But to that purpose first surrender
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 noise,
On which illegally he plays,

679

Shall (dictum factum) both be brought
To condign pun'shment, as they ought.

675

This must be done, and I would fain fee
Mortal fo sturdy as to gainsay;

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 (says 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 horses 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 66 keep it in their own hands, till they had an oppor66 tunity to make use of it."I had no fooner spoke "these 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.

This faid, he clapt his hand on sword,
To fhew he meant to keep his word.
But Talgol, who had long supprest
Inflamed wrath in glowing breast,

680

O' th'felf, old ir'n, and other baggage,

With which thy fteed of bones and leather

Has broke his wind in halting hither;

How durft th', I fay, adventure thus
T'oppose thy lumber against us ?
Could thine impertinence find out
No work t' employ itself about,

695

Where thou, fecure from wooden blow,
Thy bufy vanity might show?

700

Was

Ver. 683, 684.] It way be asked, Why Talgol was the firft in answering the Knight, when it seems 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 juftify the conjecture.

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

Was no dispute a-foot between

The caterwauling Brethren ?

No fubtle queftion 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,

Where thou might'st stickle, without hazard

Of outrage to thy hide and mazzard,

And not, for want of business, come
To us to be thus troublesome,

710

To interrupt our better fort

Of difputants, and spoil our sport ?
Was there no felony, no bawd,
Cutpurfe, or burglary abroad?
No ftolen pig, nor plunder'd goose,
To tie thee up from breaking loofe?
No ale unlicens'd, broken hedge,

715

For which thou statute might'ft alledge,
To keep thee bufy from foul evil,

And fhame due to thee from the Devil?
Did no Committee fit, where he
Might cut out journey-work for thee,
And fet th' a task, with fubornation,
To ftitch up fale and fequeftration,
To cheat, with holiness and zeal,
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,
Go he had never brought thee hither a

720

725

730 But

But if th' haft brain enough in scull
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 ftout,

735

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

Was I for this entitled Sir,

And girt with trufty sword 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 fwell
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. Reftored to the prefent 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 anfwer 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 caufe 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 ftale 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,

Shall fave or help thee to evade

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

755

760

Like tainted beef, and pay dear for them:.

Nor fhall it e'er be faid that wight

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

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

770

Doge

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