For they a sad adventure met,
Of which anon we mean to treat.
But ere we venture to unfold
Achievements so resolved, and bold,
We should, as learnèd poets use,
Invoke th' assistance of some muse;
However critics count it sillier,
Than jugglers talking t'a familiar;
We think 'tis no great matter which,
They're all alike, yet we shall pitch
On one that fits our purpose most,
Whom therefore thus do we accost:- *
Thou that with ale, or viler liquors,
Didst inspire Withers, Prynne, and Vickars,†
And force them, though it was in spite
Of Nature, and their stars, to write;
Who, as we find in sullen writs,

And cross-grained works of modern wits,
With vanity, opinion, want,

The wonder of the ignorant,

* The absurd custom of solemn invocations, frequently preceding the meanest performances, is burlesqued with infinite humour in this passage.

↑ George Withers, born in 1588, died in 1667, a voluminous and violent party writer, who, amidst the vast quantity of verse he produced was the author of some pieces which deserved to be exempted from indiscriminate condemnation. When Butler published this satire upon him, Withers was a close prisoner in the Tower, under a menace of impeachment. William Prynne, born in 1600, died in 1669, the famous author of the Histriomastix, for which he was committed to the Tower, expelled the Universities, condemned to stand in the pillory and lose his ears, and fined £5000 by the Star Chamber. He was a man of learning, and very laborious in his researches. Wood tells us that when he was engaged in study he would seldom eat any dinner, and that the only refreshment in which he indulged was ale and a roll of bread. John Vickars, born in 1582, died in 1652, a fierce zealot on the Parliament side. His writings (of which Wood gives a list) were distinguished by their coarseness. 'He could out-scold,' says Foulis, in his History of Plots, the boldest face in Billingsgate, especially if kings, bishops, organs, or maypoles were to be the objects of his zealous indignation.' Some specimens of his poetry may be seen in the Censura Literaria.

The praises of the author, penned
By himself, or wit-insuring friend;
The itch of picture in the front,
With bays, and wicked rhyme upon 't,*
All that is left o' th' forked hill +
To make men scribble without skill;
Canst make a poet, spite of fate,
And teach all people to translate,-
Though out of languages, in which
They understand no part of speech;
Assist me but this once, I 'mplore,
And I shall trouble thee no more.

In western clime there is a town,‡
To those that dwell therein well known,
Therefore there needs no more be said here,
We unto them refer our reader;

For brevity is very good,

When w' are, or are not understood. §

To this town people did repair

On days of market, or of fair,

And to cracked fiddle, and hoarse tabor,

In merriment did drudge and labour:
But now a sport more formidable

Had raked together village rabble;

'Twas an old way of recreating,

Which learned butchers call bear-baiting;

* Alluding to the common usage of prefixing to books the commendatory verses of friends, and the author's portrait encircled by laurels.

+ Parnassus, supposed to be cleft on the summit :

I never did on cleft Parnassus dream,

Nor taste the sacred Heliconian stream.-DRYDEN.

The following allusion in a subsequent place has led to the supposition that Brentford is here indicated:

And though you overcame the bear,

The dogs beat you at Brentford fair; &c.-ii. 3.

§ This couplet, changing the word very into ever, was quoted by Charles II. in reply to a long speech of the Earl of Manchester in favour of the Dissenters.

A bold adventurous exercise,
With ancient heroes in high prize;
For authors do affirm it came
From Isthmian and Nemæan game;
Others derive it from the Bear
That's fixed in northern hemisphere,
And round about the pole does make
A circle, like a bear at stake,
That at the chain's end wheels about,
And overturns the rabble-rout:
For after solemn proclamation*
In the bear's name, as is the fashion,
According to the law of arms,

To keep men from inglorious harms,
That none presume to come so near
As forty foot of stake of bear;
If any yet be so fool-hardy,

T'expose themselves to vain jeopardy,
If they come wounded off, and lame,
No honour's got by such a maim,
Although the bear gain much, b'ing bound
In honour to make good his ground,
When he's engaged, and takes no notice,
If any press upon him, who 'tis,

But lets them know, at their own cost,
That he intends to keep his post.
This to prevent, and other harms,
Which always wait on feats of arms,
For in the hurry of a fray

'Tis hard to keep out of harm's way,
Thither the Knight his course did steer,
To keep the peace 'twixt dog and bear,

* Although the mock solemnity with which the sport is introduced throws an air of ridicule over it, the whole description is quite accurate. Proclamation was always made before the game began; and people were warned to keep clear of the animals, and not to come within forty feet of them at their peril.

As he believed he was bound to do
In conscience and commission too;*
And therefore thus bespoke the Squire:-
'We that are wisely mounted higher
Than constables in curule wit,
When on tribunal bench we sit,
Like speculators, should foresee,
From Pharos of authority,
Portended mischiefs farther than
Low proletarian tything-men ;+
And, therefore, being informed by bruit,
That dog and bear are to dispute,—
For so of late men fighting name,
Because they often prove the same;
For where the first does hap to be,
The last does coincidere;-
Quantum in nobis, have thought good
To save th' expense of Christian blood,
And try if we, by mediation
Of treaty, and accommodation,
Can end the quarrel, and compose
The bloody duel without blows.

'Are not our liberties, our lives,
The laws, religion, and our wives,
Enough at once to lie at stake
For Cov❜nant, and the Cause's sake?‡
But in that quarrel dogs and bears,
As well as we, must venture theirs?

*The suppression of popular sports and recreations gave active employment to the justices of the peace. Bear-baiting was regarded with especial abhorrence as a relique of paganism.

The proletarii were the lowest class of the people amongst the Romans; and by attaching this epithet to the tything-men, the knight means to designate the inferiority of their office or position.

The solemn League and Covenant was framed by the Scotch Parliament, received in both houses, and ordered to be read in all the churches of the kingdom. The Cause, or God's Cause, was a cry amongst the Roundheads.

This feud, by Jesuits invented,
By evil counsel is fomented;
There is a Machiavelian plot,
Though every nare olfact it not,*
And deep design in't to divide
The well-affected that confide,
By setting brother against brother,
To claw and curry one another.
Have we not enemies plus satis,
That cane et angue pejust hate us?
And shall we turn our fangs and claws
Upon our own selves, without cause?
That some occult design doth lie
In bloody cynarctomachy,+

Is plain enough to him that knows
How saints lead brothers by the nose.
I wish myself a pseudo-prophet,
But sure some mischief will come of it,
Unless by providential wit,

Or force, we averruncate§ it.
For what design, what interest,
Can beast have to encounter beast?
They fight for no espoused cause,||
Frail privilege, fundamental laws,
Nor for a thorough reformation,
Nor covenant nor protestation,

* Though every nose smell it not. Nare, from nares, the nostrils. This is a little touch of characteristic pedantry in the knight.

† A proverbial saying used by Horace, expressive of deadly hostility.

A compound from the Greek, signifying a fight between dogs and bears. Sir Hudibras throughout this speech is evidently in a high vein of pedantic display.

§ To tear up by the roots.

In the lines that follow we have a recital of all the grievances, real or imaginary, of which the Parliament complained, and the rights for which they contended.

¶ The resolution, or protest, subscribed in the first year of the Long Parliament.