And honour too, when you have don 't;

And I'll admit you to the place

You claim as due in my good grace.

If matrimony and hanging go

By destiny, why not whipping too?
What medicine elfe can cure the fits
Of lovers when they lose their wits?
Love is a boy, by poets styl'd,

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Then fpare the rod, and spoil the child.

A Perfian emperor whipp'd his grannam,

$45

The sea, his mother Venus came on;

And hence fome reverend men approve
Of rosemary in making love.

Why may not whipping have as good

A grace, perform'd in time and mood,
With comely movement, and by art,
Raise passion in a lady's heart?

It

Ver. 831.] here engage myself to loofe ye. This, and the following line, thus altered, 1674, &c.

I here engage to be your bayl,

And free you from the unknightly jayl.

Thus continued to 1700, inclufive. Restored 1704.

It is an eafier way to make
Love by, than that which many take.
Who would not rather fuffer whippin,
Than fwallow toafts of bits of ribbin?
Make wicked verses, treats, and faces,
And spell names over, with beer-glasses ?
Be under vows to hang and die
Love's facrifice, and all a lie?
With China-oranges and tarts,

And whining plays, lay baits for hearts ?
Bribe chamber-maids with love and money,
To break no roguish jests upon ye ?
For lilies limn'd on cheeks, and rofes,
With painted perfumes, hazard noses?
Or, venturing to be brisk and wanton,
Do penance in a paper lantern?
All this you may compound for now,
By fuffering what I offer

you;

Which is no more than has been done
By knights for ladies long agone.
Did not the great La Mancha do fo
For the Infanta Del Tobofo?
Did not th' illuftrious Bafla make
Himself a flave for Miffe's fake,
And with bull's pizzle, for her love,
Was taw'd as gentle as a glove?
Was not young Florio fent (to cool
His flame for Biancafiore) to school,
Where pedant made his pathic bum
For her fake fuffer martyrdom?

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Did not a certain lady whip,

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Of late, her husband's own lordship ?

And though a grandee of the House,

Claw'd him with fundamental blows;

Ty'd him stark-naked to a bed-post,

And firk'd his hide, as if she 'ad rid post ;

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And after in the Seffions court,

Where whipping 's judg'd, had honour for 't?

This swear you will perform, and then

I'll fet you from th' inchanted den,
And the Magician's circle, clear.

Quoth he, I do profess and swear,

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And will perform what you enjoin,

Or may I never see you mine.

Amen, (quoth fhe) then turn'd about,

And bid her Squire let him out.

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But ere an artist could be found

T' undo the charms another bound,
The fun grew low and left the skies,
Put down (fome write) by ladies' eyes.

The

Ver. 894.] I'll fet you from th' inchanted den. In all editions to 1704, inclufive. I'll free you, in later editions.

Ver. 903.] The evening is here finely described; the Epics are not more exact in describing times and feafons than our Poet: we may trace his hero morning and night; and it should be observed, in the conclufion of this Canto (conformably to the practice of the Critics upon Homer and Virgil) that one day is only paffed fince the opening of the Poem.

The moon pull'd off her veil of light,
That hides her face by day from fight,
(Mysterious veil, of brightness made,
That's both her luftre and her shade !)
And in the lantern of the night,

With fhining horns hung out her light;
For darkness is the proper fphere
Where all falfe glories ufe t' appear.
The twinkling stars began to muster,
And glitter with their borrow'd lufter,
While fleep the weary'd world reliev'd,
By counterfeiting death reviv'd.
His whipping penance, till the morn,
Our votary thought it best t' adjourn,
And not to carry on a work
Of fuch importance in the dark,
With erring hafte, but rather stay,
And do 't in th' open face of day;
And in the mean time go in quest
Of next retreat to take his reft.

Ver. 911, 912.]

For darkness is the proper fphere,

Where all falfe glories ufe t' appear.

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Thefe two lines not in the two first editions of 1664, and first inferted 1674.

HUDIBRA S.

HUDI BRA S.

PART II. CANTO II.

THE ARGUMENT.

The Knight and Squire in hot difpute,
Within an ace of falling out,
Are parted with a sudden fright
Of strange alarm, and stranger sight;
With which adventuring to stickle,
They 're fent away in nafty pickle,

IS ftrange how some men's tempers fuit
(Like bawd and brandy) with difpute,
That for their own opinions stand fast
Only to have them claw'd and canvast ;
That keep their confciences in cafes,
As fiddlers do their crowds and bases ;
Ne'er to be us'd, but when they 're bent
To play a fit for argument:

Make true and false, unjust and just,

Of no use but to be difcuft;

S

10

Dispute,

Ver. 2.] (Like bad and brandy). Brandee, in all editions to 1704, inclusive.