402
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
Lest, if they ventur'd to pursue,
I might th' unequal fight renew;
And, to preserve thy outward man, 205
Assum'd my place, and led the van.
All this, quoth Ralph. I did, 'tis true,
Not to preserve myself, but you:
You, who were damn'd to baser drubs
Than wretches feel in powd'ring tubs,[1]210
To mount two-wheel'd carroches, worse
Than managing a wooden horse;[2]
Dragg'd out thro' straiter holes by th' ears,
Eras'd, or coup'd for perjurers;[3]
Who, tho' th' attempt had prov'd in vain, 215
Had had no reason to complain;
But, since it prosper'd, 'tis unhandsome
To blame the hand that paid your ransom,
And rescu'd your obnoxious bones
From unavoidable battoons. 220
The enemy was reinforc'd,
And we disabled and unhors'd,
Disarm’d, unqualify'd for fight,
And no way left but hasty flight,
Which, tho' as desp'rate in th' attempt, 225
Has giv'n you freedom to condemn't.
But were our bones in fit condition
To reinforce the expedition,
'Tis now unseasonable and vain,
To think of falling on again: 230
No martial project to surprise
Can ever be attempted twice;
Nor cast design serve afterwards,
As gamesters tear their losing cards.
I might th' unequal fight renew;
And, to preserve thy outward man, 205
Assum'd my place, and led the van.
All this, quoth Ralph. I did, 'tis true,
Not to preserve myself, but you:
You, who were damn'd to baser drubs
Than wretches feel in powd'ring tubs,[1]210
To mount two-wheel'd carroches, worse
Than managing a wooden horse;[2]
Dragg'd out thro' straiter holes by th' ears,
Eras'd, or coup'd for perjurers;[3]
Who, tho' th' attempt had prov'd in vain, 215
Had had no reason to complain;
But, since it prosper'd, 'tis unhandsome
To blame the hand that paid your ransom,
And rescu'd your obnoxious bones
From unavoidable battoons. 220
The enemy was reinforc'd,
And we disabled and unhors'd,
Disarm’d, unqualify'd for fight,
And no way left but hasty flight,
Which, tho' as desp'rate in th' attempt, 225
Has giv'n you freedom to condemn't.
But were our bones in fit condition
To reinforce the expedition,
'Tis now unseasonable and vain,
To think of falling on again: 230
No martial project to surprise
Can ever be attempted twice;
Nor cast design serve afterwards,
As gamesters tear their losing cards.
- ↑ See note to line 980 of the preceding Canto, page 366.
- ↑ Carroche properly signifies a coach, from the Italian carroccio; but in burlesque it is a cart, and here means that in which criminals were carried to execution. At that time a coach invariably had four wheels, and a charette, which preceded it, only two. Riding the wooden-horse was a punishment inflicted on soldiers.
- ↑ Erased, in Heraldry, means a member torn or separated from the body, so that it looks jagged like the teeth of a saw; couped signifies, on the contrary, cut off clean and smooth. The Knight had incurred the guilt of perjury.
