And sometimes catch them with a snap, As cleverly as th' ablest trap. are made up reciprocally of the Squire and Knight themselves, as may be seen in figs. 3 and 8; the various other dramatis persone, with whom the reader will become better acquainted in the next Canto, are evidences likewise of the truth of those remarks. They were upon hard duty still, From two-legg'd and from four-legg'd foes. 400 405 410 But, after many strains and heaves, He got up to the saddle-eaves; From whence he vaulted into th' seat, With so much vigour, strength, and heat, That he had almost tumbled over 415 With his own weight; but did recover, By laying hold on tail and mane, Which oft he us'd instead of rein. But now we talk of mounting steed, It doth behove us to say something Of that which bore our valiant bumpkin. 420 425 He was well stay'd, and in his gate At spur or switch no more he skipp'd, Or mended pace, than Spaniard whipp'd: 430 And yet so fiery, he would bound, As if he griev'd to touch the ground : We shall not need to say what lack For that was hidden under pad, 441 And breech of knight gall'd full as bad. Still as his tender side he prick'd With arm'd heel, or with unarm'd kick'd; As wisely knowing, could he stir 445 450 453. The spur that arms one of the knight's heels, I take to be the light between the shadows which constitute his two feet; its rowel is near the right eye of the owl, and it appears to be on the off-side foot. The other foot is situate, apparently, behind it, and without a spur. would be a waste of time to go into a minute description of these minor circumstances: and when once the It To active trot one side of's horse, The other would not hang an arse. A squire he had, whose name was Ralph, 455 460 reader has become satisfied that the prototypes of the several characters of the Poem are rightly assigned, it will be a source of amusement to him to trace out those minutiæ for himself, of which there are multitudes which I omit to notice; in fact, he would scarcely fail to discover something new and pleasing on every repeated perusal. 457. If I have above given the origin of Hudibras's name, that of the name of Ralph, or Ralpho, may be assigned no less satisfactorily, though not so obviously : the letters which constitute it may, in fact, be seen (in light) within the sphere of the Squire's person in the moon, such as they are represented in Fig. 9. And when we can with metre safe, (For rhyme the rudder is of verses, With which, like ships, they steer their courses,) From him descended cross-legg'd knights, Against the bloody cannibal, Whom they destroy'd, both great and small. and developed in Fig. 10. 475 BALOO the Greek having the same power in pronunciation as the letter F, and the strokes of the letter L being intermixed with those of the p. The Squire would seem to be |