And so much scorn'd to lurk in case, This sword a dagger had his page, 375 380 386 is assigned by the Poet to various uses, according to such fancied resemblances; thus, likewise, the trencher-scraper, the knife, the pistol, Fig. 6. and the dagger of the Poem, are to be ascribed to the same prototype in the moon, situate a little to the right of the basket-hilted sword, before drawn in fig. 5. So again, the But howsoe'er they make a pother, tain of Hudibras's being mounted on horseback like a knight (as he is copied from the moon in fig. 3), there are allusions to the wandering motions of the moon, which luminary was held by the ancients to be a planet, (as evidenced by Plin. Nat. Hist. passim). So again the Outweigh'd his rage by half a grain ; 35 40 (For that's the name our valiant knight To all his challenges did write).. But they're mistaken very much, 'Tis plain enough he was no such. He was in logic a great critic, 65 Profoundly skill'd in analytic; A hair 'twixt south and south-west side On either which he would dispute, Confute, change hands, and still confute 70 For rhetoric, he could not ope 81 mention of the brain, fool, and ass, regards the infirmity of lunatics, or of those supposed to be under the influence of the moon and it is to be particularly noticed, that the term "mirrour," line 16, relates to the moon's having only a reflected or borrowed light; whilst the name of Hudibras itself (hue de brass) is referable to the brassy colour of the moon: and line 119 to her motions being the subject of mathematical calculation. In mathematics he was greater, Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater: For his religion it was fit To match his learning and his wit: 119 189 Of errant saints, whom all men grant To be the true church militant: Such as do build their faith upon 195 The holy text of pike and gun; And prove their doctrine orthodox 200 As if religion were intended 205 For nothing else but to be mended. Thus was he gifted and accouter'd, 237 We mean on th' inside, not the outward. 206. Those readers who are fond of polemical disputes, as well as those who take pleasure in the ridicule of them, I beg to refer to some edition of Hudibras at large: I for the most part omit the long details on those subjects, as being quite foreign to my own. That next of all we shall discuss: His tawny beard was th' equal grace The fall of sceptres and of crowns : And tell with hieroglyphic spade, 240 245 250 Its own grave and the state's were made. His back, or rather burden, show'd, 287 Upon his shoulders through the fire ; 290 Of his own buttocks on his back; To keep well cramm'd with thrifty fare; 295 |