And dash'd his brains, if any, out:
But Mars, who still protects the stout,
In pudding-time came to his aid,865
And under him the bear convey'd;
The bear, upon whose soft fur-gown
The Knight, with all his weight, fell down.
The friendly rug preserv'd the ground,
And headlong Knight, from bruise or wound,870
Like feather-bed betwixt a wall,[1]
And heavy brunt of cannon ball.
As Sancho on a blanket fell,[2]
And had no hurt; ours far'd as well
In body, though his mighty spirit,875
B'ing heavy, did not so well bear it.
The bear was in a greater fright,
Beat down and worsted by the Knight.
He roar'd, and rag'd, and flung about,
To shake off bondage from his snout.880
His wrath inflam'd boil'd 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.[3]
He tore the earth, which he had sav'd885
From squelch of Knight, and storm'd and rav'd;
And vex'd the more, because the harms
He felt were 'gainst the Law of arms;
For men he always took to be
His friends, and dogs the enemy,890
Who never so much hurt had done him
As his own side did falling on him.
It griev'd him to the guts, that they,
For whom h' had fought so many a fray,
And serv'd with loss of blood so long,895
Should offer such inhuman wrong;
Wrong of unsoldier-like condition;
For which he flung down his commission,[4]
- ↑ Alluding to the protective measures recommended in old works on military fortification.
- ↑ Sancho's adventure at the inn, where he was toss'd in a blanket.
- ↑ Alluding to the remarkable and unnatural positions in which animals are conventionally portrayed in coats of arms.
- ↑ A ridicule on the petulant behaviour of the military men in the Civil
