Th' honour can but on one side light,

As worship did, when y' were dubb'd Knight.' Wherefore I think it better far

To keep him prisoner of war;

1075

And let him fast in bonds abide,

At court of justice to be try'd:

Where, if h' appear so bold or crafty,
There may be danger in his safety;"

If any member there dislike

His face, or to his beard have pike;
Or if his death will save, or yield
Revenge or fright, it is reveal'd;

Tho' he has quarter, ne'ertheless

1080

1085

Y' have pow'r to hang him when you please;
This has been often done by some

Of our great conqu'rors, you know whom';

As worship did, when y' were dubb'd Knight.] The honour of knighthood is conferred by the king's laying his sword upon the person's shoulder, and saying, “ Arise, sir ———.”

* There may be danger in his safety;] Cromwell's speech in the case of lord Capel may serve to explain this line: he began with high encomiums of his merit, capacity, and honour; but when every one expected that he would have voted to save his life, he told them, that the question before them was, whether they would preserve the greatest and most dangerous enemy that the cause had? that he knew my lord Capel well, and knew him so firmly attached to the royal interest, that he would never desert it, or acquiesce under any establishment contrary to it.—Clarendon.

His face, or to his beard have pike;] Doubtless, particular instances are here alluded to. It is notorious that the lords and others were condemned or pardoned, as their personal interest prevailed more or less in the house. A whimsical instance of mercy was the pardon indulged to sir John Owen, a Welsh gentleman, who being tried, together with the lords Capel, Holland, Loughborough, and others; Ireton, rather to insult the nobility, than from any principle

And has by most of us been held
Wise justice, and to some reveal'd:
For words and promises, that yoke
The conqueror, are quickly broke;
Like Sampson's cuffs, tho' by his own
Direction and advice put on.

1090

For if we should fight for the cause
By rules of military laws,

1095

And only do what they call just,

The cause would quickly fall to dust.
This we among ourselves may speak ;
But to the wicked or the weak

We must be cautious to declare
Perfection-truths, such as these are.

1100

of compassion, observed that much endeavour had been used to preserve each of the lords, but here was a poor commoner, whom no one had spoke for; he therefore moved that he might be pardoned by the mere grace of the house. Sir John was a man of humorous intrepidity: when he, with the lords, was condemned to be beheaded, he made his judges a low bow, and gave his humble thanks; at which a bye-stander surprised, asked him what he meant? To which the knight, with a broad oath replied, that, "it was a great honour to a poor gentleman of Wales to lose his head with such noble lords, "for, in truth, he was afraid they would have hanged him." See Clarendon, Rushworth, Whitelocke, and Pennant's Tour to Wales, in 1773, page 264. The parliament was charged with setting aside the articles of capitulation agreed to by its generals, and killing prisoners after quarter had been granted them, on pretence of a revelation that such an one ought to die. See also the case of the surrender of Pendennis castle.

4 We must be cautious to declare

Perfection-truths, such as these are.] Truths revealed only to the perfect, or the initiated into the higher mysteries.

Φθέγξομαι, οἷς θέμις ἐστιν, ἑκὰς, ἑκὰς ἐστὲ βέβηλοι.

[A line made up from the Fragments of Orpheus and the Hymn to Apollo of Callimachus.]

2

This said, the high outrageous mettle
Of Knight began to cool and settle.
He lik'd the Squire's advice, and soon
Resolv'd to see the bus'ness done;
And therefore charg'd him first to bind
Crowdero's hands on rump behind,
And to its former place, and use,
The wooden member to reduce;
But force it take an oath before,
Ne'er to bear arms against him more."
Ralpho dispatch'd with speedy haste,
And having ty'd Crowdero fast,
He gave Sir Knight the end of cord,
To lead the captive of his sword
In triumph, while the steeds he caught,
And them to further service brought.
The Squire, in state, rode on before,

1105

1110

1115

And on his nut-brown whiniard bore

1120

The trophy-fiddle and the case,

Plac'd on his shoulder like a mace.

Cromwell held, that the rules of justice were binding in ordinary cases, but in extraordinary ones might be dispensed with. See Burnet. Clarendon hath a similar observation; or sir H. Vane-that he was above ordinances.

But force it take an oath before,

Ne'er to bear arms against him more.] The poet making the wooden leg take an oath not to serve again against his captor, is a ridicule on those who obliged their prisoners to take an oath to that purpose. The prisoners taken at Brentford were thus sworn, but Dr. Downing and Mr. Marshall absolved them from this oath, and they immediately served again in the parliament army.

The Knight himself did after ride,
Leading Crowdero by his side;
And tow'd him, if he lagg'd behind,
Like boat against the tide and wind.
Thus grave and solemn they march on,
Until quite thro' the town they'ad gone :
At further end of which there stands
An ancient castle, that commands
Th' adjacent parts; in all the fabrick

You shall not see one stone nor a brick,

But all of wood, by pow'rful spell

Of magic made impregnable:
There's neither iron bar nor gate,

Portcullis, chain, nor bolt, nor grate;
And yet men durance there abide,
In dungeon scarce three inches wide;
With roof so low, that under it

1125

1130

1135

They never stand, but lie or sit;

1140

And yet so foul, that whoso is in,

Thither arriv'd, the advent'rous Knight
And bold Squire from their steeds alight

• An ancient castle, that commands] The stocks are here pictured as an enchanted castle, with infinite wit and humour, and in the true spirit of burlesque poetry.

1150

At th' outward wall, near which there stands
A Bastile, built t' imprison hands ;7
By strange enchantment made to fetter
The lesser parts, and free the greater:
For tho' the body may creep through,
The hands in grate are fast enow:

And when a circle 'bout the wrist
Is made by beadle exorcist,

The body feels the spur and switch,
As if 't were ridden post by witch,
At twenty miles an hour pace,
And yet ne'er stirs out of the place.

On top of this there is a spire,

On which Sir Knight first bids the Squire
The fiddle, and its spoils, the case,"

In manner of a trophy, place.

1155

1160

That done, they ope the trap-door gate,
And let Crowdero down thereat.

1165

Crowdero making doleful face,

Like hermit poor in pensive place,'

To dungeon they the wretch commit,

And the survivor of his feet;

1170

A Bastile, built t' imprison hands;] A description of the whippingpost.

At twenty miles an hour pace,] Here half a foot seems to be wanting, but it may be supplied by the old way of spelling hour, hower; thus fower, for four, P. ii. c. i. v. 726.

• The fiddle, and its spoils, the case,] Suppose we read,

His spoils, the fiddle and the case.

1 Like hermit poor in pensive place,] This was the beginning of a love-song, in great vogue about the year 1650.