Page:Hudibras - Volume 2 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/259

At blindman's buff to grope his way, 45
In equal fear of night and day;
Who took his dark and desp'rate course,
He knew no better than his horse;
And by an unknown devil led,^[1]
He knew as little whither, fled. 50
He never was in greater need,
Nor less capacity of speed;
Disabled, both in man and beast,
To fly and run away, his best;
To keep the enemy, and fear, 55
From equal falling on his rear.
And though, with kicks and bangs he ply'd,
The further and the nearer side;
As seamen ride with all their force,
And tug as if they row'd the horse, 60
And when the hackney sails most swift,
Believe they lag, or run a-drift;
So, tho' he posted e'er so fast,
His fear was greater than his haste:
For fear, though fleeter than the wind, 65
Believes 'tis always left behind.
But when the morn began t' appear,^[2]
And shift t' another scene his fear,
He found his new officious shade,
That came so timely to his aid, 70
And forc'd him from the foe t' escape,
Had turn'd itself to Ralpho's shape,
So like in person, garb, and pitch,
'Twas hard t' interpret which was which.
For Ralpho had no sooner told 75
The lady all he had t' unfold,
But she convey'd^[3] him out of sight,
To entertain th' approaching Knight;

1. It was Ralpho who, though unknown, conveyed the Knight out of the widow's house.
2. We have now arrived at the third day of the notion of the poem. From the opening of these adventures every morning and night has been poetically described.
3. Var. convey'd him, in the editions before 1684.