And as a fox, with hot pursuit
Chas'd thro' a warren, cafts about
To fave his credit, and among
Dead vermine on a gallows hung,"
And while the dogs run underneath,
Escap'd (by counterfeiting death)
Not out of cunning, but a train
Of atoms juftling in his brain,
As learn'd philofophers give out;
So Sidrophello cast about,

And fell to 's wonted trade again,

To feign himself in earnest flain

First stretch'd out one leg, then another,

And feeming in his breaft to fmother

A broken figh; quoth he, Where am I?
Alive, or dead? or which way came I
Thro' so immense a space so soon?
But now I thought myself i' th' moon,'
And that a monster, with huge whiskers,
More formidable than a Switzer's,

1130

My body thro' and thro' had drill'd,

1135

And Whachum by my fide had kill'd,

Had cross-examin'd both our hofe,

And plunder'd all we had to lofe ;
Look, there he is, I fee him now,

And feel the place I am run thro':

And there lies Whachum by my fide

Stone dead, and in his own blood dy’d.

1140

Oh! oh! with that he fetch'd a groan,

And fell again into a swoon,

Shut both his eyes, and stopt his breath,

1145

He must at least hold up his hand,
By twelve freeholders to be scann'd,
Who by their skill in palmistry,
Will quickly read his destiny,

1170

And make him glad to read his leffon,
Or take a turn for 't at the Seffion,
Unless his light and gifts prove truer
Than ever yet they did, I'm fure; ́
For if he 'fcape with whipping now,

1175

'Tis more than he can hope to do;

And that will difengage my Confcience
Of th' obligation, in his own fenfe :

I'll make him now by force abide
What he by gentle means deny'd,
To give my honour fatisfaction,

1180

And right the Brethren in the action.
This being refolv'd, with equal speed

And conduct he approach'd his fteed,

And, with activity unwont,

1185

Affay'd the lofty beaft to mount;

Which once achiev'd, he fpurr'd, his palfry

To get from th' enemy and Ralph free;

Left danger, fears, and foes behind,

And beat, at least three lengths, the wind.

OF HUDIBRAS TO SIDROPHEL.

Ecce iterum Crifpinus.

WELL, Sidrophel, tho' 'tis in vain
To tamper with your crazy brain,
Without trepanning of your fcull,
As often as the moon's at full,
'T'is not amifs, ere ye 're giv'n o'er,
To try one defp'rate med'cine more;
For where your cafe can be no worse,
The defp'rat'ft is the wifest course.
Is't poffible that you, whofe ears
Are of the tribe of Iffachar's,

And might (with equal reason) either
For merit, or extent of leather,

ΤΟ

This Epiftle was published ten years after the Third Canto of this fecond part, to which it is now annexed, name. ly, in the year 1674.; and is said, in a Key to a burlesque poem of Mr. Butler's, published 1706, p. 13, to have been occafioned by Sir Paul Neal, a conceited virtuofo, and member of the Royal Society, who conftantly affirmed that Mr. Butler was not the Author of Hudibras, which occafioned this Epiftle; and by fome he has been taken for the real Sidrophel of the Poem. This was the gentleman who, I am told, made a great difcovery of an elephant in the moon, which, upon examination, proved to be no other than a mouse which had miftaken its way, and got into his telescope. See Poem,entitled The Elephant in the Moon, vol. III.

With William Pryn's, before they were
Retrench'd and crucify'd, comparė,
Shou'd yet be deaf against a noise
So roaring as the publick voice?

That speaks your virtues free and loud,
And openly in ev'ry crowd,

As loud as one that fings his part

IS

But that 't is vanifh'd out of Nature;