Portending blood, like blazing star,
The beacon of approaching war.

The Squire advanced with greater speed,
Than could be expected from his steed;*
But far more in returning made;
For now the foe he had surveyed,
Ranged, as to him they did appear,
With van, main-battle, wings, and rear.
I' th' head of all this warlike rabble,
Crowderot marched expert and able.

and caparisons are, as in this instance, reproduced wherever circum-
stances require a reference to them. Thus we are reminded in this
passage of the contents of the holsters, the pistols and the viands, of
the sword that had grown rusty in its scabbard, and was consequently
difficult to draw, and of the fact, previously mentioned, that the
knight had but one stirrup. Nor does the poet forget the special cha-
racter of the horse, who is here humorously described as being quite
willing to stop. Although the action of the poem is deficient in the
movement and variety necessary to keep up a dramatic interest, the
individuality of the actors is sustained throughout with the highest
dramatic skill. The descriptions given of them on their first appear-
ance are not introduced merely to provoke laughter, but, by the subse-
quent use of the particulars, become indispensable to the actual
business of the scene. In the language, conversation, and sentiments
of the persons, individuality is preserved with equal distinctness.
* Original edition :-

Ralpho rode on with no less speed
Than Hugo in the forest did.

Hugo was scout-master to Gondibert, and was sent in advance to reconnoitre.

↑ Sir Roger L'Estrange says that the original of this character was one Jackson, a milliner, who lived in the New Exchange, in the Strand, and who, having lost a leg in the service of the Roundheads, was reduced to the necessity of fiddling for his bread from one alehouse to another. This itinerant fiddler is very properly placed at the head of the rabble. The name, Crowdero, is founded on the word crowd, a fiddle, taken from the Welsh crwth. Butler afterwards introduces the word itself, as in the following example:

His fiddle is your proper purchase
Won in the service of the churches;
And by your doom must be allowed
To be, or be no more a crowd.

The word is frequently used by the Elizabethan writers.
instance:-

Here is an

O sweet consent between a crowd and a Jew's harp.
LYLY.-Alex. and Camp. ii.

Instead of trumpet, and of drum,

That makes the warrior's stomach come,
Whose noise whets valour sharp, like beer
By thunder turned to vinegar;

For if a trumpet sound, or drum beat,
Who has not a month's mind* to combat?
A squeaking engine he applied

Unto his neck, on north-east side,†
Just where the hangman does dispose,
To special friends, the fatal noose : ‡
For 'tis great grace, when statesmen straight
Dispatch a friend, let others wait.

His warped ear hung o'er the strings,
Which was but souse to chitterlings: §
For guts, some write, ere they are sodden,
Are fit for music, or for pudden;

* The original and legitimate signification of this expression is wholly irreconcileable with the popular sense of having a desire to do a thing, in which it is used here. A month's mind is a religious celebration to the memory of the dead, a month after their decease, and these distant obsequies were frequently provided for by will. It thus became an office of the Church, and is still observed in Roman Catholic countries. How it came to mean a wish, intention, or desire generally implying, also, vacillation of purpose-cannot be easily determined. It has been ingeniously conjectured to have originated in 'a woman's longing,' explained by Mr. Croft, in his remarks on Shakspeare, as usually taking place, or commencing, at least, in the first month of pregnancy.

† It has been supposed that this description is drawn from the position in which bodies are buried, the head being always to the west, and the left side, consequently, to the north, so that the side of the neck where the fiddle is usually placed would be due north-east. This theory is curiously confirmed by other notions referred to by Dr. Nash. Some authors maintain that the human body is magnetical, and that, if put out to float on the water, the head would always turn to the north. Paracelsus had a conceit about the body, by which he made the face the east, the back the west, &c. Now in either of these positions-the body lying on its back with its head to the north, or standing upright with its face to the east-the place of the fiddle would still be due north-east. The augurs of old, in their divinations, turned their faces to the east.

The noose is understood to be usually placed under the left ear. § Souse, the ears, and chitterlings, the entrails of swine-the former alluding to Crowdero's ear, and the latter to the strings of the fiddle.

From whence men borrow every kind
Of minstrelsy, by string or wind.
His grisly beard was long and thick,
With which he strung his fiddle-stick;
For he to horse-tail scorned to owe
For what on his own chin did grow.
Chiron, the four-legged bard,* had both
A beard and tail of his own growth;
And yet by authors 'tis averred,
He made use only of his beard.

In Staffordshire, where virtuous worth
Does raise the minstrelsy, not birth,
Where bulls do choose the boldest king
And ruler o'er the men of string,

As once in Persia, 'tis said,

Kings were proclaimed by a horse that neighed ;†
He, bravely venturing at a crown,

By chance of war was beaten down,

And wounded sore: his leg, then broke,

Had got a deputy of oak;

For when a shin in fight is cropped,

The knee with one of timber's propped,
Esteemed more honourable than the other,
And takes place, though the younger brother.
Next marched brave Orsin, § famous for
Wise conduct, and success in war;

A skilful leader, stout, severe,
Now marshal to the champion bear.
With truncheon tipped with iron head,
The warrior to the lists he led;

* Chiron, the centaur-the Sagittarius of the Zodiac.

↑ Darius, elected King of Persia under the agreement of the seven princes (of whom he was one) that the monarchy should devolve on him whose horse should first neigh. By the artful device of a groom, the horse of Darius neighed first, and secured the throne for his master.

‡ A man with a wooden leg always sets it first in walking.

§ Intended, according to Sir Roger L'Estrange, for Joshua Gosling, who kept bears at Paris Garden, in Southwark.

With solemn march, and stately pace,
But far more grave and solemn face;
Grave as the Emperor of Pegu,
Or Spanish potentate, Don Diego ;*
This leader was of knowledge great,
Either for charge, or for retreat:
Knew when t' engage his bear pell-mell,
And when to bring him off as well.†
So lawyers, lest the bear defendant,
And plaintiff dog, should make an end on't,
Do stave and tail with writs of error,
Reverse of judgment, and demurrer,
To let them breathe a while, and then
Cry whoop, and set them on again.
As Romulus a wolf did rear,
So he was dry-nursed by a bear,‡
That fed him with the purchased prey
Of many a fierce and bloody fray;
Bred up, where discipline most rare is,
In military garden Paris:§

For soldiers heretofore did grow
In gardens, just as weeds do now,
Until some splay-foot politicians
T' Apollo offered up petitions,
For licensing a new invention||
They'd found out of an antique engine,

* See Purchas's Pilgrims, and Lady's Travels into Spain.

+ Original edition :

He knew when to fall on pell-mell,

To fall back and retreat as well.

That is, maintained by the profits he derived from the exhibition of his bear.

§ There was a circus in Paris Garden for bull and bear-baiting. It was afterwards occasionally converted into a theatre. Bear-baiting was forbidden in the time of the Civil Wars. The military garden' refers to a society instituted by James I. for training soldiers, who used to practise in Paris Garden.

This passage is traced by Dr. Grey to Boccalini's Advertisement from Parnassus, in which the gardeners apply to Apollo for some such speedy means of extirpating weeds as he had invented, in drums and trumpets, for destroying dissolute and rebellious subjects.

To root out all the weeds, that grow
In public gardens, at a blow,

And leave th' herbs standing. Quoth Sir Sun,*
'My friends, that is not to be done.'

'Not done!' quoth Statesman; 'Yes, an't please ye,
When 'tis once known you'll say 'tis easy.'
'Why then let's know it,' quoth Apollo:
'We'll beat a drum, and they'll all follow.'
'A drum!' quoth Phoebus, Troth, that's true,
A pretty invention, quaint and new:
But though of voice and instrument
We are th' undoubted president,
We such loud music do not profess,
The devil's master of that office,
Where it must pass; if't be a drum,
He'll sign it with Cler. Parl. Dom. Com.;†

To him apply yourselves, and he

Will soon despatch you for his fee.'
They did so, but it proved so ill,
They 'ad better let 'em grow there still.
But to resume what we discoursing
Were on before, that is, stout Orsin;
That which so oft by sundry writers,
Has been applied t' almost all fighters, ‡
More justly may b' ascribed to this
Than any other warrior, viz.
None ever acted both parts bolder,
Both of a chieftain and a soldier.
He was of great descent, and high
For splendour and antiquity,

*After the fashion and usage of chivalry, Apollo is designated Sir Sun. The expression occurs in Sydney's Arcadia.

The House of Commons having assumed, with other royal privileges, the right of granting patents for new inventions, Apollo sends the petitioners to that assembly, which he informs them is under the government of the devil, who will sanction the invention, if it pass, with the usual signature of Clerk of the House of Commons.

Alluding to the indiscriminate panegyrics of the historians.