rectly fallen to the ground, he had probably been disabled from future action, and consequently the battle would have been too soon determined. Besides, we may observe a beautiful gradation to the honor of the hero: he falls upon the bear, the bear breaks loose, and the spectators run; so that the Knight's fall is the primary cause of this rout, and he might justly, as he afterwards did, ascribe the honor of the victory to himself.

V. 865. In pudding time.] That is, in the lucky or critical moment, when his assistance was most required.

V. 871-2. Like feather-bed betwixt a wall

And heavy brunt of cannon ball.] Alluding, probably, to some old books of fortification. In sca engagements the bedding of the men are stowed upon the quarters of the ship to defend the crew from the effect of musket shot.

V. 873. As Sancho on a blanket fell.] Alluding to Sancho's famous adventure at the inn, which Don Quixote mistook for a castle, and where he was tossed in a blanket by four clothiers of Segovia, three pin-makers from the great square of Cordova, and a couple of shopkeepers from the market place of Seville; all of them brisk jolly fellows, and mischievous wags.-Don Quixote, Vol. I. Book III. Chap. III.

V. 884. And more than ever herald drew him.] It is common with heralds and painters of signs to draw animals more furious than they are in nature.

·V. 897-8. Wrong of unsoldier-like condition,

For which he flung down his commission.] A ridicule on the petulant behaviour of the military men in the civil wars; it being the usual way for those of either party, at a distressful juncture, to come to the King or Parliament with some unreasonable demands, which if not complied with, they would throw up their commissions, and go over to the opposite side, pretending that they could not in honor serve any longer under such unsoldier-like indignities.

And loss of urine, &c.] The effect of fear probably in our Knight. In the piece entitled Dunstable Downs, published in Butler's Remains, we find that a similar disaster befel our Knight on another occasion, who, being taxed with the fact, answered,

V. 932. T" adventure resurrection.] Another ridicule on the affectation of the sectaries in using Scripture phrases only.

V. 956. thou whelp of sin.] Among other terms of reproach bestowed by the sectaries on the clergy of the established church, they were frequently called dogs, sometimes dumb dogs and greedy dogs, and other times the blind whelps of an ignorant devotion. V. 969-70. but first our care

Must see how Hudibras doth fare.] Ralpho was at this time too concerned for his master to hold long disputation with the Fiddler; he leaves him, therefore, to assist the Knight, who lay senseless. This passage may be compared with a parallel one in the Iliad, b. XV. Apollo finds Hector insensible, lying near a stream; he revives him, and animates him with his former vigour, but withal asks, how he came into that disconsolate condition? Hector answers, that he had almost been stunned to the shades by a blow from Ajax. The comparison that may be made between the two cases is, that Hector does not return to himself in so lively a manner as Hudibras; and this is the more wonderful, because Hector is assisted by a deity, and Hudibras only by a servant.

"There Hector, seated by the stream, he sees
His sense returning with the coming breeze;
Again his pulses beat, his spirits rise,
Again his lov'd companions meet his eyes!
The fainting hero, as the vision bright,
Stood shining o'er him, half unseal'd his sight;
What blest immortal, what commanding breath,
Thus wakens Hector from the sleep of death?

E'en yet, methinks, the gliding ghosts I spy,

And hell's black horrors swim before my eye."

V. 973-4. To rouse him from lethargic dump,

He tweak'd his nose, &c.] The usefulness of this prac

tice is thus set forth by Lapet, the coward, in Beaumont and Fletcher's play of the Nice Valour, or Passionate Madness, act iii. 66 Lap. For the twinge by the nose.

"Tis certainly unsightly, so my tables say;

But helps against the headach wond'rous strangely.
Shamont. Is 't possible?

Lap. Oh, your crush'd nostrils slakes your oppilation,
And makes your pent powers flush to wholesome sneezes.
Sham. I never thought there had been half that virtue
In a wrung nose before.

Lap. Oh! plentitude, Sir."

V. 984. A self-denying conqueror.] Alluding to the self-denying ordinance, by which all the members of the two Houses, except such as were exempted by particular act of parliament, were obliged to quit their civil and military employments.

V. 1005. Though dispensations, &c.] Dispensations, outgoings, carryings on, nothingness, ownings, and several other words to be met with in this poem, were, as has before been intimated, the cant words of those times.

V. 1009. Yet as the wicked have no right.] It was a principle maintained by the rebels of those days, that dominion is founded in grace, and therefore, if a man wanted grace (in their opinion), if he was not a saint or a godly man, he had no right to any lands, goods, or chattels; the saints, as the Squire says, had a right to all, and might take it whenever they had power to do it. Walker, in his History of Independency, observes, "That this faction, like the devil, cried, 'All's mine." And they took themselves (or pretended to do so) to be the only elect or chosen ones; they might drink, and whore, and revel, and do what they pleased, God saw no sin in them, though these were damnable sins in others.

"To sum up all, he would aver,

And prove a saint could never err,
And that let saints do what they will,
That saints were saints, and are so still."

V. 1045-6. For tho' I fought and overcame,

And quarter gave, 'twas in your name.] A sneer upon the Parliament, who frequently infringed articles of capitulation granted by their generals; especially when they found them too advantageous for the enemy. There was a remarkable instance of this kind upon the surrender of Pendennis castle, August 26, 1646. General Fairfax had granted the besieged admirable terms: sixteen honorable articles were sent in to the brave governor, Arundel, and he underwrote,

"These articles are condescended unto by me,

"John Arundel, of Trerise." When the Parliament discovered that, at the surrender, the castle had not sufficient provisions for twenty-four hours, they were for infringing the articles, and had not performed them June 26, 1650, which occasioned the following letter from General Fairfax to the Speaker.

"Mr. Speaker,

"I would not trouble you again concerning the articles granted upon the rendition of Pendennis, but that it is conceived that your own honor and the faith of your army is so much concerned in it; and do find, that the preservation of articles granted upon valuable considerations gives great encouragement to your army, I have inclosed this petition, together with the officer's last report to me on this behalf; all which I commend to your wisdom. "Your humble servant, “T. Fairfax."

"June 26, 1650.

Dr. Grey, in his comments upon this note, says, Charles XII. of Sweden would not only have made good the articles, but have rewarded so brave a governor, as he did Colonel Canitz, the defender of the fort of Dunamond, with whose conduct he was so well pleased, that, as he marched out of the fort, he said to him, "You are my enemy, and yet I love you as well as my best friends; for you have behaved yourself like a brave soldier in the defence of this fort against my troops; and to show you that I can esteem and reward valour even in my enemies, I make you a present of these five thousand ducats."

V. 1069-70. — the greatest fame

Of cripple slain can be but lame ] That is, no great

ing to the Roman senate, that they ordered him to be appréhended and delivered up to Hannibal." Of the extreme veneration in which the ancients held the sanctity of an oath, some idea may be formed from the following relation, which is to be found in Herodotus, b. VI. “Glaucus was esteemed a man of singular probity, and having a large sum of money deposited in his hands, and an opportunity of keeping it from the owners, if he would forswear himself, consulted the oracle at Delphi what he shouid do? When he had proposed his question, the Priestess of Apollo answered thus:

'If present profit claim thy chief regard,

Be bold, and swear, and take the obvious prize:
Just dealings cannot save thee from the grave..
But the oath's guardian hath a nameless son,
Who, swift and strong, tho' without hand or foot,
Pursues, o'ertakes, and seizes and destroys

The whole devoted race, whilst honest men

Leave lasting blessings to their children's children.'

Glaucus, hearing this, intreated the god to forgive him what he had said. The Priestess answered, "To tempt the god, and to commit the action, is all the same.' Glaucus, however, sent to recall his Milesian guests, and delivered them the money. At present there remains no house or progeny of Glaucus, but it is rooted out from Sparta."

V. 1130. An ancient castle.] This is a poetical description of a pair of stocks and whipping-post.] It is so pompous and sublime, that we are surprised so noble a structure could be raised from so ludicrous a subject. We perceive wit and humour in the strongest light in every line of the description, and how happily imagined is the pun in v. 1142? How ceremonious are the conquerors in displaying the trophies of their victory, and imprisoning the unhappy captive? What a dismal figure does he make at the dark prospect before him? All these circumstances were necessary to be fully exhibited, that the reader might commiserate the heroic Knight, when a change of fortune unhappily brought him into Crowdero's place.

V. 1174. Yet b'ing a stranger, he's enlarg'd.] The wooden leg was excused being put in the stocks, though it had done the most