And to crack'd fiddle and hoarse tabor,

In merriment did drudge and labour :
But now a sport more formidable

Had rak'd together village rabble;

'Twas

was an old way of recreating,

Which learned butchers call Bear-baiting;

A bold adventurous exercife,
With ancient heroes in high prize;
For authors do affirm it came
From Ifthmian or Nemæan game;
Others derive it from the Bear
That 's fix'd in northern hemisphere,
And round about the pole does makė
A circle, like a bear at stake,

That at the chain's end wheels about,
And overturns the rabble-rout:
For after folemn proclamation

In the bear's name (as is the fashion

Ver. 678.] This game is ufhered into the Poem with more folemnity than thofe celebrated ones in Homer and Virgil. As the Poem is only adorned with this game, and the Riding Skimmington, fo it was incumbent on the Poet to be very particular and full in the defcription: and may we not venture to affirm, they are exactly fuitable to the nature of thefe adventures and, confequently, to a Briton, preferable to thofe in Homer or Virgil?

Ver. 689, 690.] Alluding to the bull-running at Tutbury in Staffordshire; where folemn proclamation was made by the Steward, before the bull was turned loofe;

D 2

According to the law of arms,

To keep men from inglorious harms)
That none presume to come so near
As forty foot of stake of bear,
If any yet be fo fool-hardy,
T'expofe themselves to vain jeopardy,
If they come wounded off, and lame,
No honour 's got by such a maim,
Although the bear gain much, being bound
In honour to make good his ground

When he's engag'd, and takes no notice,
If any prefs upon him, who 'tis,

But lets them know, at their own coft,
That he intends to keep his poft.

This to prevent, and other harms,
Which always wait on feats of arms
(For in the hurry of a fray

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'Tis hard to keep out of harm's way); Thither the Knight his course did steer,

To keep the peace 'twixt Dog and Bear,

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As he believ'd h' was bound to do

In confcience and commiffion too;
And therefore thus bespoke the Squire :
We that are wifely mounted higher

Than

loofe; "That all manner of perfons 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 fafety, every one at his peril." See Dr. Plot's Stafford/bire.

Ver. 714.] This fpeech is fet down, as it was deli

Quantum in nobis, have thought good
To fave th' expence of Christian blood,

And

vered by the Knight, in his own words: but fince it is below the gravity of Heroical poetry to admit of humour, but all men are obliged to fpeak wifely alike, and too much of fo extravagant a folly would become tedious and impertinent, the reft of his harangues have only his fenfe expreffed in other words, unless in some few places, where his own words could not be fo well avoided.

Ver. 715.] Had that remarkable motion in the Houfe of Commons taken place, the Conftables might have vied with Sir Hudibras for an equality at least; "That it was neceffary for the Houfe of Commons to "have a High Conftable of their own, that will make "no fcruple of laying his Majefty by the heels ;" but they proceeded not fo far as to name any body; becaufe Harry Martyn (out of tendernefs of confcience in this particular) immediately quafhed the motion, by faying, the power was too great for any man.

And try if we by mediation
Of treaty and accommodation,
Can end the quarrel, and compofe
The bloody duel without blows,
Are not our liberties, our lives,
The laws, religion, and our wives,
Enough at once to lie at ftake

For Covenant and the Caufe's fake?

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But

Ver. 736.] This was the Solemn League and Covenant, which was firft framed and taken by the Scottish Parliament, and by them fent to the Parliament of England, in order to unite the two nations more closely in religion. It was received and taken by both Houses, and by the City of London; and ordered to be read in all the churches throughout the kingdom; and every perfon was bound to give his confent, by holding up his hand, at the reading of it.

Ibid.-and Caufe's fake.] Sir William Dugdale informs us that Mr. Bond, preaching at the Savoy, told his auditors from the pulpit, "That they ought to

contribute and pray, and do all they were able, to "bring in their brethren of Scotland for fettling of "God's caufe: I fay (quoth he) this is God's caufe; "and if our God hath any caufe, this is it; and if "this be not God's caufe, then God is no god for me; "but the Devil is got up into heaven." Mr. Calamy, in his fpeech at Guildhall, 1643, fays, "I may truly "fay, as the Martyr did, that if I had as many lives "as hairs on my head, I would be willing to facrifice "all thefe lives in this caufe;"

Which pluck'd down the King, the Church, and the Laws,

To fet up an idol, then nick-nam'd The Cause, Like Bell and Dragon to gorge their own maws; as it is expreffed in "The Rump Carbonaded."

But in that quarrel Dogs and Bears,
As well as we, muft venture theirs?
This feud, by Jefuits invented,
By evil counsel is fomented;
There is a Machiavilian plot,
(Though every nare olfact it not)
And deep design in 't to divide
The well-affected that confide,
By fetting brother againft brother,
To claw and curry one another.
Have we not enemies plus fatis,
That cane & angue pejus hate us?
And shall we turn our fangs and claws
Upon our own felves, without cause ?
That fome occult defign doth lie
In bloody cynar&tomachy,

Is plain enough to him that knows

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How Saints lead Brothers by the nose..

I wish myself a pfeudo-prophet,

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But fure fome mifchief will come of it,
Unless by providential wit,

Or force, we averruncate it.

For what defign, what interest,

Can beaft have to encounter beast ?

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They fight for no efpoufed Caufe,
Frail Privilege, fundamental Laws,,
Nor for a thorough Reformation,
Nor Covenant nor Proteftation,