And so much scorn'd to lurk in case,
As if it durst not shew its face.

This sword a dagger had his page,
That was but little for his age;
And therefore waited on him so,
As dwarfs upon knights errant do.
It was a serviceable dudgeon,
Either for fighting or for drudging.
When it had stabb'd, or broke a head,
It would scrape trenchers, or chip bread;
Toast cheese or bacon, though it were
To bait a mouse trap, 'twould not care.
'Twould make clean shoes, and in the earth
Set leeks and onions, and so forth.

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386

is assigned by the Poet to various uses, according to such fancied resemblances; thus, likewise, the trencher-scraper, the knife, the pistol,

Fig. 6.

and the dagger of the Poem, are to be ascribed to the same prototype in the moon, situate a little to the right of the basket-hilted sword, before drawn in fig. 5. So again, the

But howsoe'er they make a pother,
The difference was so small, his brain

tain of Hudibras's being mounted on horseback like a knight (as he is copied from the moon in fig. 3),

there are allusions to the wandering motions of the moon, which luminary was held by the ancients to be a planet, (as evidenced by Plin. Nat. Hist. passim). So again the

Outweigh'd his rage by half a grain ;
Which made some take him for a tool
That knaves do work with, call'd a fool.
For't has been held by many that,
As Montaigne, playing with his cat,
Complains she thought him but an ass,
Much more she would Sir Hudibras,

35

40

(For that's the name our valiant knight To all his challenges did write)..

But they're mistaken very much,

'Tis plain enough he was no such.

He was in logic a great critic,

65

Profoundly skill'd in analytic;
He could distinguish, and divide

A hair 'twixt south and south-west side

On either which he would dispute,

Confute, change hands, and still confute

70

For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope;

81

mention of the brain, fool, and ass, regards the infirmity of lunatics, or of those supposed to be under the influence of the moon and it is to be particularly noticed, that the term "mirrour," line 16, relates to the moon's having only a reflected or borrowed light; whilst the name of Hudibras itself (hue de brass) is referable to the brassy colour of the moon: and line 119 to her motions being the subject of mathematical calculation.

In mathematics he was greater, Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater:

For his religion it was fit

To match his learning and his wit:
'Twas Presbyterian true blue,
For he was of that stubborn crew

119

189

Of errant saints, whom all men grant

To be the true church militant:

Such as do build their faith upon

195

The holy text of pike and gun;
Decide all controversies by
Infallible artillery;

And prove their doctrine orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks;
Call fire, and sword, and desolation,
A godly thorough reformation,
Which always must be carry'd on,
And still be doing, never done:

200

As if religion were intended

205

For nothing else but to be mended.

Thus was he gifted and accouter'd,

237

We mean on th' inside, not the outward.

206. Those readers who are fond of polemical disputes, as well as those who take pleasure in the ridicule of them, I beg to refer to some edition of Hudibras at large: I for the most part omit the long details on those subjects, as being quite foreign to my own.

That next of all we shall discuss:
Then listen, Sirs, it follows thus.

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,
The nether orange mix'd with grey.
This hairy meteor did denounce

The fall of sceptres and of crowns :
With grisly type did represent
Declining age of government;

And tell with hieroglyphic spade,

240

245

250

Its own grave and the state's were made.

His back, or rather burden, show'd,
As if it stoop'd with its own load,
For as Æneas bore his sire

287

Upon his shoulders through the fire ;
Our knight did bear no less a pack

290

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
A paunch of the same bulk before;
Which still he had a special care

To keep well cramm'd with thrifty fare;

295