Imatges de pàgina
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And sometimes catch them with a snap,

As cleverly as th' ablest trap.

are made up reciprocally of the Squire and Knight themselves, as may be seen in figs. 3 and 8;

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the various other dramatis persone, with whom the reader will become better acquainted in the next Canto, are evidences likewise of the truth of those remarks.

They were upon hard duty still,
And ev'ry night stood sentinel,
To guard the magazine i' th' hose

From two-legg'd and from four-legg'd foes.
Thus clad and fortify'd, Sir Knight
From peaceful home set forth to fight.
But first with nimble active force
He got on th' outside of his horse;
For having but one stirrup ty'd
T'his saddle, on the further side,
It was so short, h' had much ado
To reach it with his desp'rate toe.

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But, after many strains and heaves,

He got up to the saddle-eaves;

From whence he vaulted into th' seat,

With so much vigour, strength, and heat,

That he had almost tumbled over

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With his own weight; but did recover,

By laying hold on tail and mane,

Which oft he us'd instead of rein.

But now we talk of mounting steed,
Before we further do proceed,

It doth behove us to say something

Of that which bore our valiant bumpkin.
The beast was sturdy, large, and tall,
With mouth of meal, and eyes of wall;
I would say eye; for h' had but one,
As most agree, though some say none.

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He was well stay'd, and in his gate
Preserv'd a grave, majestic state.

At spur or switch no more he skipp'd,

Or mended pace, than Spaniard whipp'd: 430 And yet so fiery, he would bound,

As if he griev'd to touch the ground :

We shall not need to say what lack
Of leather was upon his back;

For that was hidden under pad,

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And breech of knight gall'd full as bad.
His strutting ribs on both sides show'd
Like furrows he himself had plow'd;
For underneath the skirt of pannel,
'Twixt ev'ry two there was a channel.
His draggling tail hung in the dirt,
Which on his rider he would flirt,

Still as his tender side he prick'd

With arm'd heel, or with unarm'd kick'd;
For Hudibras wore but one spur,

As wisely knowing, could he stir

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453. The spur that arms one of the knight's heels, I take to be the light between the shadows which constitute his two feet; its rowel is near the right eye of the owl, and it appears to be on the off-side foot. The other foot is situate, apparently, behind it, and without a spur. would be a waste of time to go into a minute description of these minor circumstances: and when once the

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To active trot one side of's horse,

The other would not hang an arse.

A squire he had, whose name was Ralph,
That in th' adventure went his half.
Though writers, for more stately tone,
Do call him Ralpho, 'tis all one:

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reader has become satisfied that the prototypes of the several characters of the Poem are rightly assigned, it will be a source of amusement to him to trace out those minutiæ for himself, of which there are multitudes which I omit to notice; in fact, he would scarcely fail to discover something new and pleasing on every repeated perusal.

457. If I have above given the origin of Hudibras's name, that of the name of Ralph, or Ralpho, may be assigned no less satisfactorily, though not so obviously : the letters which constitute it may, in fact, be seen (in light) within the sphere of the Squire's person in the moon, such as they are represented in Fig. 9.

And when we can with metre safe,
We'll call him so; if not, plain Ralph ;

(For rhyme the rudder is of verses,

With which, like ships, they steer their courses,)

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From him descended cross-legg'd knights,
Fam'd for their faith, and warlike fights

Against the bloody cannibal,

Whom they destroy'd, both great and small.
This sturdy squire, he had, as well
As the bold Trojan knight, seen hell,
Not with a counterfeited pass
Of golden bough, but true gold-lace.

and developed in

Fig. 10.

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BALOO

the Greek having the same power in pronunciation as the letter F, and the strokes of the letter L being intermixed with those of the p. The Squire would seem to be

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