But e'er an artist could be found

905

T' undo the charms, another bound;
The sun grew low, and left the skies,
Put down (some write) by ladies' eyes;
The moon pull'd off her veil of light
That hides her face by day from sight,
(Mysterious veil, of brightness made,
That's both her lustre and her shade)
And in the lanthorn of the night,
With shining horns, hung out her light; 910
For darkness is the proper sphere,
Where all false glories use t' appear.
The twinkling stars began to muster,
And glitter with their borrow'd lustre,

v. 900.

-her squire] Corrected in the errata to the second edition of 1664, to her squirer. (ED.)

v. 903. The sun grew low, and left the skies, &c.] The evening is here finely described; the epics are not more exact in describing times and seasons, than our poet; we may trace his hero morning and night; and it should be observed in the conclusion of this canto, (conformable to the practice of the critics upon Homer and Virgil,) that one day is only passed since the opening of the Poem. (Mr. B.)

v. 904. Put down (some write) by ladies' eyes] The Sullen Shepherd speaks thus of Amoret, (Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, act 3. sc. 1.) "Methought the beams of light that did appear

Were shot from her; methought the moon gave none,

But what it had from her."

v. 907, 908. Mysterious veil, of brightness made-That's both her lustre, and her shade] Extremely fine! the rays of the sun being the cause why we cannot see the moon by day, and why we can see it by night. (Mr. W.) See Dr. Harris's Astronomical Dialogues, p. 97.

v. 909, 910. And in the lanthorn of the night,—With shining horns hung out her light] These lines were afterwards altered to,

And in the night as freely shone,

As if her rays had been her own. (ED.)

While sleep the weary'd world reliev'd, 915
By counterfeiting death reviv'd.

His whipping penance till the morn,
Our vot'ry thought it best t' adjourn,
And not to carry on a work
Of such importance in the dark,
With erring haste, but rather stay,
And do't in th' open face of day;
And in the mean time, go in quest
Of next retreat to take his rest.

920

v. 911, 912. For darkness is the proper sphere, - Where all false glories use t' appear] These two lines not in the two first editions of 1664, and first inserted 1674.

VOL. II.

HUDIBRA S.

PART II. CANTO II.

F

ARGUMENT.

The Knight and Squire in hot dispute, Within an ace of falling out,

Are parted with a sudden fright

Of strange alarm, and stranger sight; With which adventuring to stickle,

They're sent away in nasty pickle.

'Tis strange how some men's tempers suit
(Like bawd and brandy) with dispute,
That for their own opinions stand fast
Only to have them claw'd and canvast;

CANTO, v. 1, 2. 'Tis strange how some men's tempers suit-(Like bawd and brandy) with dispute] The Presbyterians in Scotland furnished us with an example of this, which perhaps even those of England can hardly parallel. It was ordered August 27, 1638, that the ablest men in each parish should be provided to dispute of the King's power in calling assemblies. (Lysimachus Nicanor's Epist. Congrat. &c. to the Covenanters in Scotland, 1640, p. 18.) The words in the Large Declaration, concerning the late tumults in Scotland, 1639, p. 284. "That the ablest man in every Presbyterie be provided to dispute, De Potestate Supremi Magistratus in Ecclesiasticis, præsertim in convocandis Conciliis, de Senioribus, de Episcopatu, de Juramento, de Liturgid, & Corruptelis ejusdem." These private instructions were sent to some ministers in every