Page:Hudibras - Volume 2 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/145

With that he rous'd his drooping heart,
And hastily cry'd out, What art?— 1400
 A wretch, quoth he, whom want of grace
Has brought to this unhappy place.
 I do believe thee, quoth the Knight;
Thus far I'm sure thou'rt in the right;
And know what 'tis that troubles thee, 1405
Better than thou hast guess'd of me.
Thou art some paltry, blackguard spright,
Condemn'd to drudg'ry in the night;
Thou hast no work to do i' th' house,
Nor halfpenny to drop in shoes;^[1] 1410
Without the raising of which sum
You dare not be so troublesome
To pinch the slatterns black and blue,
For leaving you their work to do.
This is your bus'ness, good Pug-Robin,^[2] 1415
And your diversion dull dry bobbing,

if thou art a f———g devil, have at thee, I am not afraid;" and therewith got up and thrashed him.

1. One of the current superstitions of the olden time about fairies was, that if servant-maids, before going to bed, swept up their hearths clean, brightened the furniture, and left a pail full of clean water for bathing in, they would find money in their shoes; if they left the house dirty they would be pinched in their sleep. Thus the old ballad of Robin Goodfellow, who perhaps was the sprite meant by Pug-Robin;
   When house or hearth doth sluttish lie,
   I pinch the maids both black and blue:
   And from the bed, the bed-cloths I
   Pull off, and lay them nak'd to view.
   
   
   Again, speaking of fairies:
   Such sort of creatures as would bast ye
   A kitchen wench, for being nasty:
   But if she neatly scour her pewter,
   Give her the money that is due t' her.
   Every night before we go,
   We drop a tester in her shoe.
   
   
   See Shakspeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, and Merry Wives of Windsor; Percy's Reliques; and Keightley's Fairy Mythology.
2. Pug-Robin, or Robin Goodfellow, was a kind of merry sprite, whose character and achievements are frequently recorded by the poets, particularly in the well-known lines of Shakspeare, Mids. Night's Dream, Act ii. sc. 1. Pug is the same as Puck. Dry bobbing here means dry jesting.