And if you'll but this fault release pay For 'tis but just that I should The Knight, perusing this Epistle, 330 335 With great applause t' himself twice over; 340 Subscrib'd his name, but at a fit And humble distance, to his wit, And dated it with wond'rous art, "Giv'n from the bottom of his heart;' 345 350 gave Then it to his faithful Squire, But guessing that it might import, 355 And thus perform'd what she design'd. 360 NOTES ON THE HEROICAL EPISTLE OF HUDIBRAS TO HIS LADY. ONE of Dr. Grey's auxiliary commentators says, "This Epistle was to be the result of all the fair methods the Knight was to use in gaining the widow: it therefore required all his wit and dexterity to draw from this artful lady an unwary answer. If the plot succeeded, he was to compel her immediately, by law, to a compliance with his desires. But the lady was too cunning to give him such a handle as he longed for; on the contrary, her answer silenced all his pretensions." V. 2. Am now reduc'd to Nebuchadnezzar.] The Earl of Essex, in his disgrace, addressed a letter of complaint to Queen Elizabeth, couched in terms very similar to those Hudibras here employs. He declared himself reduced to the state of Nebuchadnezzar, in consequence of the Queen's withdrawing her favour, and with many other expressions equally hyperbolical, professed himself unable to bear the load of existence, if she persisted in keeping him removed from the radiance of her beauties. The Queen on this occasion, though she was then verging towards her seventieth year, yielded to the urgency of the Earl's suit, and restored him to her favour. In a short time afterwards he offended again, and the sequel of his story is too well known to be here narrated. V. 15. Yet if you were not so severe To pass your doom before you hear.] This is exactly in the style of the Earl of Essex's letter above alluded to, and which there can be no doubt Butler had his eye upon when he composed this heroic epistle. Though it would be improper to compare so renowned a princess as Elizabeth with a personage of so little dignity as the widow, or a nobleman so gallant and accomplished as the Earl of Essex with a wight so preposterous and ridiculous as Sir Hudibras, yet it is impossible not to notice the coincidence between the two letters. In Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, there are some pieces to be met with in a vein equally inflated and tumified. V. 29. Who always are observ'd t' have done 't.] Hudibras touches the subject of his deferred flagellation with the happiest address, and excuses himself for the breach of his parole of honour, by alleging the example of the saints, who, on different occasions, made no scruple to violate their promises. V. 39-42. It is no scandal, nor aspersion Th' old fashion'd trick, to keep his word.] Notwithstanding our poet's well-established character for loyalty, there is a very strong presumption that he intended here to lash the heads of the royal party as well as the republican leaders. Charles II. was infamous for his ingratitude; nay, even his character for mercy, which was so much vaunted by the writers of his age, is denied by an illustrious statesman of our own, (the late Mr. Fox,) his descendant in the fifth generation. It is probable, Butler had as much in view the ingratitude of the court of Charles to individuals, like himself, who had suffered in the royal cause, as to any particular failing in the Presbyterians or Independents the same way. Instances of great men breaking their word, (could they, or did they deserve to be recorded,) would make a collection as voluminous and as unsatisfactory as the Statutes at Large; while of great men observing their promises it would be difficult to collect matter for a single volume. V. 45-6-7. For to be able to forget, Is found more useful to the great 1 Than gout, or deafness, or bad eyes.] The satire of these lines is of the most exquisite cast. Butler probably wrote from his own experience. He had felt the miseries of dependence, and was well qualified to describe the callous indifference of the great towards indigent merit. V. 53-4. To make the ears repair the wrong Committed by th' ungovern'd tongue.] Dr. Grey, in his note upon this passage, says, "Sir Hudibras seems to think it as unreasonable to punish one member for the fault of another as the Dutchman did the application made to one part for the cure of another. A purse-proud Dutchman, says Sir Roger L'Estrange, Fables, Part II. Fab. 313, was troubled with a meagrim; the doctors prescribed him a clyster-the patient fell into a rage upon -Why certainly these people are all mad, (said he,) who talk of curing a man's head at his tail.” V. 75-6. For no man takes or keeps a vow it: But just as he sees others do.] In revolutionary times, the excuse which men make for deserting one party and joining with another is, that they see others do the same, and that they do not lead, but join in the stream. This was wonderfully exemplified in the course of the French revolution, a revolution which commenced on the noblest principles, and which erminated in the most hideous and nefarious despotism that the world ever saw. V. 99. Love, that's the world's preservative.] This and the following lines are an imitation of Lucretius. Moderns have carried the same doctrine still further, and some have not scrupled to affirm, that metals and stones are produced by some process analogous to the production of animals' and vegetables; but hitherto these subtle mysteries of nature have escaped the actual detection of our most inquisitive philosophers. These philosophical reveries might be admirably lashed by a man endowed with enough of science and poetry to expose the ridicule with which they are pregnant. V. 113-4. Or who but lovers can converse, Like angels, by the eye-discourse ?] Dr. Grey says, "metaphysicians are of opinion, that angels and departed souls, being divested of all gross matter, understand each other's sentiments by intuition, and consequently maintain a sort of conversation without the organs of speech." He adds, "The correspondence by two persons at a great dis |