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Oh! Oh! with that he fetch'd a groan,

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Rail'd at their Covenant, and jeer'd
Their rev'rend parsons, to my beard:
For all which scandals, to be quit
At once, this juncture falls out fit,
I'll make him henceforth to beware,
And tempt my fury, if he dare.
He must at least hold up his hand,
By twelve freeholders to be scann'd;
Who, by their skill in palmistry,
Will quickly read his destiny;

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And make him glad to read his lesson,
Or take a turn for 't at the session;
Unless his Light and Gifts prove truer

Than ever yet they did, I'm sure;

For if he 'scape with whipping now,

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Tis more than he can hope to do;
And that will disengage my conscience
Of th' obligation in his own sense.

I'll make him now by force abide
What he by gentle means deny'd,
To give my honour satisfaction,
And right the Brethren in the action.

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This being resolv'd, with equal speed

And conduct he approach'd his steed,
And with activity unwont,

Assay'd the lofty beast to mount;

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Which once achiev'd, he spurr'd his palfrey,
To get from th' enemy, and Ralph, free:
Left dangers, fears, and foes behind,

And beat, at least three lengths, the wind.

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1 B

UT now t' observe, &c.] The beginning of this Second Part may perhaps seem strange and abrupt to those who do not know that it was written on purpose in imitation of Virgil, who begins the IVth Book of his Eneids in the very same manner, At Regina gravi, &c. And this is enough to satisfy the curiosity of those who believe that invention and fancy ought to be measured (like cases in law) by precedents, or else they are in the power of the critick.

205 b A Saxon Duke, &c.] This history of the Duke of Saxony is not so strange as that of a Bishop, his countryman, who was quite eaten up with rats and mice.

237 King Pyrrhus, &c.] Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, as Pliny says, had this occult quality in his toe, Pollicis in dextro Pede tactu Lienosis medebatur, L.7. C. 11.

259 d In close Catasta shut, &c.] Catasta is but a pair of Stocks in English. But heroical poetry must not admit of any vulgar word, (especially of paltry signification), and therefore some of our modern authors are fain to import foreign words from abroad, that were never before heard of in our language.

371 e The ancient writers of the lives of saints were of the same sort of people who first writ of knighterrantry and as in the one they rendered the brave actions of some great persons ridiculous, by their prodigious lies, and sottish way of describing them, so they have abused the piety of some devout persons, by imposing such stories on them as this upon St. Francis.

393 f This made the beauteous Queen, &c.] The history of Pasiphae is common enough: only this may be observed, that tho' she brought the bull a son and heir, yet the husband was fain to father it; as appears by the name; perhaps, because being an island, he was within the four seas when the infant was begotten. 338 g As your own Secretary,&c.] Albertus Magnus was a Swedish Bishop, who wrote a very learned work, De Secretis Mulierum.

470 h Unless it be to squint, &c.] Pliny, in his Natural History, affirms, that Uni animalium homini oculi depravantur, unde Cognomina Strabonum & Patorum. Lib. 2.

532 As Friar Bacon's Noddle was, &c.] The tra dition of Friar Bacon and the Brazen Head is very commonly known; and, considering the times he lived in, is not much more strange than what another great Philosopher of his name has delivered up of a ring, that being tied in a string, and held like a pendulum in the middle of a silver bowl, will vibrate of itself, and tell exactly, against the sides of the diviuing cup, the same thing with, Time is, Time was, &c.

533 k American Indians, among whom (the same authors affirm) there are others, whose sculls are so soft, to use their own words, Ut Digito perforari possunt.

556 Or Oracle, &c.] Jupiter's Oracle in Epirus, near the city of Dodona, Ubi Nemus erat Jovi sacrum. Querneum totum, in quo Jovis Dodonai templum fuisse narratur.

7151 Semiramis, Queen of Assyria, is said to be the first that invented Eunuchs. Semiramis teneros mares castravit omnium prima. Am. Marcel. L. 34. p. 12. Which is something strange in a lady of her constitution, who is said to have received horses into her embraces; but that, perhaps, may be the reason why she afterwards thought men not worth the while. 725 m For some Philosophers, &c.] Sir K. D. in his Book of Bodies, who has this story of the German Boy, which he endeavours to make good by several natural reasons; by which those who have the dexte rity to believe what they please, may be fully satisfied of the probability of it.

845 n A Persian Emperor, &c.] Xerxes, who used to whip the seas and wind. In Corum atque Eurum solitus savire Flagellis. Juv. Sat. 10.

15" So th' ancient Stoicks, &c.] In Porticu (Stoicorum Schola Athenis) Discipulorum seditionibus mille Quadringenti triginta Cives interfecti sunt. Diog. Laert. in vita Zenonis, p. 383. Those old Virtuosos were better proficients in those exercises than modern, who seldom improve higher than cuffing and kicking.

19 Bonum is such a kind of animal as our modern Virtuosi from Don Quixote will have windmills under sail to be. The same authors are of opinion, that all ships are fishes while they are afloat; but when they are run on ground, or laid up in the dock, be come ships again.

413 P In a town, &c.] The history of the Cobler had been attested by persons of good credit, who were upon the place when it was done.

q

548 Have been exchang'd, &c.] The Knight was kept prisoner in Exeter, and, after several exchanges proposed, but none accepted of, was at last released for a barrel of ale, as he often used to declare. 678 Bore a slave with him in his chariot.

Et sibi Consul

Me placeat, curru servus portatur eodem.

S

688 $ Hung out, &c.] Tunica Coccinea solebat pridie quam dimicandum esset, supra prætorium poni, quasi admonitio, & indicium futuræ pugnæ. Lipsius in Tacit. p. 56.

687 Next Links, &c.] That the Roman Emperors were wont to have torches borne before them (by day) in public, appears by Herodian in Pertinace. Lips. in Tacit. p. 16.

879 u Vespasian being dawb'd, &c.] C. Cæsar succensens, propter curum verrendis viis non adhibitam, Luto jussit oppleri congesto per milites in prætexta sinum. Sueton. in Vespas. C. 5.

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