V. 785-6. But for a lady no way errant,

To free a Knight, we have no warrant.]

Butler is mis

taken in his assertion here. In the old romances there are many instances of ladies engaging in adventures to procure the deliverance of their captive Knight. To avoid prolixity, it may be just sufficient to mention the mistress of Richard Coeur de Lion, who, while that prince was confined in onc of the prisons of the Archduke of Austria, travelled over a great part of Europe in quest of him, disguised in the habit of a minstrel, and at length accidentally discovered him by playing, under the window of his prison, a ditty which the royal captive himself had composed.

V. 787-8. In any authentical romance,

Or classic author yet of France.] The French were the most famed of any nation (the Spaniards excepted) for romances; and, iudeed, they were the first who naturalized that species of composition in Europe. The origin of romance is to be traced to the East, and there is great probability that it had its rise among the Hindoos, a learned, ingenious, and polished people, while the nations of Europe were yet immersed in the grossest barbarism. V. 794. That might be unwholesome to your spurs.] One of the punishments of a Knight, convicted of offences against his order, is to have his spurs hacked off by the common executioner.

V. 801. For as the ancients heretofore, &c.] According to the ancient allegory, the way to the temple of Honor lay through the temple of Virtue, implying thereby, that those only could be properly honored who deserved to be so on account of their virtuous actions.

V. 805. To honor'd freedom, &c.] The road to freedom like that to honor, she tells him, is not to be got over without difficulty. V. 807-8. Where Knights are kept in narrow lists,

With wooden lockets 'bout their wrists.] The widow alludes here to Bridewell and other houses of correction, where petty offenders are kept at hard labour, and sometimes punished with whipping previous to their discharge.

V. 811-2. Whipping, that's Virtue's governess,

Tut'ress of arts and sciences.] The disciplinants of the Roman church scourge their bodies in order to mortify the desires of the flesh. Of the long acknowledged efficacy of birch in

facilitating the acquisition of the dead languages, there is not a school-boy in the kingdom who can be ignorant.

V. 819-20. Then in their robes the penitentials

Are straight presented with credentials.] The poet alludes in this place to different acts of parliament against rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars. By statute 39th of Elizabeth, which is the corner-stone of our present system of poor laws and settlement, it is enacted, That every vagabond, &c. shall be publicly whipped, and shall be sent from parish to parish, by the officers thereof, to the parish where he or she was born: or if that is not known, then to the parish where he or she dwelt for the space of one whole year before the punishment; and if that be not known, then to the parish through which he or she passed last without punishment. After which whipping, the same person shall have a testimonial, subscribed with the hand, and sealed with the seal of the said justice, &c. testifying that the said person has been punished according to this act, &c. Many of the severe enactments of this statute have since been modified or repealed. V. 825-6. Now if you'll venture, for my sake,

To try the toughness of your back.] The widow now proceeds to propose to the knight, that he should take the same means to obtain his liberty, that Sancho Panza was directed to employ in order to procure the disenchantment of the Dulcinea del Toboso.

V. 832.

caperdewsie.] A Scotch word for a pair of stocks.

V. 839-40. If matrimony and hanging go

By destiny, why not whipping too.] Butler is no where happier than in the humour of his allusions to old proverbs, and as matrimony and hanging are commonly said to go by destiny, she asks, why may not whipping too? It may be observed, that many of our old English proverbs tend to establish a belief in the doctrine of predestination. Of this kind is the proverb above alluded to, and another one of the same sort, that it is better to be born lucky than rich, or that one man is born with a wooden spoon in his mouth, and another with a silver one. It is to be noticed, however, that these proverbs are seldom appealed to in real life, except by those who have met with misfortunes in the world; for, as Swift well observes, the power of fortune is confessed only by

the miserable; for the happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.

V. 845-6. A Persian emp'ror whipp'd his

grannam,

The sea, &c.] The bridge of the Hellespont, over which Xerxes marched his forces from Asia into Greece, being broken down by the violence of the waves, Xerxes commanded that arm of the sea to be lashed with chains for not having shown proper respect to his pontoons.

Ibid. —his mother Venus came on.]

How Xerxes derived

his descent from Venus it is not easy to conceive, unless we understand here by Venus, that universal principle without which the whole animal species must become extinct.

V. 847-8. And hence some rev'rend men approve

Of rosemary in making love.] As Venus was reported to have sprung from the foam of the sea, he intimates that rosemary (rosmarinus in Latin) or sea dew, as resembling in a morning the dew of the sea, was of use in making love.

V. 849-50. As skilful coopers hoop their tubs,

With Lydian and with Phrygian dubs.] Whoever has observed coopers at work, must have perceived that they give one sharp and then two dull blows with the hammer on their hoops. The vibrations produced by these blows, Butler compares to Lydian and Phrygian measures; the first of which was soft and effeminate, and fit for feasting and good fellowship; the other, on the contrary, was masculine and spirited, proper to inspire courage and enthusiasm, and, therefore, used in war. Dr. Grey, in his note upon this passage, relates a pleasant story of a cooper of North Wales, "who, having spent a considerable quantity of lungs and leather in footing the country, and crying his goods to no purpose, took another method to bring in customers. He applied to a friend of his, a shrewd blade, who made almanacks twice a year, and by his advice was induced to alter his method. He looked over all his bundle of hoops, and chalked upon one Orbis Lunæ, upon another Orbis Saturni, upon a third Calum Crystallinum, and so upon the largest, which he named Primum Mobile; and styling himself Atlas, he soon found custom in abundance: not a pipe nor hogshead but he had an orb to fit it; and so proportionably for. smaller vortexes, as firkins and kilderkins. Such a way could not

fail of universal approbation; because every hostess in town cannot but know that the weather has great influence on beer and ale, and therefore it is good to scrape an acquaintance with Mars, Saturn, and their adherents."

V. 857-8. Who would not rather suffer whipping,

Than swallow toasts of bits of ribbon.] In Dr. Grey's edition of our poet, there is the following note on this passage. "The author of a tract, entitled a Character of France, 1659, p. 12, observes of the French gallants, that in their frolics, they spare not the ornaments of their madams, who cannot wear a piece of ferret ribbon, but they will cut it in pieces, and swallow it in urine, to celebrate their better fortune.' Happily this refinement of gallantry was never introduced into England. Howell, in his Familiar Letters, says, that when the English soldiers rifled the dead bodies of the French gentlemen, who were killed at the invasion of the Isle of Ree, 1627, they found that many of them had their mistress' favours tied about their genitories." Epist. Ho-Eliana, Sect. v. Let. v.

V. 863. With China oranges and tarts.] Women, in all ages, have been gratified with little presents and attentions like those here mentioned.

V. 865-6. Bribe chambermaids with love and money,

To break no roguish jests upon ye.] This is likewise a piece of advice which Ovid gives in the first book of his Art of Love:

"First gain the maid: by her thou shalt be sure

A free access, and easy to procure;

Who knows what to her office does belong,

Is in the secret, and can hold her tongue.

Bribe her with gifts, and promises, and prayers,

For her good word goes far in love affairs."

V. 870. Do penance in a paper lantern.] An allusion probably to the penitentiaries in the church of Rome, who do penance in white sheets, carrying wax tapers in their hands. Archbishop Arundel enjoined such as abjured the heresy of Wickliffe the following penance: "That, in the public prayers, and in the open market, they should go in procession only with their shirts on, carrying in one hand a burning taper, and in the other a crucifix ;

and that they should fall thrice on their knees, and every time de

voutly kiss it."

V. 875-6. Did not the great La Mancha do so

For the Infanta del Toboso.] Alluding to Don Quixote's penance in the Brown Mountains, in imitation of the renowned Beltenebros.

V. 877-8. Did not th' illustr'ous Bassa make

Himself a slave for Missa's sake.]

Alluding to Madame Scudery's romance, entitled, Ibrahim the illustrious Bassa. Ibrahim, hearing that his mistress was married to the Prince of Masseron (a groundless report), was determined to throw away his life in the wars; but was taken prisoner by Chariadan, King of Algiers, and by him presented to Linan Bassa, by whose means he became a slave to Solyman the Magnificent.

V. 879-80. And with bull's pizzle, for her love,

Was tawn'd as gentle as a glove.] Alluding to the emperor's ill-usage of him on account of his mistress, with whom he was enamoured, and his design of taking away his life, notwithstanding his promise, that he should never be cut off during his own life; and yet, though the Mufti's interpretation, at the instance of Roxalana, his favourite sultana, was, that as sleep was a resemblance of death, he might be safely put to death when the emperor was asleep: yet Solyman (if we may believe Madame Scudery) got the better of his inclination, saved his life, and very honorably dismissed him and his mistress.

V. 883.

--pathetic.] Suffering, feeling, or
Suffering, feeling, or sympathizing.

V. 885-6-7-8. Did not a certain lady whip

Of late her husband's own lordship?

And tho' a grandee of the house,
Claw'd him with fundamental blows.]

Dr. Grey

says, "that this was William Lord Monson, who lived at Bury St. Edmunds, of whom my friend Mr. Smith, of Harleston, had the following account from a gentleman of that place: That, notwithstanding he sat as one of the King's Judges, (but did not sign the warrant for his execution,) yet either by showing those favors, not allowable in those days of sanctity, to the unsanctified, cavaliers, or some other act which discovered an inclination to