For underneath the skirt of pannel, To active trot on one side of's horse, A Squire he had, whose name was Ralph, 450 455 A squire he had, whose name was Ralph,] As the knight was of the Presbyterian party, so the squire was an Anabaptist or Independent. This gives our author an opportunity of characterizing both these sects, and of shewing their joint concurrence against the king and church. The Presbyterians and Independents had each a separate form of ehurch discipline. The Presbyterian system appointed, for every parish, a minister, one or more deacons, and two ruling elders, who were laymen chosen by the parishioners. Each parish was subject to a classis, or union of several parishes. A deputation of two ministers and four ruling elders, from every classis in the county, constituted a provincial synod. And superior to the provincial was the national synod, consisting of deputies from the former, in the proportion of two ruling elders to one minister. Appeals were allowed throughout these several jurisdictions, and ultimately to the parlia ment. On the attachment of the Presbyterians to their lay-elders, Mr. Seldon observes, in his Table-talk, p. 118, that "there must be some laymen in the synod to overlook the clergy, lest they spoil "the civil work just as when the good woman puts a cat into the "milk-house, she sends her maid to look after the cat, lest the cat "should eat up the cream." : The Independents maintained, that every congregation was a complete church within itself, and had no dependence on classical, Though writers, for more stately tone, And when we can, with metre safe, 460 With which, like ships, they steer their courses. An equal stock of wit and valour He had lain in, by birth a tailor. The mighty Tyrian queen that gain'd, 465 provincial, or national synods or assemblies. They chose their own ministers, and required no ordination or laying on of hands, as the Presbyterians did. They admitted any gifted brother, that is, any enthusiast who thought he could preach or pray, into their assemblies. They entered into covenant with their minister, and he with them. Soon after the Revolution the Presbyterians and Independents coalesced, the former yielding in some respects to the latter. 9 And when we can, with metre safe, We'll call him so, if not, plain Raph ;] Paulino Ausonius, metrum sic suasit, ut esses Tu prior, et nomen prægrederere meum. Sir Roger L'Estrange supposes, that in his description of Ralpho, our author had in view one Isaac Robinson, a butcher in Moorfields: others think that the character was designed for Pemble, a tailor, and one of the committee of sequestrators.-Dr. Grey supposes, that the name of Ralph was taken from the grocer's apprentice, in Beaumont and Fletcher's play, called the Knight of the Burning Pestle. Mr. Pemberton, who was a relation and godson of Mr. Butler, said, that the 'squire was designed for Ralph Bedford, esquire, member of parliament for the town of Bedford. 1 The mighty Tyrian queen that gain'd, With subtle shreds, a tract of land,] Alludes to the well-known story of Dido, who purchased as much land as she could surround Did leave it, with a castle fair, To his great ancestor, her heir; From him descended cross-legg'd knights ;' Whom they destroy'd both great and small. As the bold Trojan knight, seen hell,* 470 475 with an ox's hide. She cut the hide into small strips, and obtained twenty-two furlongs. Mercatique solum, facti de nomine Byrsam, Virg. Æneid, lib. i. 367. 2 From him descended cross-legg'd knights;] Tailors, who usually sit at their work in this posture; and knights of the Holy Voyage, persons who had made a vow to go to the Holy Land, after death were represented on their monuments with their legs across. 66 Sumptuosissima per orbem christianum erecta cœnobia; in qui"bus hodie quoque videre licet militum illorum imagines, monumenta, tibiis in crucem transversis: sic enim sepulti fuerunt quotquot illo seculo nomina bello sacro dedissent, vel qui tunc "temporis crucem suscepissent." Chronic. Ecclesiast. lib. ii. p. 72. Fam'd for their faith and warlike fights Against the bloody Cannibal,] Tailors, as well as knights of the Holy Voyage, are famed for their faith, the former frequently trusting much in the way of their trade. The words, bloody cannibal, are not altogether applied to the Saracens; who, on many occasions behaved with great generosity; but they denote a more insignificant creature, to whom the tailor is said to be an avowed enemy. This sturdy Squire had, as well As the bold Trojan knight, seen hell,] In allusion to Æneas's descent into hell, and the tailor's repairing to the place under the board on which he sat to work, called hell likewise, being a receptacle for all the stolen scraps of cloth, lace, &c. Not with a counterfeited pass Of golden bough, but true gold lace. The knight's, but of another kind, And he another way came by't; Some call it GIFTS, and some NEW LIGHT. Of study, industry, or brains. His wits were sent him for a token, 480 485 But in the carriage crack'd and broken." 5 Not with a counterfeited pass Of golden bough,-] Mr. Montague Bacon says, it should seem, by these lines, that the poet thought Virgil meant a counterfeited bough; Dr. Plot, in his History of Staffordshire, says, that gold in the mines often grows in the shape of boughs and branches, and leaves; therefore Virgil, who understood nature well, though he gave it a poetical turn, means no more than a sign of Æneas's going under ground where mines are. • But in the carriage crack'd and broken.] That is, that he was crack-brained. Like commendation nine-pence crookt, With-to and from my love-it lookt.] From hence, and from the proverb used (Post. Works, v. ii. No. 114.) viz. "he has brought "his noble to a ninepence," one would be led to conclude, that some coins had actually been strucken of this denomination and value. And, indeed, two instances of this are recorded by Mr. Folkes, both during the civil wars, the one at Dublin, and the other at Newark. Table of English coins, ed. 1763, p. 92. plates 27. 4. and 28. But long before this period, by royal proclamation of July 9, 1551, the base testoons or shillings of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. were rated at ninepence (Folkes, ibid. p. 37.) and of these there were great numbers. It may be conjectured also, that the clipt shillings of Edward and Elizabeth; and, perhaps, some foreign silver coins, He ne'er consider'd it, as lothR To look a gift-horse in the mouth; 490 might pass by common allowance and tacit agreement for ninepence, and be so called. In William Prynne's answer to John Audland the Quaker, in Butler's Genuine Remains, vol. i. p. 382. we read, a light piece of gold is good and lawful English coin, current with allowance, though it be clipt, filed, washed, or worn: even so are my ears legal, warrantable, and sufficient ears, however they have been clipt, par'd, cropt, circumcis'd. In Queen Elizabeth's time, as Holinshed, Stow, and Cambden affirm, a proclamation was issued, declaring that the testoon coined for twelve-pence, should be current for four-pence halfpenny; an inferior sort, marked with a greyhound, for two-pence farthing; and a third and worst sort not to be current at all: stamping and milling money took place about the year 1662. All, or any of these pieces, might serve for pocket-pieces among the vulgar, and be given to their sweethearts and comrades, as tokens of remembrance and affection. At this day, an Elizabeth's shilling is not unfrequently applied to such purpose. The country people say commonly, I will use your commendations, that is, make your compliments. George Philips, before his execution, bended a sixpence, and presented it to a friend of his, Mr. Stroud. He gave a bended shilling to one Mr. Clark. See a brief narrative of the stupendous tragedy intended by the satanical saints, 1662, p. 59. He ne'er consider'd it, as loth] That is, he did not consider it was crackt and broken, or perhaps it may mean, he did not overvalue, and hoard it up, it being given him by inspiration, according to the doctrine of the Independents. 9 And very wisely would lay forth No more upon it than 'twas worth.] When the barber came to shave Sir Thomas More the morning of his execution, the prisoner told him, "that there was a contest betwixt the King and him for "his head, and he would not willingly lay out more upon it than it "was worth." |