — " ils nous " peuvent estimer betes, comme nous les estimons." t The poet, in depicting our knight, blends together his great pretensions, and his real abilities ; giving him high encomiums on his affected character, and dashing them again with his true and natural imperfections. He was a pretended saint, but in fact a very great hypocrite ; a great champion, though an errant coward ; famed for learning, yet a shallow pedant. t Some students in Hebrew have been very angry with these lines, and assert, that they have done more to prevent the study of that language, than all the professors have done to promote It. See a letter to the printer of the Diary, dated January 15. 1789, and signed John Ryland. The word for, here means, »s to. $ In the first editions this couplet was differently expre'.setl : ^nd truly so he was, perhaps, J^ot as a proselyte, but for claps. Many vulgar, and some indecent phrases, were afl. t corrected Sd IIUDIBRAS. [PARTt He was in Logic a gi-eat critic,* cs Profoundly skill'd in Analytic ; He could distinguisli, and divide A hair 'twixt south and south-west side ; On either side he would dispute, Confute, change hands, and still confute ;'f 70 He'd undertake to prove by force Of argument a man's no horse ; He'd prove a buzzard is no fowl. And that a Lord may be an owl ; A calf an Alderman, a goose a Justice,! 75 And roolis Committee-Men or Trustees.^ He'd run in debt by disputation. And pay with ratiocinatioa r^ All this by syllogism true, • In mood and figure, he would do. SO For Rhetoric, he could not ope His mouth, but out there flew a trope : And when he happen'd to break off i' th' middle of his speech, or cough, by Mr. Butler. And, indeed, as Mr. Cowley observes, in his Ode on Wit, 'tis just The author blush, there, where the reader must. * In some following lines the abuses of human learning arc finely satirized. t Carneades, the academic, having one day disputed at Rome very ccipiously in praise of justice, refuted every word on the morrow, by a train of contrary arguments. Something similar is said of Cardinal Perron. t A doggerel Alexandrine placed in the first line of the couplet, as it is sometimes in heroic Ale.'jandrines : thus Dryden — So all the use we make of heaven's discover'd will. ■See his RHigio Laid. 5 A rook is a well-known black bird, said by theglossariststo be comix ffugivora, and supposed by them to devour the grain; hence, by a figure, applied to sharpers and cheats. Thus the committee-men harassed and oppressed tlie country, devouring, in an arbitrary manner, the property of those they did not like, and this under the authority of parliament. Trustees are often mentioned by our poet. See p. 3, c. 1, 1. 1516. In Scobel's collection is an ordinance, 1649, for the sale of the royal lands in order to pay the army; the common soldiers pur- chasing by regiments, like corporations, and liaving trustees fol the whole. These trustees either purcliased the soldiers' shares at a very small price, or sometimes cheated the officers and sol- diers, by detaining these trust estates for their own use. The same happened often with regard to the church lands : but 13 Ch. II. an act passed for restoring all advowsons, glebe-lands and tythes, &c. to his majesty's loyal subjects. Ooto I.] HUDIBRAS. 39 H' had hard words, ready to shew why 85 A.nd tell what rules he did it by.* Else, when with greatest art he spoke, i^ou'd think he talk'd like other folk. For all a Rhetorician's rules Teach nothing but to name his tools. 90 His ordinary rate of speech [n loftiness of sound was rich ; A. Babylonish dialect. Which learned pedants much affect ; It was a partl-color'd dress 93 Of patch'd and piebald languages : 'Twas English cut on Greek and Latin, Like fustian heretofore on satin.t It had an odd promiseuous tone As if h' had talk'd three parts in one ; lOO Which made some think, when he did gabble, Th' had heard three laborers of Babel ;J Or Cerberus himself pronounce A leash of languages at once.§ This he as volubly would vent 105 As if his stock would ne'er be spent : * i. e. Aposinpesis — Quos ego — sad motes, &c. Or cough. — The preachers of those days, looked upon cough- ing and hemming as ornaments of speech ; and when they printed their sermons, noted in the margin where the preacher coughed or henim'd. This practice was not confined to Eng- land, for Olivier Waillard, a Cordelier, and famous preacher printed a sermon at Brussels in the year 1500, and marked in the margin where the preacher hemui'd once or twice, or coughed. See the French notes. t The slashed sleeves and hose may he seen in the pictures of Dobson, Vandyke, and others ; but one would conjecture from the word heretofore, that they were not in common wear in our poet's time. { In Dr. Donne's Satires, by Pope, we read, You prove yourself so able, Pity ! you were not Druggerman at Babel ; For had they found a linguist half so good I make no question but tlie tower had stood. ^ " Our Borderers, to this day, speak a leash of langtiages " (British, Saxon, and Danish) in one : and it is hard to determine " which of those three nations has the greatest share in the " motley breed." Camden's Britannia — Cumberland, p. 1010. Butler, in his character of a lawyer, p. 107, — says, "he overruns " Iiatin and French with greater barbarism than the Goths did "Italy and France; and maices as mad a confusion of language, " hy mixing both with English." Statins, rather ridiculously, .utroduces Janus haranguin-; and complimenting Domitian with Doth his mouths, levat ecce, supinas Hinc atque Inde manus, geminique hsec voce profatur. 40 HUDIBRAS. [Part And truly, to support that charge, He had supphes as Vast and large For he could coin, or counterfeit New words with little or no wit:* llC Words so debas'd and hard, no stone Was hard enough to touch them on ;+ And when with hasty noise he spoke'em, The ignorant fur current took'em. That had the orator, who once 115 Did fill his mouth with pebble stones When he harangu'd, but known his phrase. He would have us'd no other ways.t In Mathematics he was greater Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater :§ 120 For he, by geometric scale, Could take the size of pots of ale ; Resolve, by sines and tangents straight, If bread or butter wanted weight ;|| And wisely tell what hour o' th' day 125 The clock does strike, by Algebra. Beside, he was a shrewd Pliilosopher, And had read ev'ry text and gloss over: Whate'er the crabbed"st author hath, IT He understood b' implicit faith : 130 Whatever Skeptic could inquire for ; For every why he had a wherefore :** Knew more than forty of them do, As far as words and terms could go. * The Presbyterians coined and composed many new words, such as out goings, carryings-on, nothingness, worliings-out, gos pel-walking times, secret ones, &c. &c- t This seems to be the risht reading; and alludes to the touchstone. Though Bishop Warburton conjectures, that tona ought to be read here instead of stone. t These four lines are not found in the first two editions. They allude to the well-known story of Demosthenes. § Erra Paler is the nickname of some ignorant astrologer. A little paltry book of the rules of Erra Pater is still vended among the vulgar. I do not think that by Erra Pater, the poet meant William Lilly, but some contemptible person, to oppose to the great Tycho Brahe. Anticlima.x was Butler's favorite figure, and one great machine of his drollery. II He could, by trigonometry, discover the exact dimensions of a loaf of bread, or roll of butter. The poet likevfise intimates that his hero was an over-officious magistrate, seirrching out little offences, and levying fines and forfeitures upon them. See Talgnl's speech in the next canto. Tf If any copv would warrant it, I should read "author saith." •* That is, he could elude one difficulty by proposing another m answer one question l>y proposing another. Canto i.] IIUDIBRAS 41 All which he understood by rote, 135 And, as occasion serv'd, would quote ; No matter whether right or wrong. They might be either said or sung. His notions fitted things so well, That wliich was which he could not tell ;* 140 But oftentimes mistook the one . For th' other, as great clerks have done. He could reduce all things to acts, And knew their natures by abstracts ;t Where entity and quiddity, 145 The ghost of defunct bodies fly ;t Where Truth in person does appear,^ Like words congeal'd in northern air. || He knew what's what, and that's as high As metaphysic wit can fly.lT 150 In school-divinity as able As he that hight irrefragable ;** * He had a jumble of many confused notions in his head, which he could not apply to any useful purpose : or perhaps the poet alludes to those philosophers who took their ideas of sub- stances to be the combinations of nature, and not the arbitrary wnrkmansliip of the hiiiimn mind. t A tiling is in potentia, when It is possible, but does not actually exist ; a thing is in act, wlien it is not only possible, but does e.xist. A thing is said to be reduced from power into act, when that whicli was oi»ly possible, begins really to exist: how far we can know the nature of things by abstracts, has long been a dispute. See Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding; and consult the old metaphysicians if you think it worth while t A fine satire upon tiie abstracted notions of the metaphy- sicians, calling the metaphysical natures the gliosts or shadows of retil substances. § Some authors have mistaken truth for a real thing or person, w hereas it is nothing but a right method of putting those notions or images of things (in the understanding of man) into the same state and order, that their originals hold in nature. Thus Aris- totle, Met. lib. 2. Unumquodque sicut se habel secundum esse, ita se habet secund'.un veritatem. II See Ilabelais's Pantagriiel, livre 4, ch. 56, which hint is Improved and drawn into a p.iper in the Tatler, No. 254. In Rabelais, Pantagruel throws upon deck three or four handfuls of frozen words, il en jucta siis le tillac trois ou quatre poignees : et y veids des parolles bien piquantes. ir The jest here is, giving, by a low and vulgar expression, an apt description of the science. In the old systems of logic, quid est quid was a common question. ••!.* Two lines originally followed in this place, which were afterwards omitted by the author in his corrected copy, viz A second Thomas ; or at once. To name them all, another Duns Perhaps, upon recollection, he thought this great man, Aquinas, deserving of bettor treatment, or perhaps he was ashamed of the pun. However, as the passage no« stands, it is an inimitabls 43 HUDIBRAS. [Part >, A second Thomas, or at once, To name them all, another Duns : Profound in all the nominal, 155 And real ways, beyond them till ; And, with as delicate a hand, Could twist as tough a rope of sand ;* And weave fine cobwebs, fit for scull That's empty when the moon is full ;t 16D Such as take lodgings in a head That's to be let unfurnished. He could raise scruples dark and nice, And after solve 'em in a trice ; As if Divinity had calch'd 165 The itch, on purpose to be scratch'd ; Or, like a mountebank, did wound And stab herself with doubts profound, Only to show with how small pain The sores of Faith are cur'd again ; 170 Altho' by woful proof we find. They always leave a scar behind. He knew the seat of Paradise, Could tell in what degree it lies ;t satire upon the old school divines, who were mat y of them honored with some extravagant epithet, and as vrell known by it as by their proper names: thn» Alexander Hales, was called doctor irrefragable, or invincible ; Thomas Aquinas, the angelic doctor, or eagle of divines ; Dun Scotus, the s.ibtle doctor. This last was father of tlie Reals, and William Ocham of the Nominals. They were both of Merton college in Oxford, where they gave rise to an odd custom. See Plott's Oxfordshire, page 285. — Hight, a Saxon and Old English participle passive, signi fying called. * A proverbial saying, when men lose their labor by busying themselves in trifles, or attempting things impossible. t That is, subtle questions or foolish conceits, fit for the brain of a madman or lunatic. t " Paradisum lucum diu multumque quaisitura per terraram " orbem ; neque tantum per lerrarum orbem, sed etiam in aere, " in luna, et ad tertium usque coelum." Burnett. Tell. Theor. 1. 2, Cap. 7. " Well may I wonder at the notions of some learned " men concerning the garden of Eden ; some affirming it to be "above the moon, others above the air ; some that it is in the " whole world, others only a part of the north ; some thinking "that it was nowhere, whilst others supposed it to be, God " knows where, in the West Indies ; and, for ought I know. Sir " John Mandeville's story of it may be as good as any of them." Foulis's History of Plots, fol. p. 171. " Otrebius, in a tract de " Vita, Morte, et Resurrectione, would persuade us, that doubtless " the Kosicrucians are in paradise, which place he seateth near " unto the region of the moon." Olaus Rudbeckius, a Swede, in a very scarce book, entitled Atlantica sive Man/ieim, 4 vol. fol., out of zeal for (he honor of his country, has endeavored to prove that Sweden was the real paradise. The learned Huet Canto i.] HUDIBRAS. 43 And, as he was dispos'd, could prove it, i75 Below the moon, or else above it : What Adam dreamt of when his bride Came from her closet in his side : Whether the devil tempted her By an High-Dutch interpreter :* 180 If either of them had a navel ;t bishop of Avranches, wrote an express treatise De Situ ?aradisi Terrestris, bat not published till after our poet's death, (1691.) He yives a map of Paradise, and says, it is situated upon the canal formed by the Tigris and Euplirates, after they have joined near Apamea, between the place where they join and that where they separate, in order to fall into the Pef«ian gulf, on the eastern side of the south branch of the great circuit which this river makes towards the west, marked in the maps of Ptolemy, near Aracca, about 3-2 degrees 39 minutes north latitude, and 80 degrees 10 minutes east longitude. Thus wild and various have been the conjectures concerning the seat of Paradise ; but we must leave this point undetermined, till we are better ac- quainted with the antediluvian world, and know what altera- tions the flood made upon the face of the earth. Mahomet is said to have assured his followers, that paradise was seated in heaven, and that Adam was cast down from thence when he transgressed: on the contrary, a learned prelate of our own time, supposes that our first parents were placed in paradise as a reward : for he says, "God (as we must needs conclude) having tried Adam in the "state of nature, and approved of the good use he had made of " his free will under the direction of that light, advanced him to "a superior station in paradise. How long before this remove, " man had continued subject to natural religion alone, we can "only guess. But of this we may be assured, that it was some "considerable time before the garden of Eden could naturally be '' made fit for his reception." — See Warburton's Works: Divine Legation, vol. iii. p. 634. And again: "This natural state "of man, antecedent to the paradisaical, can never be too care- " fully kept in mii:d, nor too precisely explained; since it is the ' very key or clue (as we shall find in the progress of this work) '' which is open to us, to lead us through aU the recesses and " intimacies of the last and completed dispensation of God to " man ; a dispensation long become intricate .and perplexed, by "men's neglecting to distinguish these two states or conditions; "which, as we say, if not constantly kept in mind, the Gospel "can neither be well understood, nor reasonably supported." — Div. Leg. vol. ii;. p. 626, 4to. * Johannes Goropius Becanus, a man very learned, and phy sician to Mary Queen of Hungary, sister to the Emperor Charles v., maintained the Teutonic to be the first, and most ancient language in the world. Verstegan thinks the Teutonic not older than the tower of Babel. Decayed Intelligence, ch. 7. t "Over one of the doors of the King's antechamber at St "James's, is a picture of Adam and Eve, which formerly hung "in the gallery at Whitehall, thence called the Adam and Eve "Gallery. Evelyn, in the preface to his Idea of the Perfection "of Painting, mentions this picture, painted by Malvagius, as he " calls him, (John Mabuse, of a little town of the same name in • Hiinault,) and objects to the absurdity of representing Adam 44 HUDIBRA& [Fart j Whc first made music malleable: * Whether the serpent, at the fall, Had cloven feet, or none at all.t All this without a gloss, or comment, ISS He could unriddle in a moment. In proper terms, such as men smatter, When they throw out and miss the matter. For his Religion, it was fit To match his learning and his wit : 190 'Twas Presbyterian, true blue,t For he was of that stubborn crew Of errant§ saints, whom all men grant To be the true church militant :|1 Such as do build their faith upon 195 The holy text of pike and gun ;^ Decide all controversy by Infallible artillery ; And prove their doctrine orthodox By apostolic blows, and knocks ; 200 Call fire, and sword, and desolation, A godly-thorough-Reformation,** "and Eve with navels, and a fountain of carved imagery in " Par;uUse. The latter remark is just ; the former is only wor- "thy of a critical man-midwife." VValpole's Anecdotes of Painting. Henry VII. vol. i. p. 50. Dr. Brown has the fifth chapter of the fifth book of his Vulgar Errors, expressly on this subject, " Of the Picture of Adam and Eve with Navels." * This relates to the idea that music was first invented by Py Ihagoras, on hearing a blacksmith strike his anvil with a ham- mer — a story which has been frequently ridiculed. t That curse upon the serpent " on thy belly shall thou go," seems to imply a deprivation of what he enjoyed before ; it has been thought that the serpent had feet at first. So Basil says, he went erect like a man, and had the use of speech before the fall. i Alluding to the proverb— " true blue will never stain:" representing the stubbornness of the party, which made them deaf to reason, and incapable of conviction. § The poet uses the word errant with a double meaning; without doubt in allusion to knights errant in romances: and likewise to the bad sense in which the word is used, as, an errant knave, an errant villain. II The church on earth is called militant, as struggling with temptations, and subject to persecutions: but the Presbyterians of those days were literally the church militant, fighting with the establishment, and all that opposed them. IT Cornet Joyce, when he carried away the king from Ilolden- by, being desired by his majesty to show his instructions, drew up his troop in the inward court, and said, "These, sir, are my Instructions." ** How far the character here given of the Presbyterians is a true one, I leave others to guess. When they have not had the upper hand, they certainly have been friends to mildness and Canto i.j HUDIBRAS. 45 Which always must be cangr'd on, And still bo doing, never done As if Religion were intended 9QS For nothing else but to be mended. A sect, whose chierdevotion lies In odd perverse antipathies :* In falling out with that or this, And finding somewhat still amiss :t 210 More peevish, cross, and splenetic. Than dog distract, or monkey sick. That with more care keep holy-day The wrong, than others tl^ ■right way :t Compound for sins they are inclin'd to, SM - By damning those they have no mind to : Still so perverse and opposite, As if they worshipp'd God for spite. The self-same thing they will abhor. One way, and long another for. 320 Free-will they one way disavow, Another, nothing else allow. § All piety consists therein In them, in other men all sin.|| Rather than fail, they will defy 225 That which they love most tenderly ; Quarrel with minc'd pies,ir and disparage moderation : but Dr. Grey produces passages from some of their violent and absurd writers, which made him think that they had a strong spirit of persecution at the bottom. Some of our brave ancestors said of the Romans, " Ubi soU- " tudinem faciunt, paceni appellant." Tacitus, Vita Agricol. 30. * In all great quarrels, the parties are apt to take pleasure in contradicting each other, even in the most trifling matters. The Presbyterians reckoned it sinful to eat phim-porndge, or minced pies, at Christmas. The cavaliers observing the formal carriage of their adversaries, fell into the opposite extreme, and ate and drank plentifully every«day, especially after the restoration. t dueen Elizabeth was often heard to say, that she knew very well what would content the Catholics, but that she never could learn what would content the Puritans. t In the year 1645, Christmas-day was ordered to be observed as a fast : and Oliver, when protector, was feasted by the lord mayor on Ash-Wednesday. When James the First desired the magistrates of Edinburgh to feast the French ambassadors before their retura to France, the ministers proclanned a fast to be kept the same day. § As maintaining absolute predestination, and denying the liberty of man's will : at the same time contending for absolute freedom in rites and ceremonies, and the discipline of the church. li They themselves being the elect, and so incapable of sin- ning, and all others being reprobates, and therefore not capable of performing any good action. V "A sort of inquisition was set up, against the food whicb 46 HUDIBRAS. [Part . Their best and dearest friend — plum-porridge ; Fat pig and goose itself oppose, And blaspheme custard through the nose. 230 Th' apostles of this fierce religion, Like Mahomet's, were ass and widgeon,* To whom our knight, by fast instinct Of wit and temper, was so linkt, As if hypocrisy and nonsense 235 Had got th' advowson of his conscience. Thus was he gifted and accouter'd. We mean on th' inside, not the outward : That next of all we shall discuss ; Then listen, Sirs, it foUoweth thus : 240 His tawny beard was th' equal grace Both of his wisdom and his face ; In cut and dye so like a tile, A sudden view it would beguile : The upper part thereof was whey, 245 The nether orange, mixt with grey. This hairy meteor did denounce The fall of sceptres and of crowns ;t had " been customarily in use at this season." Blackall's Ser men on Christmas-day. * Mahomet tells us, in the Koran, that the Angel Gabriel brought to hin) a milk-white beast, called Alborach, something like an ass, but bigger, to carry him to the presence of God. Alborach refused to let him get up, unless he would promise to procure him an entrance into paradise: which Mahomet pro- mising, he got up. Mahomet is also said to have had a tame pigeon, which he taught secretly to eat out of his ear, to make his followers believe, that by means of this bird there were im- parted to him some divine communications. Our poet calls it a widgeon, for the sake of equivoque ; widgeon in the figurative sense, signifying a foolish silly fellow. It is usual to say of such a person, that he is as wise as a widgeon : and a drinking song has these lines. — Mahomet was no divine, but a senseless widgeon, To forbid the use of wine to those of his religion. Widgeon and weaver, says Jlr. Ray, in his Philosophical Let- ters, are male and female sex. "There are still a multitude of doves about IMecca preserved " and fed there with great care and superstition, being thought " to be of the breed of that dove which spake in the ear of Ma " homet." Sandys' Travels. t Alluding to the vulgar opinion, that comets are always predictive of some public calamity. Et nunquam coelo spectatuin impune cometen. Pliny calls a comet crinita. Mr. Butler in his Genuine Remains, vol. i. p. 54. says, Which way the dreadful comet went In sixty-four, and what it meant? Canto i.J HUDIBRAS 47 With grisly type did represent Declining age of government, 250 And tell, with hieroglyphic spade. Its own grave and the state's were made. Like Sampson's heart-breslkers, it grew In time to make a nation rue ;* Tho' it contributed its own fall, 255 To wait upon the public downfall :t It was canonic, t and did grow la holy orders by strict vow :§ What Nations yet are to bewail The operations of its tail : Or whether France or Holland yet, Or Germany, be in its debt"? What wars and plagues in Christendom Have happen'd since, and what to come 1 What kings are dead, how many queens And princesses are poison'd since 1 And who shall next of all by turn, Make courts wear black, and tradesmen mourn ? And when again shall lay embargo Upon the admiral, the good ship Argo. Homer, as translated by Pope, Iliad iv. 434, says, While dreadful comets glaring from afar. Forewarn' d the horrors of the Thehau war. * Heart-breakers were particular curls worn by the ladies, ana sometimes by men. Sampson's strength consisted in his haU; when that was cut oft", he was taken prisoner; when it f^rew again, he was able to pull down the house, and destroy liis ene- mies. See Judges, cap. xvi. t Many of the Presbyterians and Independents swore not to cut their beards, not, like Mephibosheth, till the king was re- stored, but till monarchy and episcopacy were ruined. Such vows were common among the barbaroiis nations, especially the Germans. Civilis, as we learn from Tacitus, having des-troyed the Roman legions, cut his hair, which he had vowed to \et grow from his tirst taking up arms. And it became at length a na- tional custom among some of the Germans, never to turn their liair, or their beards, till they had killed an enemy. 1 The latter editions, for canonic, read monastic. ^ This line would make one think, that in the preceding ono we ought to read monastic ; though the vow of not sh wing the beard till some particular event happened, was not uncommon In those times. In a humorous poem, falsely ascribed to Mr. Butler, entitled. The Cobler and Vicar of Bray, we read. This worthy knight was one that swore He would not cut his beard, Till this ungodly nation was From kings and bishops clear'd. Which holy vow he firmly kept, And most devoutly wore A grisly meteor on his face, Till they were lioth no more 48 HUDIBRAS. lPart i Of rule as sullen and severe As that of rigid Cordeliere :* 269 '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, S6i Still ready to be puU'd and torn, With red-hot irons to be tortur'd, Revil'd, and spit upon, and martyr'd: Maugre all which, 'twas to stand fast, As long as monarchy should last ; 270 But when the state sJiould hap to reel, 'Twas to submit to fatal steel, And fall, as it was consecrate, A sacrifice to fall of state ; Whose thread of life the fatal sisters 275 Did twist together with its whiskers, And twine so close, that Time should never, In life or death, their fortunes sever ; But with his rusty sickle mow Both down together at a blow.' 380 So learned Taliacotius, from The brawny part of porter's bum. Cut supplemental noses, which Would last as long as parent breech :t * An order so called in France, from the knotted cord which they wore about their luiddles. In England they were named Grey Friars, and were tlie strictest branch of the Franciscans. t Taliacotius was professor of physic and surgery at Bologna, where he was born, 1553. His treatise is well known. He says, the operation has been practised by others before Kim with suc- cess. See a very humorous account of him, Tatler, No. '260. The design of Taliacotius has been improved into a method of holding correspondence at a great distance, by the sympathy of flesh transferred from one body to another. If two persons ex- change a piece of flesh from the bicepital muscle of the arm, arid circumscribe it with an alphabet ; when the one pricks him- self in A, the other is to have a sensation thereof in the same part, and by inspecting his arm, perceive what letter the other points to. Our author likewise intended to ridicule Sir Kenelm Higby, who, in his Treatise on the sympathetic powder, mentions, but with caution, this method of engrafting noses. It lias been ob- served, that the ingenuity of the ancients seems to have failed them on a similar occasion, since they were obliged to piece on! the mutilated shoulder of Pelops witii ivory. In latter days it has been a conmion practice with dentists, ti draw the teeth of young chimney-sweepers, and fix them in the heads of other persons. There was a lady whose motith was supplied In this manner. After some time the boy claimed the Canto i.] HUDIBRAS 49 But when the date of Nock was out,* 285 Off dropt the sympathetic snout. His back, or rather burthen, show'd As if it stoop'd with its own load. For as .^Eneas bore his sire Upon his shoulders thro' the fire, 250 Our knight did bear no less a pack Of his own buttocks on his back : Which now had almost got the upper- Hand of his head, for want of crupper. To poise this equally, he bore 295 A paunch of the same bulk before : Which still he had a special care To keep well-cramm'd with thrifty fare : As white-pot, butter-milk, and curds, Such as a country-house affords ; 300 With other victual, which anon We farther shall dilate upon, ■ When of his hose we come to treat, The cup-board where he kept his meat. His doublet was of sturdy bufF, 305 And though not sword, yet cudgel-proof, Whereby 'twas fitter for his use. Who fear'd no blows but such as bruise.t His breeches were of rugged woollen. And had been at the siege of Bullen ;t 310 tooth, and went to a justice of peace for a warrant against the lady, who, he alleged, had stolen it. The case would have puzzled Sir Hudibras. Dr. Hunter mentions some ill effects of the practice. A per- son who gains a tooth, may soon after want a nose. The simile has been translated into Latin thus : Sic adscititios nasos de clune torosi Vectoris docta secuit Taliacotius arte: Qui potuere parem durando tequare parentem ; At postquam fato clunis computruit, ipsum Una symphaticum toepit tabescere rostrum. • Nock is a British word, signifying a slit or crack. .And hence figuratively, nates, la fesse, the fundameitt. Nock, Nockys, is used by Gawin Douclas in his version of the ^IDneid, for the bottom, or extremity of any thing; Glossarists say, the word hath that sense both in Italian and Dutch: others think it a British word. t A man of nice honor suffers more from a kick, or slap in the face, than from a wound. Sir Walter Raleigli says, to be Btrucken with a sword is like a man, but to be strucken with a stick is like a slave. t Henry VUl. besieged Boulogne in person, July 14, 1544. He was very fat, and consequently his breeches very large. See the paintings at Cowdry in Su ssex, and the engravings published 3 so HUDIBRAS. IPar p t To old King Harry so well known, Some writers held they were his own, Thro' they were liu'd with many a piece Of ammunition-bread and cheese, And fat black-puddings, proper food 315 For waruors that delight in blood: For, as we said, he always chose To carry vittle in his hose. That often tempted rats and mice, The ammunition to surprise : 'dSP And when he put a hand but in The one or th' other magazine, They stoutly in defence on't stood. And from the wounded foe drew blood ; And till th' were storm'd and beaten ou( 326 Ne'er left the fortifi'd redoubt ; And tho' knights errant, as some think, Of old did neither eat nor di ink,* Because when thorough desarts vast. And regions desolate they past, 330 Where belly-timber above ground. Or under, was not to be found. Unless they graz'd, there's not one word Of their provision on record : Which made some confidently write, 333 They had no stomachs but to fight. 'Tis false: for Arthur wore in hallt Round table like a farthingal,t by the Society of Antiquaries. Their breeches and hose were the same, Port-hose, Trunk-hose, Pantaloons, were all like our sailors' trowsers. See Pedules in Cowel,and the 74th canon ad fineni. * "Though I think, says Don Quixote, that I have read as "many histories of chivalry in my time as any other man, I "never could find that knights errant ever eat, unless it weie "by mere accident, when they were invited to great feasts and " royal banquets ; at other times, they indulged themselves with "little other food besides their thoughts." I Arthu»is said to have lived about the year 530, and to have been born in 501, but so many romantic exploits are attributed to him, that some have doubted whether there was any truth at all in his history. Geoffrey of Monmouth calls him the son of Uther Pendragon, others think he was himself called Uther Pendragon: Uther sig- nifying in the British tongue a cluli, because as with a club he beat down the Saxons : Pendragon, because he wore a dragon on the crest of his helmet. t The farthingal was a sort of hoop worn by the ladies. King Arthur is said to have made choice of the round table that hi* knights might not quarrel about precedence. Canto i.] HUDIBRAS. 51 On which, with shirt pull'd out behind, And eke before, his good knights din'd. 340 Tho' 'twas no table some suppose, But a huge pair of round trunk liose : In which he carry'd as much meat, As he and all his knights could eat,* When laying by their swords and truncheons, 315 They took their breakfasts, or their nuncheons.t But let that pass at present, lest We should forget where we digrest ; As learned authors use, to whom We leave it, and to th' purpose come. 3J0 His puissant sword unto his side. Near his uilSaunted heart, was ty'd, With basket-hilt, that would hold broth, And serve for fight and dinirer both. In it he melted lead for bullets, 355 To shoot at foes, and sometimes pullets ; To whom he bore so fell a grutch, He ne'er gave quarter t' any such. The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty ,t For waut of fighting was grown rusty, 3G0 And ate into itself, for lack Of somebody to hew and hack. The peaceful scabbard where it dwelt, The rancour of its edge had felt : For of the lower end two handful 3G5 It had devour'd, 'twas so manful, And so much scoru'd to lurk in case, As if it dui-st not shew its face. * True-wit, in Ben .Tons^n's Silent Woman, says of Sir Anior- ons La Fool, "If he could but victual himself for half a year in " his breeches, he is sutficieatiy armed to over-run a country." Act 4, sc. 5. t J^uncheons. — Meals now made by the servants of most fam- ilies about noon-tide, or twelve o'clock. Our ancestors in the 13th and 14th centuries had four meals a day, — breakfast at 7 ; dinner at 10 ; supper at 4 ; and livery at 8 or 9 ; soon after which they went to-bed. See the Earl of Northumberland's household- bcik. The tradesmen and laboring people had only 3 meals a day, — breakfast at 8 ; dinner at 12 ; and supper at 6. They had no livery. X Toledo is a city in Spain, the capital of New Castile, famous for the manufacture of swords: the Toledo blades were general- ly broad, to wear on horseback, and of great length, suitable to tlie old Spanish dress. See Dillon's Voyage through Spain, 4ta 782. But those which I have seen were narrow, like a stiletto, Dut much longer: though probably our hero's was broad, as is inplied by the epithet trenchant; cutting. &ct HUDIBRAS [Part i. (r- in many desperate attempts, Of warrants, exigents,* contempts, 370 It had appear'd with courage bolder Than Serjeant Bum invading shoulder :t Oft had it ta'ea possession. And pris'ners too, or made thera run. This sword a dagger had, his page, 375 That was but little for his age : t And therefore waited on him so. As dwarfs upon knights errant do. It was a serviceable dudgeon, § Either for fighting or for drudging :|| 3£0 When it had stabb'd, or broke a head, It would scrape trenchers, or chip bread, Toast cheese or bacon, IT though it were To bait a mouse-trap, 'twould not care : 'Twould make clean shoes, and in the earth 385 Set leeks and onions, and so forth : It had been 'prentice to a brewer,** * Exigent is a writ issued in order to bring a person to an out- lawry, if he does not appear to answer the suit commenced against him. t Alluding to the method by which bura-bailiffs, as they are called, arrest persons, giving them a tap on the shoulder. t Thus Homer accoutres Agamemnon with a dagger hanging near his sword, which he used instead of a knife. Iliad. Lib. iii. 271. A gentleman producing some wine to his guests in small glasses, and saying it was sixteen years old ; a person replied it was very small for its age — inihdvTOi 6( Ttfos olvov iv'j.vKTTipiSiif (tiKpbv, Kat tlirdvTos on iKKaiitKairtji' /xiKpd; yc, c