Of squire and baggage from his back;
And blundering still with smarting rump,
He gave the knight's steed such a thump
855 As made him reel. The knight did stoop,
And sat on further side aslope.
This Talgol viewing, who had now,
By sleight, escaped the fatal blow,
He rallied, and again fell to 't;
360 For catching foe by nearer foot,
He lifted with such might and strength
As would have hurled him thrice his length, And dashed his brains, if any, out; But Mars, who still protects the stout, 865 In pudding-time came to his aid, And under him the bear conveyed; The bear, upon whose soft fur-gown The knight with all his weight fell down. The friendly rug preserved the ground, 870 And headlong knight, from bruise or wound: Like feather-bed betwixt a wall,
And heavy brunt of cannon-ball.
As Sancho on a blanket fell,
And had no hurt; ours fared as well 875 In body, though his mighty spirit, B'ing heavy, did not so well bear it. The bear was in a greater fright, Beat down, and worsted by the knight; He roared, and raged, and flung about, 880 To shake off bondage from his snout. His wrath inflamed, boiled o'er, and from His jaws of death he threw the foam; Fury in stranger postures threw him, And more, than ever herald drew him, 885 He tore the earth, which he had saved
From squelch of knight, and stormed and raved;
And vexed the more, because the harms
He felt were 'gainst the law of arms:
For men he always took to be
890 His friends, and dogs the enemy,
Who never so much hurt had done him
As his own side did falling on him.
It grieved him to the guts, that they,
For whom h' had fought so many a fray,
895 And served with loss of blood so long,
Should offer such inhuman wrong;
Wrong of unsoldier-like condition;
For which he flung down his commission,
And laid about him, till his nose
900 From thrall of ring and cord broke loose.
Soon as he felt himself enlarged,
Through thickest of his foes he charged,
And made way through th' amazed crew,
Some he o'er-ran, and some o'erthrew,
But took none; for, by hasty flight,
He strove t' escape pursuit of knight,
From whom he fled with as much haste
And dread, as he the rabble chased.
In haste he fled, and so did they,
Each and his fear a several way.
Crowdero only kept the field,
Not stirring from the place he held,
Though beaten down, and wounded sore,
I th' fiddle, and the leg that bore
915 One side of him, not that of bone,
But much its better, th' wooden one.
He spying Hudibras lie strewed
Upon the ground, like log of wood,
In haste he snatched the wooden limb,
That hurt i' th' ankle lay by him,
And fitting it for sudden fight,
Straight drew it up, t' attack the knight,
925 For getting up on stump and huckle,
He with the foe began to buckle,
Vowing to be revenged for breach
Of crowd and skin, upon the wretch,
Sole author of all detriment
He and his fiddle underwent,
But Ralpho, who had now begun
T' adventure resurrection
From heavy squelch, and had got up
Upon his legs, with sprained crup,
935 Looking about, beheld the bard
To charge the knight entranced prepared,
He snatched his whinyard up, that fled
When he was falling off his steed,
As rats do from a falling house,
To hide itself from rage of blows;
And winged with speed and fury, flew
To rescue knight from black and blue.
Which ere he could achieve, his sconce
The leg encountered twice and once;
And now 'twas raised to smite again,
When Ralpho thrust himself between;
He took the blow upon his arm,
To shield the knight from further harm;
And, joining wrath with force, bestowed
O' th' wooden member such a load,
That down it fell, and with it bore
Crowdero, whom it propped before.
To him the squire right nimbly run,
And setting conquering foot upon
955 His trunk, thus spoke: 'What desperate frenzy
Made thee, thou whelp of sin, to fancy
Thyself, and all that coward rabble,
T'encounter us in battle able?
How durst th', I say, oppose thy curship 960 'Gainst arms, authority, and worship, And Hudibras or me provoke,
Though all thy limbs were heart of oak,
And th' other half of thee as good
To bear out blows as that of wood?
965 Could not the whipping-post prevail,
With all its rhetoric, nor the jail,
To keep from flaying scourge thy skin,
And ankle free from iron gin?
Which now thou shalt-but first our care
Must see how Hudibras does fare.'
This said, he gently raised the knight.
To rouse him from lethargic dump,
He tweaked his nose, with gentle thump
Knocked on his breast, as if 't had been
To raise the spirits lodged within:
They, wakened with the noise, did fly
From inward room, to window eye,
And gently opening lid, the casement
980 Looked out, but yet with some amazement.
This gladded Ralpho much to see,
Who thus bespoke the knight: quoth he,
Tweaking his nose, 'You are, great Sir,
A self-denying conqueror;
985 As high, victorious, and great,
As e'er fought for the churches yet, If you will give yourself but leave To make out what y' already have; That's victory. The foe, for dread 990 Of your nine-worthiness, is fled,
All, save Crowdero, for whose sake
You did th' espoused cause undertake;
And he lies prisoner at your feet,
To be disposed as you think meet,
Either for life, or death, or sale,
The gallows, or perpetual jail;
For one wink of your powerful eyo
Must sentence him to live or die.
His fiddle is your proper purchase,
1000 Won in the service of the churches;
And by your doom must be allowed
To be, or be no more, a crowd:
For though success did not confer
Just title on the conqueror ;
1005 Though dispensations were not strong
Conclusions, whether right or wrong;
Although out-goings did confirm,
And owning were but a mere term;
Yet as the wicked have no right
1010 To th' creature, though usurped by might, The property is in the saint,
From whom th' injuriously detain't; Of him they hold their luxuries, 1015 Their riots, revels, masks, delights, Pimps, buffoons, fiddlers, parasites; All which the saints have title to, And ought t' enjoy, if they 'ad their due. What we take from them is no more
1020 Than what was ours by right before; For we are their true landlords still, And they our tenants but at will.'
At this the knight began to rouse,
And by degrees grow valorous:
He stared about, and seeing none
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