PART I. CANTO I. Prolongers to enlighten'd stuff,← That they are ne'er beside their way, Which none see by but those that bear it; For spiritual trades to cozen by; And leads men into pools and ditches, To make them dip themselves, and sound To dive like wild-fowl for salvation, But spirit'al eaves-droppers can hear : Which they at second-hand rehearse, As three or four-legg'd oracle, 515 520 525 511 Alluding to Ralpho's religion, who was probably an Anabaptist or Dipper, in preaches of love de 30x338 GA JE courted are fr ts, which show whe Llove 510 Diseases, battles, inundations: 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 As if they were consenting to All mischiefs in the world men do, 580 585 Or, like the devil, did tempt and sway 'em They'll search a planet's house, to know Who broke and robb'd a house below; O' th' planets, all men's destinies, Like him that took the doctor's bill; PART I. CANTO I. To find out agues, coughs, catarrhs, The rot in sheep, or mange in swine; What makes men great, what fools or knaves, But not what wise, for only' of those There they say right, and like true Trojans: Thus was th' accomplish'd Squire endu'd Or knight with squire, e'er jump more right. As well as virtues, parts, and wit: Few miles on horseback had they jogged Of which anon we mean to treat. 610 615 620 625 630 635 640 Whom therefore thus do we accost. Thou that with ale, or viler liquors, Didst inspire Withers, Pryn, and Vickars, And force them, though it was in spite 645 To make men scribble without skill) In western clime there is a town, To those that dwell therein well known, Therefore there needs no more be said here, We unto them refer our reader; For brevity is very good, When w' are, or are not understood. 660 665 670 665 Brentford, which is eight miles west from London, is here probably meant, as may be gathered from Part II. Cant. iii. v. 995, &c. where he tells the Knight what befell him there: And though you overcame the Bear, Where sturdy butchers broke your noddle. To this town people did repair On days of market or of fair, And to crack'd fiddle and hoarse tabor, 687 This game is ushered into the Poem with more solemnity than those celebrated ones in Homer and Virgil. As the Poem is only adorned with this game, and the Riding Skimmington, so it was incumbent on the Poet to be very particular and full in the description: and may we not venture to affirm, they are exactly suitable to the nature of these adventures; and, consequently, to a Briton, preferable to those in Homer or Virgil. 689 690 Alluding to the bull-running at Tutbury in Staffordshire; where solemn proclamation was made by the Steward, before the bull was turned loose; "That all manner of persons give way to the bull, none being to come near him by forty foot, any way to hinder the minstrels, but to attend his or their own safety, every one at his peril." Dr. Plot's Staffordshire.' |