Russet lawns, and fallows grey,
Where the nibbling flocks do stray
Mountains on whose barren breast

The lab'ring clouds do often rest,

Meadows trim with daisies pied,

75

Shallow brooks, and rivers wide.

Towers and battlements it sees
Bosom'd high in tufted trees,
Where perhaps some beauty lies,
The Cynosure of neighb'ring eyes.
Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes,
From betwixt two aged oaks,
Where Corydon and Thyrsis met,

Are at their savory dinner set

86

Of herbs, and other country messes,

85

Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses ;

81. I apprehend the smoking chimney to be referable to the prototype of Edgar in King Lear, (the same as Hamlet's Rosencrantz, fig. 68,) and that that same prototype is also that of Thyrsis, (83) as Corydon's is the same as that of Guildenstern in Hamlet (fig. 67).

And then in haste her bow'r she leaves,
With Thestylis to bind the sheaves ;
Or, if the earlier season lead,

To the tann'd haycock in the mead,
Sometimes, with secure delight
The upland hamlets will invite,
When the merry bells ring round,

90

And the jocund rebecs sound

To many a youth and many a maid,

95

Dancing in the chequer'd shade;

86. Phyllis I refer to the same prototype as that of Trulla, (fig. 20) for her person has the same prototype as the bason or dish (fig. 114), out of which Corydon and Thyrsis may be supposed to be eating.

88. Thestylis I refer to the same prototype as that of Lesbia, in Terence's Andria, (fig. 120); and the light, which forms her person, is like a wheatsheaf or a haycock (90) in shape.

92. Upland, i. e. higher north, may be seen the resemblance of a bell on the person of Hudibras's Talgol (fig. 17). The same prototype as resembling a musical instrument, may be referred to in 94.

And young and old come forth to play
On a sunshine holy-day,

Till the live-long day-light fail;
Then to the spicy nut-brown ale,
With stories told of many a feat,
How fairy Mab the junkets eat,
She was pinch't and pull'd, she said,
And he, by friar's lanthorn led,
Tells how the drudging goblin swet,
To earn his cream-bowl duly set,
When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
His shadowy fail hath thresh'd the corn,

100

105

97. The young I should refer to the prototype of Fortinbras in Hamlet, (fig. 52) and the old to Polonius in the same play, fig. 56.

100. This line seems to have been suggested from the likeness to a cup or drinking-glass so often referred to in the preceding plays.

106. I should refer the cream-bowl to the same prototype as constituted that of Bassanio, in the Merchant of Venice, and which also gave him his name. Vide the note on his character in that play.

That ten day-lab'rers could not end;
Then lies him down the lubbar fiend,

110

And stretch'd out all the chimney's length,

Basks at the fire his hairy strength,

And crop-full out of doors he flings,
Ere the first cock his matin rings,
Thus done the tales, to bed they creep,
By whisp'ring winds soon lull'd asleep.

115

110. The lubbar-fiend would seem clearly to be referable to Hudibras's Talgol, (fig. 17), whether as considered with a flail in his hand, or stretched out before a chimney, or flinging out of a room, (i. e. stretching out his legs wide asunder).

116. The sleeping character I should refer to the prototype of Montano in Othello, (fig. 101), whose head alone is visible, and therefore justifies the fancy that the rest of his body may be hidden under bed clothes. The mention of a city would seem to allude to the whole of the shadows of the moon, as viewed with its south side uppermost ; and then the knight or baron of 119 will be referable to the knight Hudibras himself, which brings us through a complete circuit of the moon from line 69.

Tow'red cities please us then,
And the busy hum of men,

Where throngs of knights and barons bold
In weeds of peace high triumphs hold, 120
With store of ladies, whose bright eyes
Rain influence, and judge the prize
Of wit, or arms, while both contend

To win her grace, whom all commend.
There let Hymen oft appear

In saffron robe, with taper clear,

And pomp, and feast, and revelry,
With mask, and antique pageantry,

125

123. I incline to think that by this line, immediately following the notice of Hudibras, there is an ironical allusion to his beautiful widow, (fig. 23).

125. By Hymen I understand the same prototype as that of Fame (fig. 25); her saffron-robe is referable to the yellow colour of the moon, and her taper to the prototype of Hamlet's Ghost's Truncheon, (that Ghost having the same prototype as Fame, (fig. 51.)

128. On recollecting the contents of former notes the reader will be at no loss for the meaning