And force them, though it were in spite
Of Nature, and their stars, to write;
Who, as we find in sullen writs,"

And cross-grain'd works of modern wits,
With vanity, opinion, want,

The wonder of the ignorant,

3

The praises of the author, penn'd
By himself, or wit-insuring friend ;3
The itch of picture in the front,*
With bays, and wicked rhyme upon't,

In this large room of state is fix'd a throne,
From whence the wise Creator looks upon
His workmanship, and thence doth hear and see
All sounds, all places, and all things that be:
Here sat the king of gods, and from about
His eye-lids so much terror sparkled out,
That every circle of the heavens it shook,
And all the world did tremble at his look:
The prospect of the sky, that erst was clear,
Did with a low'ring countenance appear;
The troubled air before his presence fled,
The earth into her bosom shrunk her head;
The deeps did roar, the heights did stand amaz'd;
The moon and stars upon each other gaz'd;

The sun did stand unmoved in his path,

The host of Heaven was frighted at his wrath;
And with a voice, which made all nature quake,
To this effect the great Eternal spake.

Canto i. p. 17.

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2 Who, as we find in sullen writs,] That is, ill-natured satirical writings.

• The praises of the author, penn'd

By himself, or wit-insuring friend;] He very ingeniously ridicules the vanity of authors who prefix commendatory verses to their works.

• The itch of picture in the front,] Milton, who had an high opi

All that is left o' th' forked hill 5

To make men scribble without skill;
Canst make a poet, spite of fate,
And teach all people to translate;
Though out of languages, in which
They understand no part of speech;
Assist me but this once, I 'mplore,
And I shall trouble thee no more.

In western clime there is a town,

To those that dwell therein well known,
Therefore there needs no more be said here,
We unto them refer our reader

For brevity is very good,

;

When w' are, or are not understood."

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nion of his own person, is said to have been angry with the painter or engraver for want of likeness, or perhaps for want of grace, in a print of himself prefixed to his juvenile poems. He expressed his displeasure in four iambics, which have, indeed, no great merit, and lie open to severe criticism, particularly on the word dvoμíμnua.

̓Αμαθεῖ γεγράφθαι χειρὶ τὴνδὲ μὲν εἰκόνα

Φαίης τάχ ̓ ἂν, πρὸς εἶδος αὐτοφυὲς βλέπων.
Τὸν δ ̓ ἐκτυπωτὸν οὐκ ἐπιγνόντες, φίλοι,
Γελᾶτε φαύλου δυσμίμημα ζωγράφου.

All that is left o' th' forked hill] That is, Parnassus.

Nec fonte labra prolui caballino :

Nec in bicipiti somniasse Parnasso

Memini, ut repente sic poeta prodirem.

Persii Sat. Prol.

In western clime there is a town,] He probably means Brentford, about eight miles west of London. See Part ii. Cant. iii. v. 996. 7 For brevity is very good,

When w' are, or are not understood.] If we are understood, more words are unnecessary; if we are not likely to be understood,

A circle, like a bear at stake,

That at the chain's end wheels about,
And overturns the rabble-rout:
For after solemn proclamation,3

In the bear's name, as is the fashion,
According to the law of arms,
To keep men from inglorious harms,
That none presume to come so near
As forty feet of stake of bear;

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they are useless. Charles II. answered the Earl of Manchester with these lines, only changing very for ever, when he was making a long speech in favour of the dissenters.

For after solemn proclamation,] The proclamation here mentioned, was usually made at bear or bull-baiting. See Plot's Staffordshire, 439. Solemn proclamation made by the steward, that all manner of persons give way to the bull, or bear, none being to come near him by 40 feet.

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If any yet be so fool-hardy,
T'expose themselves to vain jeopardy,
If they come wounded off, and lame,
No honour's got by such a maim,
Altho' the bear gain much, b'ing bound
In honour to make good his ground,
When he's engag'd, and take no notice,
If any press upon him, who 'tis,
But lets them know, at their own cost,
That he intends to keep his post.
This to prevent, and other harms,
Which always wait on feats of arms,
For in the hurry of a fray

"Tis hard to keep out of harm's way.
Thither the Knight his course did steer,
To keep the peace 'twixt dog and bear,
As he believ'd he was bound to do
In conscience, and commission too ;'
And therefore thus bespoke the Squire :
We that are wisely mounted higher

9 As he believ'd he was bound to do

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In conscience, and commission too;] The Presbyterians and Independents were great enemies to those sports with which the country people amused themselves. Mr. Hume, in the last volume of his History of England, (Manners of the Commonwealth, chap. iii. anno 1660. page 119.) says, "All recreations were in a manner suspended, by the rigid severity of the Presbyterians and Independents: even bear-baiting was esteemed heathenish and unchristian: the sport of it, not the inhumanity, gave offence. Colonel Hewson, "from his pious zeal, marched with his regiment into London, "and destroyed all the bears which were there kept for the diversion "of the citizens. This adventure seems to have given birth to the "fiction of Hudibras."

For so of late men fighting name,
Because they often prove the same;
For where the first does hap to be,
The last does coincidere.

Quantum in nobis, have thought good
To save th' expence of Christian blood,
And try if we, by mediation

Of treaty, and accommodation,
Can end the quarrel, and compose
The bloody duel without blows.
Are not our liberties, our lives,
The laws, religion, and our wives,

We that are wisely mounted higher

Than constables in curule wit,

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When on tribunal bench we sit,] We that are in high office, and sit on the bench by commission as justices of the peace.—Some of the chief magistrates in Rome, as ædile, censor, prætor, and consul, were said to hold curule offices, from the chair of state or chariot they rode in, called sella curulis.

2 Low proletarian tything-men:] Proletarii were the lowest class of people among the Romans, who had no property, so called a munere officioque prolis edendæ, as if the only good they did to the state were in begetting children. Tything-man, that is, a kind of inferior or deputy constable.