CANTO III.]
HUDIBRAS.
401
For having paus'd to recollect, 175
And on his past success reflect,
T' examine and consider why,
And whence, and how, he came to fly,
And when no devil had appear'd,
What else it could be said be fear'd, 180
It put him in so fierce a rage,
He once resolv'd to re-engage;
Toss'd, like a foot-ball, back again
With shame, and vengeance, and disdain.
Quoth he, It was thy cowardice, 185
That made me from this leaguer rise,
And when I'd half reduc'd the place,
To quit it infamously base;
Was better cover'd by thy new
Arriv'd detachment, than I knew;[1] 190
To slight my new acquests, and run,
Victoriously, from battles won;
And, reck'ning all I gain'd or lost,
To sell them cheaper than they cost;
To make me put myself to flight, 195
And, conqu'ring, run away by night;
To drag me out, which th' haughty foe
Durst never have presum'd to do;
To mount me in the dark, by force,
Upon the bare ridge of my horse. 200
Expos'd in querpo[2] to their rage,
Without my arms and equipage;
And on his past success reflect,
T' examine and consider why,
And whence, and how, he came to fly,
And when no devil had appear'd,
What else it could be said be fear'd, 180
It put him in so fierce a rage,
He once resolv'd to re-engage;
Toss'd, like a foot-ball, back again
With shame, and vengeance, and disdain.
Quoth he, It was thy cowardice, 185
That made me from this leaguer rise,
And when I'd half reduc'd the place,
To quit it infamously base;
Was better cover'd by thy new
Arriv'd detachment, than I knew;[1] 190
To slight my new acquests, and run,
Victoriously, from battles won;
And, reck'ning all I gain'd or lost,
To sell them cheaper than they cost;
To make me put myself to flight, 195
And, conqu'ring, run away by night;
To drag me out, which th' haughty foe
Durst never have presum'd to do;
To mount me in the dark, by force,
Upon the bare ridge of my horse. 200
Expos'd in querpo[2] to their rage,
Without my arms and equipage;
- ↑ Here seems a defect in coherency and syntax. The Knight means, that it was dishonourable in him to quit the siege, especially when reinforced by the arrival of the Squire.
- ↑ Querpo (from the Spanish cuerpo) signifies a close waistcoat, or jacket, without the customary cloak. Butler, in his MS. Common-place Book, says, all coats of arms were defensive, and worn upon shields; though the ancient use of them is now given over, and men light in querpo. To fight in querpo is synonymous to our old English phrase, to fight in buff. See Junii Etymologicon. The term is found in several of our early dramatists, e. g. "Boy, my cloak and rapier; it fits not a gentleman of my rank to walk the streets in querpo." Beaumont and Fletcher, Love's Cure, ii. 1.
Your Spanish host is never seen in cuerpo
Without his paramentos, cloke, and sword.
Ben Jonson, New Inn, II. 5.
