And when their Forces he had join'd,
He fcorn'd to turn his Parts behind.

He Trulla lov'd, Trulla more bright
Than burnifh'd Armour of her Knight:
A bold Virago ftout and tall

As Joan of France, or Englifb Mall.
Through Perils both of Wind and Limb,
Through thick and thin fhe follow'd him,
In ev'ry Adventure h' undertook,
And never him or it forfook.

At Breach of Wall, or Hedge Surprize,
She fhar'd i' th' Hazard and the Prize:
At beating Quarters up, or Forage,
Behav'd her felf with matchlefs Courage,
And laid about in Fight more bufily,
Than th' Amazonian Dame, Penthefile.

And tho' fome Criticks here cry

Shame,

And say our Authors are to blame.
That (fpight of all Philofophers,
Who hold no Females ftout, but Bears;
And heretofore did fo abhor

Their Women fhould pretend to War;

They

They would not fuffer the ftout'ft Dame
To fwear by Hercules his Name,)
Make feeble Ladies in their Works,

To fight like Termagants and Turks z
To lay their Native Arms aside,
Their Modefty, and ride a-ftride
To run a-tilt at Men, and wield
Their naked Tools in open Field;
As ftout Armida, bold Thaleftris,
And the that would have been the Mistress
Of Gundibert, but he had Grace,

And rather took a Country Lafs:
They fay 'tis falfe, without all Sense,
But of pernicious Confequence”
To Government, which they fuppofe
Can never be upheld in Profe::
Strip Nature naked to the Skin,
You'll find about her no fuch thing.
It may be fo, yet what we tell
Of Trulla, that's improbable,
Shall be depos'd by thofe have feen't,
Or, what's as good, produc'd in Print:

And

And if they will not take our Word,
We'll prove it true upon Record.

The upright Cerdon next advanc't,
Of all his Race the Valiant'ft:
Cerdon the great, renown'd in Song,
Like Herc'les, for Repair of Wrong:
He rais'd the Low, and fortify'd
The Weak against the strongest Side;
Ill has he read, that never hit
On him, in Mufes deathlefs Writ.
He had a Weapon keen and fierce,

That thro' a Bull-hide Shield would pierce,
And cut it in a thousand Pieces,

Tho' tougher than the Knight of Greece his;
With whom his black-thumb'd Ancestor

Was Comerade in the ten Years War:
For when the restless Greeks fate down
So many Years before Troy Town,
And were Renown'd, as Homer writes,
For well foal'd Boots, no lefs than Fights?
They ow'd that Glory only to

His Ancestor, that made them fo.

Fast Friend he was to Reformation,

Untill 'twas worn quite out of fashion.
Next Rectifier of Wry Law,

And would make three to cure one Flaw.
Learned he was, and could take Note,
Tranfcribe, Collect, Tranflate aud Quote.
But Preaching was his chiefeft Talent,
Or Argument, in which b'ing valiant,
He us'd to lay about and stickle,
Like Ram, or Bull, at Conventicle:
For Difputants like Rams and Bulls,

Do fight with Arms that fpring from Sculls.
Laft Colon came, bold Man of War,
Deftin'd to Blows by Fatal Star;

Right expert in Command of Horfe,
But cruel, and without Remorfe.
That which of Centaur long ago
Was faid, and has been wrefted to
Some other Knights, was true of this,
He and his Horfe were of a piece.
One Spirit did inform them both,

The felf-fame Vigour, Fury, Wroth:

Yet

Yet he was much the rougher Part,
And always had a harder Heart ;
Although his Horfe had been of those
That fed on Man's Elefh, as Fame goes,
Strange Food for Horfe! and yet alas,
It may be true, for Flesh is Grafs.
Sturdy he was, and no less able
Than Hercules to cleanse a Stable;
As great a Drover, and as great
A Critick too in Hog or Neat,
He ripp'd the Womb up of his Mother,
Dame Tellus, 'caufe fhe wanted Fother,
And Provender wherewith to feed
Himself, and his lefs-cruel Steed.
It was a Queftion whether He

Or's Horfe were of a Family

More worshipfull: Till Antiquaries

(After th'ad almost por❜d out their Eyes ) `

Did

very learnedly decide

The Bufinefs on the Horfe's fide,

And prov'd not only Horfe, but Cows,
Nay Pigs, were of the elder House: