For as the Antients heretofore
To Honour's Temple had no door,
But that which thorough Virtue's lay;
So from this dungeon, there's no way
To honour'd freedom, but by passing
That other virtuous school of lashing,
Where knights are kept in narrow lists
With wooden lockets 'bout their wrists;
In which they for a while are tenants,
And for their ladies suffer penance :
Whipping, that's Virtue's governess,
Tutress of arts and sciences;

That mends the gross mistakes of nature,
And puts new life into dull matter;
That lays foundation for renown,
And all the honours of the gown.

805

810

815

Syrians;" and gives instances in proof. See Romant, Junii Etymologic. Anglican.

v. 801. For as the Ancients heretofore, &c.] See Dr. Bailey's romance, intitled, The Wall Flower of Newgate, in fol. 1650. p. 124. Spectator, No. 123.

v. 807, 808. -kept in narrow lists,-With wooden lockets 'bout their wrists] Alluding to the whipping of petty criminals in Bridewell, and other houses of correction.

v. 811. Whipping, that's Virtue's governess]

I think a jayle a school of vertue is,

A house of study, and of contemplation ;

A place of discipline, and reformation.

The Vertue of a Jayle, by J. Taylor, Works, p. 818.

v. 819, 820. Then in their robes, the penitentials, &c.] He alludes to the acts of Queen Elizabeth, and King James the First, against rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars. By Stat. 39 Eliz. chap. 4. it is enacted,

This suffer'd, they are set at large,
And freed with hon'rable discharge:
Then in their robes, the penitentials
Are straight presented with credentials,
And in their way attended on
By magistrates of ev'ry town:
And all respect and charges paid,
They're to their ancient seats convey'd.
Now if you'll venture, for my sake,
To try the toughness of your back,
And suffer (as the rest have done)
The laying of a whipping on;

825

that every vagabond, &c. shall be publicly whipped, and shall be sent from parish to parish by the officers thereof, to the parish where he or she was born; or if that is not known, then to the parish where he or she dwelt by the space of one whole year before the punishment: and if that be not known, then to the parish through which he or she passed last without punishment. After which whipping, the same person shall have a testimonial, subscribed with the hand, and sealed with the seal of the said Justice, &c. testifying, that the said person has been punished according to this act, &c. This statute was confirmed and enlarged by 1 Jac. 1. c. 7. but both in a great measure repealed, by 12th of Q. Anne, c. 23.

v. 828. The laying of a whipping on] Alluding probably either to the disciplinarians in Spain, who gain very much upon their mistress's affections, by the severity of their flogging, (see Lady's Travels into Spain, part 2. letter 9. p. 155. &c.) or to the heresy in Italy, at the end of the thirteenth century, intitled, The Heresy of the Whippers, or Floggers; Flagellantium hæresis in Italia orta, per Galliam, et Germaniam vagatur; multa Romanæ Ecclesiæ damnans, et in errores incidens gravissimos. Bernardi Lutz, Chronograph. Ecclesiæ Christi, &c. Henrici Pantaleonis, 1568. page 102. Wolfius (Lection. Memorab. part 1. page 637.) observes, that this sect took its rise in the year 1349, and seems to doubt, whether in Tuscany or Hungary, (vid. Krantzii. Wandal. lib. 8. cap. 20. p. 194. lib. 9. cap. 6. p. 207. Gobelini Personæ Cosmodromii, æt. 6. cap. 69, 70. Meibomii Rer. Germanicar. tom. 1. p. 285, 287.)

(And may you prosper in

As

your suit,

830

you with equal vigour do't)

I here engage myself to loose ye,

And free your heels from caperdewsie.
But since our sex's modesty

Will not allow I should be by,

Bring me on oath a fair account,

And honour too, when you have don't;
And I'll admit you to the place,
You claim as due, in my good grace.

835

Ibid. Flogging first became a fashionable amusement about the middle of the thirteenth century. The high roads of Italy were soon crowded with processions of penitents, sometimes in sackcloth, sometimes nearly naked, preaching and scourging themselves from city to city. Twenty thousand Bolognese, headed by their Gonfalonier, whipped themselves all the way to Modena; and according to the Chronicles, there was a great flogging for the love of God" throughout Lombardy. (Chron. di Parma.) Italy, even now, possesses many devout disciplinarians; and public fustigation is still practised in some of the churches at Rome. (See Hobhouse's Historical Illustrations.) The reader who has any curiosity respecting the antiquity and utility of whipping, will do well to consult Delolme's amusing History of the Flagellants. (Ed.)

v. 831. I here engage myself to loose ye] This and the following line thus altered, 1674, &c.

I here engage to be your bayl

And free you from th' unknightly jayle,

Thus continued to 1700 inclusive, restored 1704.

v. 832. -caperdewsie] The stocks: the word, I imagine, is borrowed from the Scotch, capper, violently to lay hold of; and dourtie, the leg. (ED.)

v. 845, 846. A Persian Emp'ror whipp'd his grannam—The sea-] *Xerxes, who used to whip the seas and wind.

In corum atque eurum solitus savire flagellis. Juv. Sat. 10. vid. Herodoti Polyhimn. p. 452. edit. Hen. Stephan. 1592. Canute the Dane was humbled, by the water of the sea not obeying him. (Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, by Hearne, p. 321, 322.)

If matrimony and hanging go
By dest'ny, why not whipping too?
What med'cine else can cure the fits
Of lovers, when they lose their wits;
Love is a boy by poets stil'd,

840

Then spare the rod, and spoil the child:
A Persian Emp❜ror whipp'd his grannam 845
The sea, his mother Venus came on,
And hence some rev'rend men approve
Of rosemary in making love.

v. 846. The sea, his mother Venus came on] The parentage of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, is thus described by Ausonius: Orta salo, suscepta cælo, patre edita solo. Jupiter virilia amputabat, ae in mare projiciebat, e quibus Venus oriebatur. Natalis Comit. Mytholog. lib. 2. cap. 1. Vid. Chartarii Imagin. Deorum, qui ab Antiquis colobuntur, p. 310, 341.) "As to the birth of Venus (says Mr. Fenton, Remarks upon Mr. Waller's Poems, p. 6.) it is not much to be wondered at, amongst so many ridiculous stories in the heathen theogony to hear, that she sprang from the foam of the sea, from whence the Greeks called her Aphrodite. This tradition probably began from divine honours being paid to some beautiful woman, who had been accidentally cast on shore in the island Cythera, when the savage inhabitants were ignorant of navigation." (See likewise notes on Creech's Lucretius, vol. 1. p. 4. edit. 1714.) The West Indians had the same thought of the Spaniards upon their first invasion, imagining that they sprang from the foam of the sea. Eorum animis penitus hæc insedit opinio, nos mari esse ortos, et venisse in terras ad vastandum et perdendum mundum; Urbani Calvetonis, novæ novi Orbis Histor. lib. 3. cap. 21. p. 405, 406. edit. 1578. See Acosta's Hist. of the Indies, lib. 5. cap. 2. p. 335. Purchase his Pilgrims, part 4. lib. 7. p. 1454, 1458.

v. 848. Of rosemary in making love] As Venus was reported to have sprung from the foam of the sea, he intimates that rosemary, (ros marinus in latin) or sea dew, as resembling in a morning the dew of the sea, was in use in making love.

Ibid. Rosemary was anciently thought to strengthen the memory, and was worn at weddings, as well as carried at funerals. (See Brand's Popular Antiquities.)

As skilful coopers hoop their tubs
With Lydian, and with Phrygian dubs; 850
Why may not whipping have as good
A grace, perform'd in time and mood,
With comely movement, and by art,
Raise passion in a lady's heart;

It is an easier way to make

Love by, than that which many take.

855

"The last of the flowers is rosemary, the which by name, nature, and continued use, man challengeth as properly belonging to himself. It overtoppeth all the flowers in the garden, boasting man's rule. It helpeth the brain, strengtheneth the memory, and is very medicinable for the head. Another property of the rosemary is, it affects the heart. Let this Ros Marinus, this flower of men, ensign of your wisdom, love, and loyalty, be carried not only in your hands, but in your heads and hearts." A Marriage Present; a Wedding Sermon, by Roger Hacket, D.D. London, 1607. (ED.)

in init. Magni

v. 849, 850. As skilful coopers hoop their tubs-With Lydian and with Phrygian dubs.] Alluding to the Lydian and Phrygian measures, as a worthy friend observes to me. The Lydian music was soft and effeminate, and fit for feasting and good fellowship. Plat. de Repub. μαλακὴ καὶ συμπολική Αρμονία, lib. 3. accordingly, μιξολυδιστὶ καὶ συνονολυδιστ are θρηνώδεις ἁρμονίας. Phrygian, on the contrary, was masculine and spirited, fit to inspire courage and enthusiasm; and therefore used in war. See Cic. de Divinatione, lib. 1. cap. 50. Horat. Epod 9. with the old commentators' notes. Lucian Harmon. Aurelii Cassidori de Musica, viii. 10. Oper. 4to. Paris 1588, fol. 308. M. Antonii Mureti Thesaur. Critic. lib. 4. cap. 6. Gruteri Fax. Art. tom. 2. p. 1119. Martinii Lexic. Philologic. in voc. Lydius Modus, Phrygius Modus, vol. 2. Memoirs of Martin Scriblerus, chap. 6. The cooper of North Wales, who might be skilful in both Lydian and Phrygian dubs, when these failed, made use of another method to bring in "He having spent (says the author of The Dialogue between Timothy and Philatheus, vol. 3. p. 81.) a considerable quantity of lungs and leather, in footing the country, and crying his goods to no purpose, took another method to bring in customers. He applied to a friend of his, a shrewd blade, who makes almanacks twice a year, and by his advice was induced to alter his method. He looked over all his bundle

custom.