So love does lovers; and us men
Draws by the tails into his den ;
That no impression may discover,
And trace t' his cave,

cave, the wary lover.
But if you doubt I should reveal

What you entrust me under seal,
I'll prove myself as close, and virtuous,
As your own Secret'ry Albertus.

Quoth she,-I grant you may be close
In hiding what

aims your

propose:

Love-passions are like parables,

435

440

445

By which men still mean something else:
Though love be all the world's pretence,
Money's the mythologique sense,
The real substance of the shadow,
Which all address, and courtship's made to.
Thought he,-I understand your play,
And how to quit you your own way;
He that will win his dame, must do

As love does, when he bends his bow: 450

obligatorium: non sic autem hominem sigillum secreti astringit. (Jo. Majoris de Gest. Scotor. lib. 5. fol. 88.) See a remarkable form of Popish confession, Glossary to Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, by Mr. Hearne, p. 683. and an account of the great secrecy of the Venetian nobility, Boccalini's Advertisements from Parnassus, cent. 1. advert. 25.

v. 438. As your own Secret'ry Albertus] Albertus Magnus was Bishop of Ratisbon; he flourished about the year 1260, and wrote a book, De Secretis Mulierum. See a further account of him, Fabricii Bibliothec. Græc. lib. 6. cap. 9. vol. 13. p. 45.

v. 443, 444. Though love be all the world's pretence — Money's the mythologique sense] See this exemplified in the case of Inkle and Yarico, Spectator, No. xi.

With one hand thrust the lady from,
And with the other pull her home.

I grant, (quoth he) wealth is a great
Provocative to am'rous heat;

It is all philters, and high diet,

That makes love rampant, and to fly out;
'Tis beauty always in the flower,
That buds and blossoms at fourscore:
'Tis that by which the sun and moon,

455

At their own weapons are out-done : 460
That makes knights-errant fall in trances,
And lay about 'em in romances:

'Tis virtue, wit, and worth, and all,
That men divine and sacred call:
For what is worth in any thing,

But so much money as 'twill bring?
Or what but riches is there known,
Which man can solely call his own;
In which, no creature goes his half,
Unless it be to squint and laugh?

465

470

v. 460. At their own weapons are out-done] i. e. The splendour of gold is more refulgent, than the rays of those luminaries. (Mr. W.)

v. 465. For what is worth &c.] A covetous person, (says the Tatler, No. 122.) in Seneca's Epistles, is represented as speaking the common sentiments of those who are possessed with that vice, in the following soliloquy. "Let me be called a base man, so I am called a rich one : if a man is rich, who asks if he be good? the question is, how much we have, not from whence, or by what means we have it: Every one has so much merit as he hath wealth. For my part, let me be rich, Oh ye Gods! or let me die: The man dies happily, who dies increasing his treasure: There is more pleasure in the possession of wealth, than in that of parents, children, wife, or friends."

I do confess, with goods and land,
I'd have a wife at second hand;

And such you are; nor is't your person
My stomach's set so sharp and fierce on,
But 'tis (your better part) your riches
That my enamour'd heart bewitches
Let me your fortune but possess,
And settle your person how you please,
Or make it o'er in trust to the devil,

You'll find me reasonable and civil.

475

480

v. 470. Unless it be to squint &c.] Pliny in his Natural History, affirms, that Uni animalium homini oculi depravantur, unde Cognomina Strabonum & Pœtorum, lib. xi. cap. 37."

v. 472. I'd have a wife at second hand] By this one might imagine, that he was much of the mind of a rakish gentleman, who being told by a friend, (who was desirous of having him married, to prevent his doing worse) that he had found out a proper wife for him-his answer was, Prithee, whose wife is she? Captain Plume seems to have been of the same way of thinking. (Recruiting Officer, by Farquhar, act 1, p. 14.)

v. 475. But 'tis (your better part) your riches,] Petruchio (see Shakespear's Taming the Shrew, Works, vol. 2. p. 291) argues upon this head in the following manner :

Signior Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we
Few words suffice: and therefore if thou know
One rich enough to be Petruchio's wife,
(As wealth's the burthen of my wooing dance)

Be she as foul as was Florentius' love,

As old as Sybil, and as curst and shrewd

As Socrates' Xantippe, or a worse,

She moves me not—or not removes, at least,
Affection's edge in me; were she as rough
As are the swelling Adriatick seas:

I come to wive it wealthily in Padua:

If wealthily, then happily in Padua.

Grumio. Nay, look you, Sir; he tells you flatly what his mind is: why give him gold enough, and marry him to a puppet, or an aglet-baby,

485

Quoth she,-I like this plainness better,
Than false mock-passion, speech, or letter,
Or any feat of qualm or sowning,
But hanging of your self, or drowning;
Your only way with me, to break
Your mind, is breaking of your neck:
For as when merchants break, o'erthrown
Like nine-pins, they strike others down:
So, that would break my heart, which done,
My tempting fortune is your own.
These are but trifles; ev'ry lover
Will damn himself, over and over,
And greater matters undertake,

490

For a less worthy mistress' sake:

Yet th' are the only ways to prove

495

Th' unfeign'd realities of love;

or an old trot with ne'er a tooth in her head; though she have as many diseases as two-and-fifty horses: why, nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal.(See Cacofogo, in Fletcher's Rule a Wife and Have

a Wife, ed. 1640, p. 31.)

But

v. 477. Let me your fortune but possess,] Much of this cast was Squire Sullen, (see Farquhar's Beaux Stratagem, act 4, p. 70) who offered his wife to another, with a venison pasty into the bargain. when the gentleman desired to have her fortune,-" Her fortune! (says Sullen) why, Sir, I have no quarrel with her fortune; I only hate the woman, Sir, and none but the woman shall go." And under this disposition, Sir Hudibras would have been glad to have embraced the offers of that Lady (see Earl of Strafford's Letters, vol. 1, p. 262.) who offered the Earl of Huntington 5001. a year during his life, and 6000l. to go to church and marry her; and then at the church-door to take their leaves, and never see each other after: Or the old French Marchioness of De L- who married the young Marquis de Lt. See Baron de Pollnitz's Memoirs, vol. 2. p. 285.

v. 483.

sowning,] Thus it stands in all editions to 1684 inclusive, altered to swooning 1700.

For he that hangs, or beats out's brains,
The devil's in him if he feigns.

500

Quoth Hudibras,-This way's too rough
For mere experiment, and proof;
It is no jesting, trivial matter,
To swing i' th' air, or dive in water,
And, like a water-witch, try love;
That's to destroy, and not to prove :
As if a man should be dissected,
To find what part is disaffected:
Your better way is to make over,

In trust, your fortune to your lover;
Trust is a trial, if it break,

'Tis not so desp❜rate as a neck:

Beside, th' experiment's more certain,
Men venture necks to gain a fortune:
The soldier does it ev'ry day

(Eight to the week) for sixpence pay ;

505

510

v. 497, 498. For he that hangs, or beat out's brains,—The devil's in him, if he feigns.] No one could have thought otherwise, but Young Clincher, (see Farquhar's Constant Couple, edit. 1728, p. 55) who, when he met Errand the porter, that had exchanged clothes with his elder brother, to help him out of a scrape, and was told by him, "that his brother was as dead as a door-nail, he having given him seven knocks on the head with a hammer," put this query: "whether his brother was dead in law, that he might take possession of his estate?" Or Young Loveless (see the dialogue between him and his elder brother in disguise. Scornful Lady, by Beaumont and Fletcher, act 2.)

v. 507. Your better way is to make over, &c.] This was not much unlike the highwayman's advice to a gentleman upon the road: Sir, be pleased to leave your watch, your money, and rings with me, or by you will be robbed.

v. 513, 514. The soldier does it ev'ry day,—(Eight to the week) for sixpence pay.] (These two, and the four following lines, added 1674.)