Did leave it with a castle fair

To his great ancestor, her heir;

From him descended cross-leg'd knights,
Fam'd for their faith and warlike fights
Against the bloody Cannibal,

Whom they destroy'd both great and small.
This sturdy Squire he had, as well
As the bold Trojan knight, seen hell,
Not with a counterfeited pass

Of golden bough, but true gold-lace:
His knowledge was not far behind
The Knight's, but of another kind,
And he another way came by't;
Some call it Gifts, and some New-light;
A liberal art, that costs no pains
Of study, industry, or brains.
His wit was sent him for a token,

But in the carriage crack'd and broken;
Like commendation nine-pence* crook'd
With-To and from my love'-it look'd.
He ne'er consider'd it, as loth

To look a gift-horse in the mouth,
And very wisely would lay forth
No more upon it than 'twas worth;
But as he got it freely, so

He spent it frank and freely too;
For saints themselves will sometimes be,
Of gifts that cost them nothing, free.

* Until the year 1696, (when all money, not milled, was called in) a ninepenny piece of silver was as common as sixpences or shil. lings, and these ninepences were usually bent as sixpences commonly are now, which bending was called To my love,' and 'From my love;' and such ninepences the ordinary fellows gave or sent to their sweethearts as tokens of love.

By means of this, with hem and cough,
(Prolongers to enlighten'd stuff)
He could deep mysteries unriddle,
As easily as thread a needle:

For as of vagabonds, we say

That they are ne'er beside their way,
Whate'er men speak by this new light,
Still they are sure to be i' th' right.
'Tis a dark-lantern of the Spirit,

Which none see by, but those that bear it;
A light that falls down from on high,
For spiritual trades to cozen by;
An ignis fatuus, that bewitches,

And leads men into pools and ditches,

To make them dip themselves* and sound

For Christendom in dirty pond;

To dive, like wild-fowl, for salvation,
And fish to catch regeneration.
This light inspires and plays upon
The nose of saint, like bagpipe drone;
And speaks, through hollow empty soul,
As through a trunk, or whispering hole,
Such language as no mortal ear
But spiritual eaves-droppers can hear:
So Phœbus, or some friendly Muse,
Into small poet's song infuse,

Which they at second-hand rehearse,
Through reed or bagpipe, verse for verse.

Thus Ralph became infallible

As three or four-leg'd oracle,

The ancient cup, or modern chair;

Spoke truth point blank, though unaware.

* Alluding to Ralpho's religion, who was, probably, an Anabap tist or Dipper.

For mystic learning, wondrous able
In magic, talisman, and cabal,
Whose primitive tradition reaches
As far as Adam's first green breeches;
Deep-sighted in intelligences,
Ideas, atoms, influences;

And much of Terra Incognita,
The' intelligible world, could say:
A deep occult philosopher,
As learn'd as the Wild Irish are,
Or Sir Agrippa, for profound
And solid lying much renown'd;
He Anthroposophus, and Floud,
And Jacob Behmen, understood;
Knew many an amulet and charm,
That would do neither good nor harm;
In Rosycrucian lore as learned,
As he that Verè adeptus earned:
He understood the speech of birds
As well as they themselves do words;
Could tell what subtlest parrots mean,
That speak and think contrary clean;
What member 'tis of whom they talk
When they cry 'Rope,' and 'Walk, knave, walk.'
He'd extract numbers out of matter,
And keep them in a glass, like water,
Of sovereign pow'r to make men wise;
For dropp'd in blear thick-sighted eyes,
They'd make them see in darkest night,
Like owls, though purblind in the light.
By help of these (as he profess'd)
He had First Matter seen undress'd;
He took her naked, all alone,
Before one rag of form was on.

The Chaos, too, he had descried,

And seen quite through, or else he lied;
Not that of pasteboard, which men shew
For groats, at fair of Barthol❜mew;
But its great grandsire, first o' th' name,
Whence that and Reformation came,
Both cousin-germans, and right able
To' inveigle and draw in the rabble:
But Reformation was, some say,
O' th' younger house to Puppet-play.
He could foretel* whats'ever was
By consequence to come to pass;
As death of great men, alterations,
Diseases, battles, inundations:

All this, without the' eclipse o' th' sun,
Or dreadful comet, he hath done
By inward light, a way as good,
And easy to be understood:
But with more lucky hit than those
That use to make the stars depose,

Like Knights o' th' Post, and falsely charge
Upon themselves what others forge;

As if they were consenting to

All mischiefs in the world men do:

Or, like the devil, did tempt and sway 'em
To rogueries, and then betray 'em.
They'll search a planet's house, to know
Who broke and robb'd a house below;
Examine Venus and the Moon,
Who stole a thimble or a spoon;

And though they nothing will confess,

Yet by their very looks can guess,

*The rebellious clergy would in their prayers pretend to foretel things, to encourage the people in their rebellion.

And tell what guilty aspect bodes,
Who stole, and who receiv'd the goods:
They'll question Mars, and, by his look,
Detect who 'twas that nim'd a cloke;
Make Mercury confess, and 'peach
Those thieves which he himself did teach.
They'll find, i' th' physiognomies

O' th' planets, all men's destinies;
Like him that took the doctor's bill,
And swallow'd it instead o' th' pill,
Cast the nativity o' th' question,
And from positions to be guest on,
As sure as if they knew the moment
Of Native's birth, tell what will come on't.
They'll feel the pulses of the stars,
To find out agues, coughs, catarrhs,
And tell what crisis does divine
The rot in sheep, or mange in swine;
In men, what gives or cures the itch,
What makes them cuckolds, poor or rich;
What gains or loses, hangs or saves;

What makes men great, what fools or knaves:
But not what wise, for only of those
The stars (they say) cannot dispose,
No more than can the astrologians :-
There they say right, and like true Trojans.
This Ralpho knew, and therefore took
The other course, of which we spoke.
Thus was the' accomplish'd Squire endued
With gifts and knowledge per❜lous shrewd :
Never did trusty squire with knight,

Or knight with squire, e'er jump more right.
Their arms and equipage did fit,
As well as virtues, parts, and wit: