the numerous proverbial expressions which have their rise in a tavern reckoning.

V. 234. And that a turnstile is more certain,

Than, in events of war, dame Fortune.] Of this opinion was Sancho Panza, who, wishing to console Don Quixote on his death-bed, told him, "That nothing was more common in errantry books, than for knights every foot to be justled out of the saddle; that there was nothing but ups and downs in this world, and that he that's cast down to day, may be cock-a-hoop to morrow."

V. 31-2. And most ignobly fought, to get

The honour of his blood and sweat.] An allusion (Warburton says) to the ridiculous complaints of the Presbyterian commanders against the Independents, when the self-denying ordinance had brought in the one to the exclusion of the other.

V. 63-4. And sell his hide and carcass at

A price as high and desperate.] An allusion to the well-known proverbial saying of "selling the bear's skin."

V. 91-2. Enrag'd thus, some in the rear

Attack'd him, &c.] Butler in this passage, probably had his eye to the following lines in Spenser's Fairy Queen:

"Like dastard curs, that having at a bay

The savage beast, emboss'd in weary chace,
Dare not adventure on the stubborn prey,
Nor bite before, but roam from place to place
To get a snatch when turned is his face."
V. 95-6. As Widdrington in doleful dumps,

Is said to fight upon his stumps.] Widdrington was a gallant squire of Northumberland, who fought under the earl Percy at the battle of Chevy Chace. His wonderful prowess is thus described in the well-known ballad of that name:

"With Widdrington needs must I wail,

As one in doleful dumps,

For when his legs were smitten off,

He fought upon his stumps."

V. 102. As shafts which long field Parthian's shoot.] Warburton is of opinion that long filed Parthians would be more proper, as the Parthians were ranged in long files, a disposition proper for their manner of fighting, which was by sudden retreats and sudden charges. Another critic thinks the following alteration of the line would be an improvement,

"As long field shafts, which Parthians shoot," which he thinks Plutarch's description of their bows and arrows, in the life of Crassus, makes good. And as Trulla was tall, the simile has a further beauty in it: the arrow does not only express her swiftness, but the mind sees the length of the wench, in the length of the arrow as it flies.

V. 103-4. But not so light as to be borne

Upon the ears of standing corn.] This is a satirical stroke upon the character of Camilla, one of Virgil's heroines, who assisted Turnus in his war against Eneas, and who is thus described in Dryden's translation of the Æneid.

"Last from the Volscians fair Camilla came,
And led her warlike troops, a warrior dame;
Unbred to spinning, in the loom unskill'd,
She chose the noble Pallas of the field.
Mix'd with the first, the fierce virago fought,
Sustain'd the toil of arms, the danger sought;
Out-stripp'd the winds in speed upon the plain,
Flew o'er the fields, nor hurt the bearded grain:
She swept the seas, and as she skipp'd along,
Her flying feet unbath'd, on billows hung.
Men, boys, and women, stupid with surprise,
Where-e'er she passes, fix their wond'ring eyes:
Longing they look, and gaping at the sight,
Devour her o'er and o'er with vast delight:
Her purple habit sits with such a grace

On her smooth shoulders, and so suits her face;
Her head with ringlets of her hair is crown'd,
And in a golden caul the curls are bound:
She shakes her myrtle jav'lin, and behind
Her Lycian quiver dances in the wind.”

Butler has justly avoided all such monstrous improbabilities; nor will he attribute an incredible swiftness to Trulla, though there was an absolute call for extraordinary celerity under the present circumstances; no less occasion than to save the bear, who was to be the object of all the rabble's diversion.

V. 134. First Trulla stav'd, &c.] Staving and tailing are terms of art used in the bear-garden, and signify there only the parting of dogs and bears.

V. 137-8. The worsted bear came off with store

Of bloody wounds, but all before.] Wounds before were always deemed honourable, and with great propriety, because they could only be received while facing the enemy. In the tragedy of Macbeth, old Siward, inquiring of his son's death, asks, "If Siward had all his wounds before?'

Roses. Ay, in the front.

Siward. Why then, God's soldier be he:
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,

I would not wish them to a fairer death;
And so his knell is knoll'd."

V. 142. All over but the Pagan heel.] An allusion to the fable of Achilles, who, being dipped by his mother Thetis in the river Styx, had the whole of his body rendered invulnerable, except his heel, by which Thetis held him when she immersed him in the Styx. After having slain Hector before the walls of Troy, he was at length slain by Paris, being shot by him with a poisoned arrow in his heel.

V. 147. For as an Austrian archduke once, &c.] The story alluded to is of Albert, Archduke of Austria; brother to the emperor Rodolph II. who was defeated by prince Maurice of Nassau, in the year 1598. Endeavouring to encourage his soldiers in battle, he pulled off his murrion, or head-piece, upon which he received a wound by the point of a spear.

V. 152. Like scriv'ner newly crucify'd.] The crime of forgery was formerly punished with standing in the pillory, and loss of ears. Ben Jonson banters the scriveners upon this account in the following lines:

A crop-ear'd scrivener this,

Who, when he heard but the whis

Per of monies to come down,
Fright got him out of town,
With all his bills and bonds
Of other mens in his hands;
It was not he that broke
Two i' th' hundred spoke;
Nor car'd he for the curse,

He could not hear much worse,

He had his ears in his purse."

In Pinkethman and Joe Miller's Jests, there is a story of a carman who had much ado to pass with a load of cheese at Temple Bar, where a stop was occasioned by a man's standing in the pillory. He, riding up close, asked "what it was that was written over the person's head?" They told him it was a paper to signify his crime, that he stood for forgery. "Ay,” said he, "what is forgery?" They answered him, that it was counterfeiting another's hand with an intent to cheat people. To which the carman replied, looking at the offender; "Ah! pox, this comes of your writing and reading, you silly dog."

V. 153-4. Or like the late corrected leathern

Ears of the circumcised brethren.] Our poet here alludes to Pryn, Bastwick, and Burton, who had their ears cut off for their seditious writings. A merry satirist, in the reign of King James I. having composed some severe lines against the court, the work was brought to the King; and, as the passages were reading before him, he often said, "that if there were no more men in England, the rogue should hang for it:" at last, being come to the conclusion, which was, (after all his railing,)

"Now, God preserve the king, the queen, and peers,

And grant the author long may wear his ears," this pleased his Majesty so well, that he broke out into a laughter, and said, " by my soul so thou shalt for me; thou art a bitter, but thou art a witty knave."

In the collection of loyal songs, reprinted 1731, there are the following lines:

"When your Smectymnus surplice wears,
Or tippet on his shoulders bears,

Rags of the whore;

When Burton, Pryn, and Bastwick dares,

With your good leave but show their ears,
They'll ask no more."

V. 184. Stout Hercules for loss of Hylas.] A bean tiful youth, the servant of Hercules, who was drowned in the river Ascanius, and whose loss was exceedingly lamented by Hercules.

V. 192. Than in small poets splay-foot rhymes.] Warburton, in a note upon this passage, says, "that our poet in this place seems to sneer at Sir Philip Sidney, who, in his Arcadia, has a long poem between the speaker and Echo." Why he calls the verses splayfoot may be seen from the following example, taken from the poem:

"Fair rocks, goodly rivers, sweet woods, when shall I see peace ?-Peace, peace!What barrs my tongue? who is it that comes me so nigh?}~~ Oh! I do know what guest I have met; it is Echo 'tis Echo.

"Well met, Echo; approach, then tell me thy will too I will too."

Euripedes, in his Andromeda, a tragedy now lost, had a foolish scene of the same kind, which Aristophanes makes sport with in his Feast of Ceres.

V. 255-6. For my part, it shall ne'er be said,

I for the washing gave my head.] This phrase is used by Beaumont and Fletcher, Cupid's Revenge, act iv. where the citizens are talking that Leucippus was to be put to death.

"1st Cit. It holds, he dies this morning.

2d Cit. Then happy man be his fortune.

1st Cit. And so am I and forty-more good fellows, that will not give their heads for the washing, I take it." It is imitated by the writer of the second part, that was spurious.