But to that purpose firft furrender
The Fiddler, as the prime offender,
Th' incendiary vile, that is chief
Author and engineer of mischief;
That makes divifion between friends,
For profane and malignant ends.
He and that engine of vile noife,
On which illegally he plays,

Shall (dictum factum) both be brought
To condign pun'fhment, as they ought.
This must be done, and I would fain fee
Mortal so sturdy as to gainsay;

670

675

For

Ver. 673-676.] The threatening punishment to the Fiddle, was much like the threats of the pragmatical troopers to punish Ralph Dobbin's waggon, Plain Dealer, vol. I. "I was driving (fays he) into a town 66 upon the 29th of May, where my waggon was to "dine: there came up in a great rage feven or eight "of the troopers that were quartered there, and asked " "What I bushed out my horfes for?" I told them, ""To drive flies away." But they faid, "I was a Ja"cobite rascal; that my horfes were guilty of high trea"fon, and my waggon ought to be hanged."I an"fwered, "It was already drawn, and within a yard

or two of being quartered; but as to being hanged, it was a compliment we had no occafion for, and "therefore defired them to take it back again, and keep it in their own hands, till they had an opportunity to make use of it."-I had no sooner spoke thefe words, but they fell upon me like thunder, "ftript my cattle in a twinkling, and beat me black and blue with my own oak-branches."

For then I'll take another course,

And foon reduce you all by force.

680

This faid, he clapt his hand on fword,
To fhew he meant to keep his word.

But Talgol, who had long fuppreft
Inflamed wrath in glowing breast,

Which now began to rage and burn as
Implacably as flame in furnace,

Thus anfwer'd him: Thou vermin wretched,
As e'er in meafled pork was hatched;
Thou tail of Worship, that dost grow

685

3

699

On rump of justice as of cow;

How dar'ft thou with that fullen luggage
O' th'felf, old ir'n, and other baggage,
With which thy fteed of bones and leather
Has broke his wind in halting hither;

695

!

How durft th', I say, adventure thus
T'oppofe thy lumber against us?
Could thine impertinence find out
No work t' employ itself about,
Where thou, fecure from wooden blow,
Thy bufy vanity might show?

700

Was

Ver. 683, 684.] It way be asked, Why Talgol was the first in answering the Knight, when it feems more incumbent upon the Bearward to make a defence? Probably Talgol might then be a Cavalier; for the character the Poet has given him doth not infer the contrary; and his anfwer carries ftrong indications to justify the conjecture.

Ver. 694. Is lam'd, and tir'd in halting hither... Thus it ftands in the two Irish editions of 1663.

Was no difpute a-foot between

The caterwauling Brethren?

No fubtle question rais'd among

Those out-o'-their wits, and those i' th' wrong?

No prize between those combatants

705

O' th' times, the land and water faints,

And fet th' a task, with fubornation,
To ftitch up fale and fequeftration,
To cheat, with holiness and zeal,

725

All parties and the common-weal?

Much better had it been for thee

He 'ad kept thee where th' art us'd to be,

Or fent th' on business any whither,

So he had never brought thee hither:

730

But

But if th' haft brain enough in fcull
To keep itself in lodging whole,
And not provoke the rage of stones,
And cudgels to thy hide and bones,
Tremble, and vanish while thou may'st,
Which I'll not promise if thou stay'st.
At this the Knight grew high in wroth,
And lifting hands and eyes up both,

Three times he fmote on ftomach stout,

735

From whence, at length, these words broke out: 740

Was I for this entitled Sir,

And girt with trufty fword and spur,
For fame and honour to wage battle,
Thus to be brav'd by foe to cattle?
Not all that pride that makes thee swell
As big as thou doft blown-up veal,
Nor all thy tricks and fleights to cheat,
And fell thy carrion for good meat;

745

Not

Ver. 732.] To keep within its lodging. Edit. 1674, 1684, 1689, 1694, 1700. Restored to the present reading 1704.

Ver. 741.] Hudibras fhewed lefs patience upon this than Don Quixote did upon a like occafion, where he calmly diftinguishes betwixt an affront and an injury. The Knight is irritated at the fatirical answer of Talgol, and vents his rage in a manner exactly suited to his character; and when his paffion was worked up to a height too great to be expreffed in words, he immediately falls into action; but, alas! at his first entrance into it, he meets with an unlucky difappointment; an omen that the fuccefs would be as indifferent as the cause in which he was engaged.

Not all thy magic to repair

Decay'd old-age in tough lean ware,

750

Make natural death appear thy work,

And ftop the gangrene in stale pork;
Not all that force that makes thee proud,
Because by bullock ne'er withstood;

Though arm'd with all thy cleavers, knives,
And axes, made to hew down lives,

755

Shall fave or help thee to evade

The hand of Justice, or this blade,
Which I, her sword-bearer, do carry,
For civil deed and military:

Nor fhall these words, of venom base,

Which thou haft from their native place,

760

Thy ftomach, pump'd to fling on me,

Go unreveng'd, though I am free;

Thou down the fame throat fhall devour them:

765

Like tainted beef, and pay dear for them:

Nor fhall it e'er be faid that wight

With gantlet blue and bafes white,
And round blunt truncheon by his side,
So great a man at arms defy'd

With words far bitterer than wormwood,
That would in Job or Grizel ftir mood.

770

Dogs

Ver. 751.] Turn death of nature to thy work. In. the two first editions of 1663.