But, when they came to sit,
There was not wit

Enough in them both, to serve for one.

Wherefore 'twas thought good
To add Honeywood;

But, when they came to trial,
Each one proved a fool,

Yet three knaves in the whole,
And that made up a pair-royal.*

A BALLAD.

IN TWO PARTS.†

PART 1.

DRAW near, good people, all draw near,

And hearken to my ditty;
A stranger thing,

Than this I sing,

Came never to this city.

*The wit of this lies in the word pair-royal, which signifies three knaves at the game of brag, and also, in French, a peer or baron.' -T.

+ To this ballad Butler originally prefixed this title, The Privileges of Pimping; but afterwards crossed it out. As the title bears no relation to the subject, we may conclude that it was intended for some other design which the poet abandoned. Mr. Thyer is of opinion that the person here satirized is Oliver Cromwell. The portrait is an extravagant caricature, in which some general points of resemblance may be traced to the coarse features of the Protector.

You would defy the pageants,
Are borne before the mayor,
The strangest shape,
You e'er did gape
Upon at Bart'lmy fair!

His face is round and decent,
As is your dish, or platter,
On which there grows
A thing like a nose,

But, indeed, it is no such matter.

On both sides of th' aforesaid

Are eyes, but they're not matches,

On which there are

To be seen two fair,

And large, well-grown mustaches.

Now this with admiration

Does all beholders strike,
That a beard should grow
Upon a thing's brow,

Did ye ever see the like?

He has no skull, 'tis well known
To thousands of beholders;
Nothing, but a skin,
Does keep his brains in

From running about his shoulders.

On both sides of his noddle

Are straps o' th' very same leather;

Ears are implied,

But they're mere hide,

Or morsels of tripe, choose

Between these two extendeth

A slit from ear to ear,

That, every hour,
Gapes to devour

The souse, that

grows so near.

Beneath, a tuft of bristles,
As rough as a frieze-jerkin;
If it had been a beard,
"Twould have served a herd
Of goats, that are of his near kin.

Within, a set of grinders

Most sharp and keen, corroding
Your iron and brass,

THIS monster was begotten
Upon one of the witches,
B' an imp that came to her,
Like a man, to woo her,

With black doublet, and breeches.

When he was whelped, for certain,
In divers several countries,
The hogs and swine

Did grunt and whine,

And the ravens croaked upon trees.

The winds did blow, the thunder
And lightning loud did rumble;
The dogs did howl,

The hollow tree in th' owl-*

'Tis a good horse that ne'er stumbled. †

*That is, The owl in the hollow tree.' The inversion seems to have been pre-meditated to heighten the grotesqueness of the image. †This catalogue of imaginary portents attending the birth of Crom

As soon as he was brought forth,
At the midwife's throat he flew,
And threw the pap

Down in her lap;
They say, 'tis very true.

And up the walls he clambered,
With nails most sharp and keen,
The prints whereof,

I' th' boards and roof,
Are yet for to be seen.

And out o' th' top o' th' chimney
He vanished, seen of none;
For they did wink,

Yet, by the stink,

Knew which way he was gone.

The country round about there
Became like to a wildern-

ess; for the sight

Of him did fright

Away men, women, and children.

Long did he there continue,

And all those parts much harmed;

'Till a wise-woman, which

Some call a white witch,*

Him into a hogstye charmed.

well may have been designed in ridicule of the poetical descriptions of the storm that took place on the night of his death; or, as Mr. Thyer suggests, it may be a sneer upon those writers who describe the birth of their heroes as accompanied by prodigies.'

* There were three orders of witches-Black, White, and Grey. The first had the power of doing mischief, without the gift of rendering help or service; the second could render service, but had no power of evil; the third combined the qualities of the former two. The harmless witches were popularly called' wise women.' The function here ascribed to the White Witch has a mixture of evil in it, Butler thinking, probably, with Dryden, that at best the class were only 'mischievously good.'

There, when she had him shut fast,
With brimstone, and with nitre,
She singed the claws

Of his left paws,

With tip of his tail, and his right ear.

And with her charms and ointments
She made him tame as a spaniel;
For she used to ride

On his back astride,
Nor did he do her any ill.

But, to the admiration

Of all both far and near,

He hath been shown
In every town,

And eke in every shire.

And now, at length, he's brought

Unto fair London city,

Where, in Fleet-street,
All those may see't,

That will not believe my ditty.

God save the king and parliament,*
And eke the prince's highness;
And quickly send

The wars an end,

As here my song has-Finis.

* From this allusion to the king, Mr. Thyer concludes that the ballad was written before the execution of Charles I.