HUDI BRA S.

IN THREE PARTS.

PART I. CANTO I.

THE

ARGUMENT.

Sir Hudibras his paffing worth,
The manner how he fally'd forth,
His arms and equipage, are shown,
His horfe's virtues, and his own:
Th' adventure of the Bear and Fiddle
Is fung, but breaks off in the middle*.

WHEN civil dudgeon firft grew high,

And men fell out they knew not why;

When

* A ridicule on Ronfarde and Davenant. Ver. 1.] To take in dudgeon, is inwardly to refent fome injury or affront, and what is previous to actual fury. It was altered by Mr. Butler, in an edition 1674, to civil fury. Thus it ftood in edit. of 1634, 1689, 1694, and 1700. Civil dudgeon was restored in the edition of 1704, and has continued fo ever fince.

Ver. 2.] It may be justly faid They knew not why; fince, as Lord Clarendon obferves, The like peace "and plenty, and universal tranquillity, was never "enjoyed by any nation for ten years together, before "thofe unhappy troubles began.”

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When hard words, jealousies, and fears,

Set folks together by the ears,

And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
For Dame Religion, as for punk;

Whofe honefty they all durft fwear for,
Though not a man of them knew wherefore;
When Gospel-trumpeter, furrounded

With long-ear'd rout, to battle founded;
And pulpit, drum ecclesiastick,

Was beat with fift instead of a stick;

Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling,
And out he rode a colonelling.

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A wight

Ver. 3.] By hard words, he probably means the cant words used by the Prefbyterians and fectaries of those times; fuch as Gofpel-walking, Gofpel-preaching, Soul-faving, Elect, Saints, the Godly, the Predeftinate, and the like; which they applied to their own preachers and themselves.

Ver. 1, 12.] Alluding to their vehement action in the pulpit, and their beag it with their fifts, as if they were beating a drum.

Ver. 13.] Our Author, to make his Knight appear more ridiculous, has dreffed him in all kinds of fantastic colours, and put many characters together to finish him a perfect coxcomb.

Ver. 14.] The Knight (if Sir Samuel Luke was Mr. Butler's hero) was not only a Colonel in the Parliament-army, but alfo Scoutmaster-general in the counties of Bedford, Surrey, &c. This gives us fome light into his character and conduct; for he is now entering upon his proper office, full of pretendedly pious and fanctified refolutions for the good of his country. His

pere

A wight he was, whofe very fight would
Entitle him Mirror of Knighthood,
That never bow'd his stubborn knee
To any thing but Chivalry,
Nor put up blow, but that which laid
Right Worshipful on shoulder-blade;
Chief of domestic knights and errant,

· Either for chartel or for warrant;

Great on the bench, great in the faddle,
That could as well bind o'er as fwaddle ;
Mighty he was at both of thefe,
And ftyl'd of War, as well as Peace
(So fome rats, of amphibious nature,
Are either for the land or water) :
But here our Authors make a doubt
Whether he were more wife or stout:
Some hold the one, and fome the other,
But, howfoe'er they make a pother,

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The

peregrinations are fo confiftent with his office and humour, that they are no longer to be called fabulous or improbable. The fucceeding Cantos are introduced with large prefaces, but here the Poet feems impatient till he get into the defcription and character of his hero.

Ver. 17, 18.] i. e. He kneeled to the King, when he knighted him, but seldom upon any other occafion. Ver. 22.] Chartel is a challenge to a duel.

Ver. 23.] In this character of Hudibras all the abuses of human learning are finely fatirized: philofophy, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, metaphyfics, and fchool-divinity.

'The difference was fo fmall, his brain
Outweigh'd his rage but half a grain;
Which made fome take him for a tool

That knaves do work with, call'd a Fool.
For 't has been held by many, that
As Montaigne, playing with his cat,
Complains the thought him but an ass,
Much more fhe would Sir Hudibras

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(For that 's the name our valiant Knight To all his challenges did write):

Ver. 55, 56.] This is the property of a pedantic coxcomb, who prates most learnedly amongst illiterate perfons, and makes a mighty pother about books and languages there, where he is fure to be admired, though not understood.