135 Meanwhile th' approach'd th' place where bruin 140 So did our champion's arms defend All of him but the other end, His head and ears, which in the martial 145 Encounter lost a leathern parcel; For as an Austrian archduke once 150 • First Trulla stav'd, and Cerdon tail'd,] Trulla put her staff between the dogs and the bear, in order to part them; and Cerdon drew the dogs away by their tails. · • For as Achilles, dipt in pond, All over, but the pagan heel;] This is in the true spirit of burlesque; as the anabaptists, by their dipping, were made free from sin, so was Achilles by the same operation performed by his mother Thetis, rendered free from wounds. For as an Austrian archduke once Is half the coin, in battle par'd Close to his head,] Albert, archduke of Austria, brother to the But tugg'd and pull'd on th' other side, Or like the late-corrected leathern Ears of the circumcised brethren." emperor Rodolph the second, had one of his ears grazed by a spear, when he had taken off his helmet, and was endeavouring to rally his soldiers, in an engagement with prince Maurice of Nassau, ann. 1598. We read, in an ancient song, of a different duke of that family: Richard Cœur de Lion erst king of this land He the lion gored with his naked hand; Besides his famous acts done in the holy land. A ducatoon is the half of a ducat. Before the invention of milling, coins were frequently cut into parts: thus, there were quarter-ducats, and two-thirds of a ducat. • Like scriv'ner newly crucify'd;] In those days lawyers or scriveners, if guilty of dishonest practices, were sentenced to lose their ears. In modern times they seldom are so punished. 7 Or like the late-corrected leathern Ears of the circumcised brethren.] Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton, stood in the pillory, and had their ears cut off, by order of the Starchamber, in 1637, for writing seditious libels. They were banished into remote parts of the kingdom; but recalled by the parliament in 1640. At their return the populace shewed them every respect. They were met, near London, by ten thousand persons, who carried boughs and flowers. The members of the Star-chamber, concerned in punishing them, were fined in the sum of 40001. for each. Prynne was a noted lawyer. He had been once pilloried before; and now lost the remainder of his ears: though, in lord Strafford's Letters, it is said they were sewed on again, and grew as well as ever. His publication was a pamphlet entitled, News from Ipswich. See Epistle of Hudibras to Sidrophel, 1. xiii. Bastwick was a physician. He wrote a pamphlet, in elegant Latin, called Flagellum Episcoporum. He was the author too of a silly litany, full of abuse. Burton, minister of St. Matthew's, in Friday-street, London, But gentle Trullas into th' ring He wore in's nose convey'd a string, With which she march'd before, and led As authors write, in a cool shade, Which eglantine and roses made; And wanting nothing but a song,' His tugg'd ears suffer'd, with a strain.' 155 160 165 preached a sermon, Nov. 5, entitled, God and the king. This he printed; and being questioned about it, he defended it, enlarged, and dedicated it to the king himself. After his discharge, he preached and printed another sermon, entitled, The Protestation protested. But gentle Trulla,]' Et fotum gremio Dea tollit in altos Floribus, et dulci aspirans amplectitur umbrâ. Virgil, Æneid i. 692. And Johannes Secundus, Eleg. Cum Venus Ascanium. Mr. Butler frequently gives us specimens of poetical imagery, which lead us to believe that he might have ranked with the first class of elegant writers. • And wanting nothing but a song,] This is a banter upon some of the romance writers of those days. ' In Grey's edition it is thus pointed: His tugg'd ears suffer'd; with a strain They both drew up But I should rather suppose the poet meant a well-tuned theorbo, to ease the pain with a strain, that is, with music and a song. They both drew up, to march in quest For Orsin, who was more renown'd And like to fall, not by the prowess, He rag'd, and kept as heavy a coil as Forcing the vallies to repeat 2 For Orsin, who was more renown'd For stout maintaining of his ground In standing fights, than for pursuit, 170 175 180 185 As being not so quick of foot,] Thus Ajax is described by Homer: Οὐδ' ἂν ̓Αχιλλῆς ῥηξήνορι χωρήσειεν, Εν γ ̓ ἀυτοςαδίη· ποσὶ δ ̓ οὔπως ἐστὶν ἐρίζειν. He rag'd, and kept as heavy a coil as Stout Hercules for loss of Hylas ; Forcing the vallies to repeat Il. xiii. 324. The accents of his sad regret:] Hercules, when he bewails the loss of Hylas. Volat ordine nullo Cuncta petens; nunc ad ripas, dejectaque saxis Flumina; nunc notas nemorum procurrit ad umbras: He beat his breast, and tore his hair, Rursus Hylan, et rursus Hylan per longa reclamat Avia responsant silvæ, et vaga certat imago. : Val. Flac. Argon. iii. 593. Τρὶς μὲν Υλαν ἄϋσεν ὅσον βαθὺς ἤρυγε λαιμὸς, Εξ ὕδατος. Theocritus, Idyl. xiii. 58. Echoes have frequently been employed by the poets. Mr. Butler ridicules this false kind of wit, and produces answers which are sufficiently whimsical. The learned Erasmus composed a dialogue upon this subject: his Echo seems to have been an extraordinary linguist; for she answers the person, with whom she converses, in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. "The conceit of making Echo talk sensibly," says Mr. Addison, Spectator, No. 59. " and give rational answers, if it could be excus"able in any writer, would be so in Ovid, where he introduces Echo 66 as a nymph, before she was worn away into nothing but a voice. "The passage relating her conversation with Narcissus is very 66 ingenious : Forte puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, Dixerat, Ecquis adest? et Adest, responderat Echo. Metamorph. iii. 379. A friend of mine, who boasted much of his park and gardens in Ireland, among other curiosities mentioned an extraordinary Echo, that would return answers to any thing which was said. Of what kind?-inquired a gentleman present. Why, says he, if I call out loud, How do you do, Coaner? the Echo immediately answers, Very well, thank you, sir. Stout Hercules for loss of Hylas ;-Euripides, in his Andromeda, |