According to the law of arms,

To keep men from inglorious harms)

That none presume to come fo near
As forty foot of stake of bear,
If any yet be fo fool-hardy,

695

But lets them know, at their own coft,

That he intends to keep his poft.

This to prevent, and other harms,

705

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 courfe did fteer,

To keep the peace 'twixt Dog and Bear,

719

As he believ'd h' was bound to do

In confcience and commiffion too;
And therefore thus bespoke the Squire :
We that are wifely mounted higher

Staffordshire; where folemn proclamation was made by the Steward before the bull was turned loofe; "That all manner ❝ of persons give way to the bull, none being to come near him

by forty foot, any way to hinder the minstrels, but to attend ❝his or their own safety, every one at his peril." See Dr. Plot's Staffordshire.

Ver. 714.] This fpeech is fet down, as it was delivered by

To fave th' expence of Christian blood,
And try if we by mediation

Of treaty and accommodation,

730

the Knight in his own words: but fince it is below the gravity of Heroical poetry to admit of humour, but all men are obliged to speak wifely alike, and too much of fo extravagant a folly would become tedious and impertinent, the reft of his harangues have only his fenfe expreffed in other words, unless in some few places, where his own words could not be fo well avoided.

Ver. 715.] Had that remarkable motion in the House of Commons taken place, the Conftables might have vied with Sir Hudibras for an equality at leaft; "That it was necessary for "the House of Commons to have a High Constable of their "own, that will make no fcruple of laying his Majefty by the "heels," but they proceeded not fo far as to name any body; because Harry Martyn (out of tenderness of confcience in this particular) immediately quafhed the motion, by faying, the power was too great for any man.

Can

Can end the quarrel, and compofe

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 Covenant and the Caufe's fake?

735

Ver. 736.] This was the Solemn League and Covenant, which was first framed and taken by the Scottish Parliament, and by them sent to the Parliament of England, in order to unite the two nations more closely in religion. It was received and taken by both Houses, and by the City of London; and ordered to be read in all the churches throughout the kingdom; and every perfon was bound to give his confent, by holding up his hand, at the reading of it.

Ibid.-and Caufe's fake.] Sir William Dugdale informs us that Mr. Bond, preaching at the Savoy, told his auditors from the pulpit, "That they ought to contribute and pray, and do all "they were able, to bring in their brethren of Scotland for "fettling of God's caufe: I fay (quoth he) this is God's caufe ;

and if our God hath any cause, this is it; and if this be not "God's caufe, then God is no god for me; but the Devil is "got up into heaven." Mr. Calamy, in his speech at Guildhall, 1643, fays, "I may truly fay, as the Martyr did, that if “I had as many lives as hairs on my head, I would be willing to facrifice all these lives in this caufe;"

Which pluck'd down the King, the Church, and the Laws,
To fet up an Idol, then nick-nam'd The Cause,

Like Bell and Dragon to gorge their own maws;

as it is expreffed in "The Rump Carbonaded."

But in that quarrel Dogs and Bears,
As well as we, muft venture theirs?
This feud, by Jesuits invented,
By evil counfel is fomented;
There is a Machiavilian plot,
(Though every nare olfact it not)
And deep defign 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 fatis,
That cane & angue pejus hate us?

And shall we turn our fangs and claws
Upon our own felves without caufe ?

740

745

750

Nor liberty of Confciences,

Nor Lords and Commons' Ordinances;

Nor for the Church, nor for Church-lands, get them in their own no hands;

Το

Nor evil Counsellors to bring

To juftice, that feduce the King;

765

770

The Indians fought for the truth
Of th' elephant and monkey's tooth:
And many, to defend that faith,
Fought it out mordicus to death;
But no beast ever was fo flight,
For man, as for his God, to fight.
They have more wit, alas! and know
Themfelves and us better than fo:

780

Ver. 765.] Nor for free Liberty of Confcience. Thus the the two first editions read: the word free was left out in 1674, and all the subsequent editions; and Mr. Warburton thinks for the worse ; free liberty being a most beautiful and satirical periphrafis for licentiousness, which is the idea the Author here intended to give us.

Ver. 766.] The King being driven from the Parliament, no legal acts of Parliament could be made; therefore when the Lords and Commons had agreed upon any bill, they published it, and required obedience to it, under the title of An Ordinance of Lords and Commons, and fometimes, An Ordinance of Parliament.