And when ye 've hang'd the conjurer,
Ye 've time enough to deal with her.
In th' int'rim fpare for no trepans
To draw her neck into the bans;

745

Ply her with loveletters and billets,

And bait 'em well, for quirks and quillets,

With trains t' inveigle and furprise

750

Her heedlefs anfwers and replies;
And if the mifs the mouse-trap lines,
They'll ferve for other by-defigns;
And make an artist understand
To copy out her seal, or hand;
Or find void places in the paper
To steal in fomething to entrap her;
Till with her worldly goods, and body,
Spite of her heart, fhe has endow'd ye:
Retain all forts of witnesses,

That ply i' th' temples, under trees,

Or walk the round, with Knights o' th' Posts,
About the cross-legg'd knights, their hofts;
Or wait for customers between

The pillar-rows in Lincoln's-Inn;

755

760

end of the thirteenth century, a doctor of divinity in Oxford, and a particular acquaintance of Friar Bacon's. In that ignorant age, every thing that feemed extraordinary was reputed magick, and fo both Bacon and Bongey went under the imputation of ftudying the black art. Bongey alfo publishing a treatise of natural magick, confirmed fome well-meaning credulous people in this opinion; but it was altogether groundlefs, for Bongey was chofen provincial of his order, being a perfon of most excellent parts and piety.

And when ye 're furnish'd with all purveys,

I shall be ready at your service.

I would not give (quoth Hudibras)

A ftraw to understand a cafe,
Without the admirable skill

To wind and manage it at will;

To veer, and tack, and steer a cause,

Against the weathergage of laws,

And ring the changes upon cafes,

775

As plain as nofes upon faces,
As you have well inftructed me,

For which you've earn'd (here 'tis) your fee.
I long to practise your advice,

And try the fubtle artifice;

780

.782.] The beggar's prayer for the lawyer would have fuited this gentleman very well. See the works of J. Taylor, the Water-poet, p. 101,"May the terms be everlasting to thee, "thou man of tongue; and may contentions grow and mul

tiply, may actions beget actions, and cafes ingender cafes as " thick as hops; may every day of the year be a Shrove. "Tuesday; let proclamations forbid fighting, to increase aç"tions of battery; that thy caffock may be three piled, and the welts of thy gown may not grow threadbare !”

OF HUDIERAS TO HIS LADY.

I WHO was once as great as Cæfar,

Am now reduc'd to Nebuchadnezzar;

And from as fam'd a

conqueror

As ever took degree in war,

Or did his exercise in battle,.

By you turn'd out to grafs with cattle;
For fince I am deny'd access
To all my earthly happiness,
Am fall'n from the paradise

Of your good graces, and fair eyes;
Loft to the world, and you, I'm fent
To everlasting banishment,

Where all the hopes I had to 've won
Your heart, b'ing dafh'd, will break my own.

**This Epiftle was to be the refult 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 fucceeded, he was to compel her immediately, by law, to a compliance with his defires. But the Lady was too cunning to give him such a handle as he longed for? on the contrary, her Anfier Mehéed all his pretenfions.

20

That once I made a vow to you,
Which yet is unperform'd, 't is true;

But not, because it is unpaid,
"Tis violated, tho' delay'd:
Or, if it were, it is no fault,

So heinous as you'ld have it thought;
To undergo the loss of ears,

Like vulgar hackney perjurers:
For there's a difference in the cafe,
Between the noble and the bafe;

Who always are obferv'd to 've done 't

Upon as diff'rent an account;

25

30

The one for great and weighty cause,

To falve, in honour, ugly flaws;

For none are like to do it fooner,

Than those who 're niceft of their honour:

The other, for base gain and pay,

35

Forfwear and perjure by the day,
And make th' exposing and retailing"
Their fouls, and confciences, a calling.
It is no fcandal nor afperfion,

Upon a great and noble perfon,

To fay he nat'rally abhorr'd

'Th' old-fashion'd trick to keep his word,

40

'Tho' 'tis perfidiousness and shame,

In meaner men, to do the fame:
For to be able to forget,

Is found more useful to the great..

Than gout, or deafness, or bad eyes,
To make 'em pafs for wondrous wife.
But tho' the law, on perjurers,
Inflicts the forfeiture of ears,
It is not juft, that does exempt
The guilty, and punish the innocent;
To make the ears repair the wrong
Committed by th' ungovern'd tongue;
And, when one member is forfworn,
Another to be cropp'd or torn.
And if you fhout'd, as you defign,
By courfe of law, recover mine,
You're like, if you confider right,
To gain but little honour by 't.
For he that for his lady's fake

Lays down his life, or limbs; at stake,
Does not fo much deferve her favour,
As he that pawns his foul to have her.
This ye 've acknowledg'd I have done,
Altho' you now difdain to own;...
But fentence what you rather aught
T'efteem good service than a fault.
Befides, oaths are not bound to bear
That literal fenfe the words infer;.