He, bravely vent'ring at a crown,
By chance of war was beaten down, 140
And wounded sore: his leg, then broke,
Had got a deputy of oak;
For when a shin in fight is cropt,
The knee with one of timber's propt,
Esteem'd more honourable than the other, 145
And takes place, tho' the younger brother.[1]
Next march'd brave Orsin,[2] famous for
Wise conduct, and success in war;
A skilful leader, stout, severe,
Now marshal to the champion bear. 150
With truncheon tipp'd with iron head,
The warrior to the lists he led;
With solemn march, and stately pace,
But far more grave and solemn face;
Grave as the Emperor of Pegu,[3] 155
Or Spanish potentate, Don Diego.[4]
This leader was of knowledge great,
Either for charge, or for retreat:
Knew when t' engage his bear pell-mell,
And when to bring him off as well.[5] 160
So lawyers, lest the bear defendant,
And plaintiff dog, should make an end on't,
Do stave and tail with writs of error,[6]
Reverse of judgment, and demurrer,
- ↑ A person with a wooden leg generally puts that leg first in walking.
- ↑ Orsin is only a name for a bearward. See Ben Jonson's Masque of Augurs. The person intended is Joshua Gosling, who kept bears at Paris Garden, Southwark.
- ↑ See Purchas's Pilgrims, V. b. 5, c. 4, or Mandelso and Olearius's Travels.
- ↑ See Purchas's Pilgrims, also Lady's Travels into Spain (by the Countess D'Aunois) 2 vols. 12mo. London, 1722.
- ↑ In the original edition these lines were—
He knew when to fall on pell-mell,
To fall back and retreat as well. - ↑ The comparison of a lawyer with a bearward is here kept up: the one parts his clients, and keeps them at bay by writ of error and demurrer, as the latter does the dogs and the bear, by interposing his staff or stave, and
was tho first to neigh, which secured the throne for his master. See the story at length in Herodotus, lib. iii.; and in Brand's Popular Antiquities (Bohn's Edit., vol. iii. p. 124).
