Still as his tender fide he prickt,

With arm'd heel, or with unarm'd, kickt;
For Hudibras wore but one spur,
As wifely knowing could he stir
To active trot one fide of 's horse,

450

455

We'll call him fo; if not, plain Raph;

(For rhyme the rudder is of verses,

With which, like fhips, they fteer their courses.)

An equal stock of wit and valour

465

He had laid in, by birth a tailor.

The mighty Tyrian queen, that gain'd

With fubtle fhreds a tract of land,

Ver. 457.] Sir Roger L'Eftrange (Key to Hudibras) fays, This famous Squire was one Ifaac Robinson, a zealous butcher in Moor-fields, who was always contriving fome new querpo cut in church government: but, in a Key at the end of a burlesque poem of Mr. Butler's, 1706, in folio, p. 12. it is obferved, "That Hudibras's Squire was one Pemble a tailor, and one of "the Committee of Sequeftrators."

Did

Whom they destroy'd both great and small.
This fturdy Squire he had, as well

475

As the bold Trojan knight, feen hell,

Not with a counterfeited pafs

Of golden bough, but true gold-lace:
His knowledge was not far behind

The Knight's, but of another kind,

480

And he another way came by't;

Some call it Gifts, and fome New-light;
A liberal art, that cofts no pains

485

Of study, industry, or brains.
His wit was fent him for a token,

But in the carriage crack'd and broken;

Like commendation nine-pence crookt
With-" To and from my love"—it lookt.
He ne'er confider'd it, as loth

To look a gift-horfe in the mouth,

490

Ver. 485.] His wits were fent bim, in all editions to 1704

inclufive.

Ver. 487, 488.] Until the year 1696, when all money, not milled, was called in, a ninepenny piece of filver was as common as fixpences or fhillings, and these ninepences were usually bent as fixpences commonly are now, which bending was called, "To my love, and From my love ;" and fuch ninepences the ordinary fellows gave or fent to their sweethearts as tokens of love.

And

And very wifely would lay forth
No more upon it than 'twas worth;
But, as he got it freely, fo
He spent it frank and freely too:

For faints themselves will sometimes be,

495

Of gifts that coft them nothing, free.

By means of this, with hem and cough,
Prolongers to enlighten'd ftuff,

He could deep myfteries unriddle,
As eafily as thread a needle:

500

For as of vagabonds we say,

That they are ne'er befide their way,
Whate'er men speak by this New-light,

Still they are fure to be i' th' right.

'Tis a dark-lantern of the Spirit,

505

Which none fee by but those that bear it ;

To dive, like wild-fowl, for falvation,

And fish to catch regeneration.

This light infpires and plays upon

515

The nofe of faint, like bag-pipe drone,

And fpeaks, through hollow empty foul,

As through a trunk, or whispering-hole,

Ver. 511.] Alluding to Ralpho's religion, who was, probably,

an Anabaptift or Dipper.

Such

Such language as no mortal ear
But fpirit'al eaves-droppers can hear :
So Phœbus, or fome friendly Muse,

Which they at fecond-hand rehearse,

520

Into small poets fong infuse,

Through reed or bag-pipe, verfe for verse.

Thus Ralph became infallible

525

As three or four-legg'd oracle,

The ancient cup, or modern chair;

Spoke truth point blank, though unaware.

For myftic learning, wondrous able

In magic, talifman, and cabal,
Whose primitive tradition reaches

As far as Adam's first green breeches;
Deep-fighted in intelligences,

Ideas, atoms, influences;

And much of Terra Incognita,

530

535

Th' intelligible world, could fay;

Ver. 546.] Alluding to the Philofopher's Stone.

He

He understood the speech of birds

As well as they themselves do words;

Could tell what fubtleft parrots mean,
That speak and think contrary clean;

550

What member 'tis of whom they talk

When they cry Rope, and Walk, knave, walk.

He'd extract numbers out of matter,

And keep them in a glass, like water,

Of fovereign power to make men wise;

555

For, dropt in blear thick-fighted eyes,

They'd make them fee in darkest night,
Like owls, though purblind in the light.
By help of these (as he profeft)

He had Firft Matter seen undrest:
He took her naked, all alone,
Before one rag of form was on.
The Chaos, too, he had defcry'd,

And feen quite through, or elfe he ly'd;
Not that of Pafteboard, which men fhew
For groats, at fair of Barthol'mew;
But its great grandfire, first o' th' name,
Whence that and Reformation came,
Both coufin-germans, and right able
T' inveigle and draw in the rabble:
But Reformation was, some say,
O' th' younger houfe to Puppet-play.
He could foretel whats'ever was
By confequence to come to pass:

560

565

570

Ver. 573.] The rebellious clergy would in their prayers pretend to foretel things, to encourage people in their rebellion. I

meet