CANTO I.]
HUDIBRAS.
283
Beside—But as h' was running on,
To tell what other feats he'd done,
The lady stopt his full career, 405
And told him, now 'twas time to hear.
If half those things, said she, be true—
They're all, quoth he, I swear by you.
Why then, said she, that Sidrophel
Has damn'd himself to th' pit of hell, 410
Who, mounted on a broom, the nag[1]
And hackney of a Lapland hag,
In quest of you came hither post,
Within an hour, I'm sure, at most,
Who told me all you swear and say, 415
Quite contrary, another way;
Vow'd that you came to him, to know
If you should carry me or no;
And would have hir'd him and his imps,
To be your match-makers and pimps, 420
T' engage the devil on your side,
And steal, like Proserpine, your bride;
But he, disdaining to embrace
So filthy a design, and base,
You fell to vapouring and huffing, 425
And drew upon him like a ruffian;
Surpris'd him meanly, unprepar'd,
Before he 'ad time to mount his guard,
And left him dead upon the ground,
With many a bruise and desperate wound; 430
Swore you had broke and robb'd his house,
And stole his talismanique louse,[2]
And all his new-found old inventions,
With flat felonious intentions,
Which he could bring out, where he had, 435
And what he bought 'em for, and paid;
To tell what other feats he'd done,
The lady stopt his full career, 405
And told him, now 'twas time to hear.
If half those things, said she, be true—
They're all, quoth he, I swear by you.
Why then, said she, that Sidrophel
Has damn'd himself to th' pit of hell, 410
Who, mounted on a broom, the nag[1]
And hackney of a Lapland hag,
In quest of you came hither post,
Within an hour, I'm sure, at most,
Who told me all you swear and say, 415
Quite contrary, another way;
Vow'd that you came to him, to know
If you should carry me or no;
And would have hir'd him and his imps,
To be your match-makers and pimps, 420
T' engage the devil on your side,
And steal, like Proserpine, your bride;
But he, disdaining to embrace
So filthy a design, and base,
You fell to vapouring and huffing, 425
And drew upon him like a ruffian;
Surpris'd him meanly, unprepar'd,
Before he 'ad time to mount his guard,
And left him dead upon the ground,
With many a bruise and desperate wound; 430
Swore you had broke and robb'd his house,
And stole his talismanique louse,[2]
And all his new-found old inventions,
With flat felonious intentions,
Which he could bring out, where he had, 435
And what he bought 'em for, and paid;
- ↑ Lapland is head-quarters for witchcraft, and it is from these Scandinavians that we derive the accepted tradition that witches ride through the air on broom-sticks. See Scheffer's History of Lapland, Mallet's Northern Antiquities, and Keightley's Fairy Mythology.
- ↑ The poet intimates that Sidrophel, being much plagued with lice, had made a talisman, or formed a louse in a certain position of the stars, to chase away this kind of vermin.
