The Knight, by damnable magician,
Being cast illegally in prison,
Love brings his action on the case,
And lays it upon HUDIBRAS.
How he receives the Lady's visit,
And cunningly solicits his suit,
Which she defers; yet, on parole,
Redeems him from th' enchanted hole.
UT now, t'observe romantic method, Let bloody steel a while be sheathed, And all those harsh and rugged sounds Of bastinadoes, cuts, and wounds,
HUDIBRAS illégalement
Resserré par enchantement:
L'amour se met de la partie,
Pour augmenter son avanie:
Survient l'objet de son amour:
Finement il lui fait sa cour.
La dame joue au mieux son rôle ;
Et l'élargit sur sa parole.
CHANT IV.
SUIVANT le style de roman,
Rengaînons le fer un moment;
Ne parlons plus de meurtrissure,
Coups de bâton, ni de blessure;
Exchang❜d to Love's more gentle style,
To let our reader breathe a while;
In which, that we may be as brief as
Is possible, by way of preface,
Is't not enough to make one strange,
That some men's fancies should ne'er change,
But make all people do and say
The same things still the self-same way?
Some writers make all ladies purloin'd,
And knights pursuing like a whirlwind :
Others make all their knights, in fits
Of jealousy, to lose their wits;
Till drawing blood o' th' dames, like witches,
Th' are forthwith cur'd of their capriches.
Some always thrive in their amours,
By pulling plaisters off their sores;
As cripples do to get an alms,
Just so do they, and win their dames.
Some force whole regions in despite
O' geography, to change their site;
Make former times shake hands with latter,
And that which was before, come after.
But those that write in rhyme, still make
The one verse for the other's sake;
For, one for sense, and one for rhyme,
I think's sufficient at one time.
D'amour il faut un peu parler,
Et laisser lecteur respirer,
Leur faire une courte préface;
Quand elle est trop longue on s'en lasse.
Or, ne doit-on pas s'étonner
De voir tant d'auteurs nous donner
Toujours, soit en vers, soit en prose,
Sans varier, la même chose?
Dames qu'enlèvent des amants,
Des chevaliers après courants.
D'un chevalier la jalousie
Le fait tomber en frénésie ;
A sa dame il tire du sang,
Et se sent guéri dans l'instant,
Suivant la façon coutumière
De rompre un charme de sorcière. (1)
Un autre est heureux en amour,
Etalant tous ses maux au jour,
Et gagne un cœur par ton maussade,
Comme un gueux gagne caristade.
On change les positions
Des temps, comme des régions, (2)
En dépit de géographie,
Ainsi que de chronologie.
De deux vers, pourtant le dernier
Est toujours fait pour le premier;
Car, pour le sens,
dans cette escrime,
Un suffit, l'autre est pour la rime.
But we forget in what sad plight.
We whilom left the captiv'd Knight
And pensive Squire, both bruis'd in body,
And conjur'd into safe custody;
Tir'd with dispute and speaking Latin,
As well as basting and bear-baiting,
And desperate of any course
To free himself by wit or force,
His only solace was, that now
His dog-bolt fortune was so low,
That either it must quickly end,
Or turn about again, and mend;
In which he found th' event, no less
Than other times, beside his guess.
There is a tall long-sided dame
(But wond'rous light) ycleped Fame,
That, like a thin camelion, boards
Herself on air, and eats her words;
Upon her shoulders wings she wears
Like hanging-sleeves, lin'd through with ears,
And eyes, and tongues, as poets list,
Made good by deep mythologist.
With these she through the welkin flies,
And sometimes carries truth, oft lies;
With letters hung like eastern pigeons,
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