And yet so fiery, he would bound,
As if he grieved to touch the ground
That Cæsar's horse, who, as fame goes,
Had corns upon his feet and toes,1
Was not by half so tender hooft,
Nor trod upon the ground so soft;
And as that beast would kneel and stoop
(Some write) to take his rider up;
So Hudibras his ('tis well known)
Would often do to set him down.
We shall not need to say what lack
Of leather was upon his back;
For that was hidden under pad,
And breech of Knight, gall'd full as bad.
His strutting ribs on both sides show'd
Like furrows he himself had plough'd:
For underneath the skirt of pannel,
"Twixt ev'ry two there was a channel.
His draggling tail hung in the dirt,
Which on his rider he would flirt.
Still as his tender side he prick'd,
With arm'd heel, or with unarm'd kick'd;
For Hudibras wore but one spur,
As wisely knowing, could he stir
To active trot one side of 's horse,
The other would not hang an a―e.
A Squire he had, whose name was Ralph,
That in th' adventure went his half,
Though writers, for more stately tone,
Do call him Ralpho, 'tis all one :
And when we can, with metre safe,
We'll call him so; if not, plain Raph
''Had corns upon his feet and toes:' Julius Cæsar, according to Suetonius, had a horse with feet like a man's.
For rhyme the rudder is of verses,
With which, like ships, they steer their courses):
An equal stock of wit and valour
He had laid in, by birth a tailor.
The mighty Tyrian Queen,1 that gain'd,
With subtle shreds, a tract of land,
Did leave it, with a castle fair,
To his great ancestor, her heir;
From him descended cross-legg'd knights,
Famed for their faith,2 and warlike fights
Against the bloody Cannibal,3
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 5 came by't:
Some call it Gifts, and some New-light;
A lib'ral 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 ninepence crook'd,
With-To and from my Love-it look'd.
He ne'er consider'd it, as loath
To look a gift-horse in the mouth,
And very wisely would lay forth
No more upon it than 'twas worth:
''Tyrian Queen :' Queen Dido; see Virgil, 1st Æneid.-2 Faith:' the trust of tailors.-3 Cannibal:' a 'familiar beast to man, and signifies love.' 'Trojan Knight:' Æneas; see Eneid 6th.--5 'Another way:' referring to Independents and Anabaptists. Ninepence:' an old coin, a ninepenny piece once used, and often bent as a love-token, like a sixpence in after times.
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.
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 light1 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 2 themselves, and sound
For Christendom in dirty pond ;
To dive,2 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 thro' a trunk, or whisp'ring hole,
Such language as no mortal ear
But spiritual eaves-droppers can hear :
So Phœbus, or some friendly Muse,
Into small poets song infuse,
Which they at second-hand rehearse,
Thro' reed or bagpipe, verse for verse.
A light' referring to the skylights in mercers' shops which show off their goods. Dip,'Dive:' Anabaptism.
Thus Ralph became infallible,
As three or four-legg'd1 oracle,
The ancient cup,2 or modern chair,3
Spoke truth point-blank, tho' unaware.
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,
Th' intelligible world, could say ;
A deep occult philosopher,
As learn'd as the wild Irish are,
Or Sir Agrippa,5 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 Rosicrucian lore as learn'd
As he that verè adeptus earn'd:
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 7 'tis of whom they talk,
When they cry Rope, and Walk, Knave, walk.
He'd extract numbers out of matter,8
'Three-legg'd:' the tripod of Delphi.-2 Cup: Joseph's charming cup.— 'Chair:' Pope's infallible chair.- Talisman and cabal:' instruments of magic.— ' Agrippa' (Cornelius), ‘Floud' (Fludd), ‘J. Behmen:' three mystical philosophers.-Verè adeptus:' an alchymist.—'What member:' alluding to two floating stories about two members of Parliament, Tomlinson and Hewson. ''He'd extract numbers out of matter :' a sneer probably upon the Pythagoreans and Platonists for their explication of generation.
And keep them in a glass, like water.
Of sovereign power to make men wise ;
For, dropp'd in blear thick-sighted eyes,
They'd make them see in darkest night,
Like owls, tho' 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 descry'd,
And seen quite thro', 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 cousins-german, and right able
T' 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 th' eclipse of 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,
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