Great actions are not always true fons
Of great and mighty refolutions;
Nor do the bold't attempts bring forth
Events ftill equal to their worth;
But fometimes fail, and in their stead
Fortune and cowardice fucceed.
Yet we have no great caufe to doubt,
Our actions ftill have borne us out;
Which though they 're known to be so ample,
We need not copy from example;
We're not the only perfon durft
Attempt this province, nor the firft."
In northern clime a valourous knight
Did whilom kill his Bear in fight,
And wound a Fiddler: we have both
Of these the objects of our wroth,
And equal fame and glory from
Th' attempt, or victory to come.
'Tis fung there is a valiant Mamaluke,
In foreign land yclep'd —— ;
To whom we have been oft compar'd
For perfon, parts, addrefs, and beard;
Both equally reputed stout,
And in the fame cause both have fought;
Ver. 904.] The writers of the General Historical Dictionary, vol. vi. p. 291, imagine, "That the chaẩm "here is to be filled with the words Sir Samuel Luke, "because the line before it is of ten fyllables, and the "measure of the verfe generally used in this Poem is "of eight."
Certes our authors are to blame,
For to make some well-founding name.
A pattern, fit for modern, knights
out in frays and fights
(Like those that a whole street do raze
To build a palace in the place)
They never care how many others
They kill, without regard of mothers,
Or wives, or children, fo they can
Make up fome fierce, dead-doing man,
Compos'd of many ingredient valours,
Juft like the manhood of nine tailors:
So a wild Tartar, when he fpies
A man that 's handsome, valiant, wife,
If he can kill him, thinks t' inherit
His wit, his beauty, and his spirit ;,
Because he 's tall, and has large bones,.
As men kill beavers for their ftones..
But as for our part, we fhall tell.
The naked truth of what befel,
And as an equal friend to both
The Knight and Bear, but more to Troth,
With neither faction shall take part,
But give to each his due defert,
And never coin a formal lie on 't,
To make the knight o'ercome the giant.
This b'ing profeft, we've hopes enough,
And now go on where we left off.
They rode, but authors having not
Determin'd whether pace or trot,
(That is to fay, whether tollutation,
As they do term 't, or fuccuflation)
We leave it, and go on, as now
Suppofe they did, no matter how;
Yet fome, from fubtle hints, have got
Myfterious light it was a trot:
But let that país; they now begun
To fpur their living engines on:
For as whipp'd tops and bandy'd balls,
The learned hold, are animals;
So horfes they affirm to be
Mere engines made by Geometry,
And were invented first from engines,
As Indian Britains were from Penguins.
So let them be, and, as I was faying,
They their live engines ply'd, not staying
Until they reach'd the fatal champain
Which th' enemy did then encamp on;
The dire Pharfalian plain, where battle
Was to be wag'd 'twixt puiflant cattle
And fierce auxiliary men,
That came to aid their brethren;
Who now began to take the field,
As Knight from ridge of steed beheld.
E
For as our modern wits behold,
Mounted a pick-back on the old,
Much further off, much further he,
Rais'd on his aged beaft, could fee;
Yet not fufficient to defcry
All poftures of the enemy:
Wherefore he bids the Squire ride further,
T' obferve their numbers and their order,
That when their motions he had known,
He might know how to fit his own.
Meanwhile he stopp'd his willing steed,
To fit himself for martial deed:
Both kinds of metal he prepar'd,
Either to give blows or to ward;
Courage and steel, both of great force,
Prepar'd for better or for worse.
His death-charg'd pistols he did fit well,
Drawn out from life-preferving vittle.
Thefe being prim'd, with force he labour'd
To free 's fword from retentive fcabbard;
And after many a painful pluck,
From rufty durance he bail'd tuck:
Ver. 74. Rais'd on, &c.] From off, in the two first
Ver. 85, 86.] Thus altered, 1674,
Courage within, and steel without,
To give and to receive a rout.
Ver. 92.] Thus altered, 1674,
He clear'd at length the rugged tuck.
Then hook himself, to see that prowess
In fcabbard of his arms fat loose;
And, rais'd upon his desperate foot,
On ftirrup-fide he gaz'd about,
Portending blood, like blazing ftar,
The beacon of approaching war.
Ralpho rode on with no less speed
Than Hugo in the forest did;
But far more in returning made;
For now the foe he had furvey'd,
Rang'd, as to him they did appear,
With van, main-battle, wings, and rear.
I' th' head of all this warlike rabble,
Crowdero march'd, expert and able.
Ver. 99, 100.] Thus altered in the edition of 1674, The Squire advanc'd with greater speed
Than could b' expected from his steed.
Ver. 101, 102.] But with a great deal more return'd -For now the foe he had difcern'd-In the two firk editions of 1663.
Ver. 106.] So called, from croud, a fiddle. This was one Jackson, a milliner, who lived in the New Exchange in the Strand. He had formerly been in the fervice of the Roundheads, and had loft a leg in it; this brought him to decay, fo that he was obliged to fcrape upon a fiddle, from one alehoufe to another, for his bread. Mr. Butler very judiciously places him at the head of his catalogue; for country diverfions are generally attended with a fiddler or bagpiper. I would
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