All piety confifts therein

In them, in other men all fin:

Rather than fail, they will defy

That which they love most tenderly;
Quarrel with minc'd pies, and disparage

225

Their best and dearest friend, plum-porridge;
Fat pig and goose itself oppose,

And blafpheme custard through the nose.
Th' apoftles of this fierce religion,

230

Like Mahomet's, were afs and widgeon,

To whom our Knight, by faft instinct
Of wit and temper, was fo linkt,
As if hypocrify and nonfenfe

235

Had got th' advowson of his confcience.
Thus was he gifted and accouter'd,

We mean on th' infide, not the outward:
That next of all we fhall difcufs;

Then liften, Sirs, it follows thus.

240

His

Ver. 235, 236.] Dr. Bruno Ryves gives a remarkable inftance of a fanatical confcience in a captain who was invited by a foldier to eat part of a goose with him; but refused, becaufe, he faid, it was ftolen: but being to march away, he who would eat no ftolen goofe, made no fcruple to ride away upon a stolen mare; for, plundering Mrs. Bartlet of her mare, this hypocritical captain gave fufficient teftimony to the world that the old Pharifee and new Puritan have confciences of the felf-fame temper, "To strain at a gnat, and swallow "a camel.

His tawny beard was th' equal grace
Both of his wisdom and his face;
In cut and dye fo like a tile,
A sudden view it would beguile;
The upper part whereof was whey,
The nether orange, mix'd with grey.
The hairy meteor did denounce
The fall of fceptres and of crowns;

245

With grifly type did reprefent

Ver. 241.] Mr. Butler, in his description of Hudibras's beard, feems to have had an eye to Jaques' defcription of the Country Juftice, in Shakespeare's play, As you like it. It may be asked, why the Poet is fo particular upon the Knight's beard, and gives it the preference to all his other accoutrements? The answer feems to be plain; the Knight had made a vow not to cut it till the Parliament had fubdued the King; hence it became neceffary to have it fully described.

Ver. 257. It was monaflic.] Altered to canonic, 1674. Restored, 1704.

'Twas bound to fuffer perfecution,
And martyrdom, with refolution;
T'oppose itself against the hate,
And vengeance of th' incenfed ftate,
In whose defiance it was worn,
Still ready to be pull'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;
But when the ftate fhould hap to reel,
"Twas to fubmit to fatal steel,
And fall, as it was confecrate,
A facrifice to fall of state,

265

270

Whose thread of life the Fatal Sifters

275

Did twift together with its whifkers,

And twine fo clofe, that Time fhould never,

In life or death, their fortunes sever,

But with his rufty fickle mow

Both down together at a blow.

So learned Taliacotius, from The brawny part of porter's bum,

280

Cut

Ver. 281.] Gafper Taliacotius was born at Bononia, A. D. 1553, and was Profeffor of Physic and Surgery there. He died 1599. His ftatue ftands in the Anatomy Theatre, holding a nofe in its hand. He wrote a treatise in Latin called Chirurgia Nota, in which he teaches the art of ingrafting nofes, ears, lips, &c. with the proper inftruments and bandages. This book has paffed through two editions.

Cut fupplemental noses, which
Would last as long as parent breech,
But when the date of Nock was out,
Off dropt the fympathetic fnout.
His back, or rather burthen, show'd
As if it stoop'd with its own load:
For as Æneas bore his fire

Upon his shoulders through the fire,
Our Knight did bear no less a pack
Of his own buttocks on his back;
Which now had almost
Hand of his head for want of crupper:

got the

To poife this equally, he bore

upper

285

290

295

A paunch of the fame bulk before,

Which ftill 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 fhall dilate upon,

When of his hofe we come to treat,

The cupboard where he kept his meat.
His doublet was of sturdy buff,

305

And though not fword, yet cudgel-proof,
Whereby 'twas fitter for his use,

Who fear'd no blows but fuch as bruife.

His breeches were of rugged woollen, And had been at the fiege of Bullen; To old King Harry fo well known, Some writers held they were his own:

310

Through

Through they were lin❜d with many a piece
Of ammunition bread and cheese,
And fat black-puddings, proper food
For warriors that delight in blood
For, as we faid, he always chofe
To carry vittle in his hofe,
That often tempted rats and mice
The ammunition to surprise;

315

320

And when he put a hand but in
The one or t2 other magazine,

They ftoutly in defence on 't ftood,

And from the wounded foe drew blood,

And till th' were storm'd and beaten out,

325

Ne'er left the fortify'd redoubt:

And though knights-errant, as some think,

Ver. 319.] This and the feven following lines are not in the two first editions of 1663, and added in that of 1674.