CANTO I.]
HUDIBRAS.
275
Madam, I do, as is my duty,
Honour the shadow of your shoe-tie;[1]
And now am come, to bring your ear 165
A present you'll be glad to hear;
At least I hope so: the thing's done,
Or may I never see the sun;
For which I humbly now demand
Performance at your gentle hand; 170
And that you'd please to do your part,
As I have done mine to my smart.
With that he shrugg'd his sturdy back,
As if he felt his shoulders ake:
But she, who well enough knew what, 175
Before he spoke, he would be at,
Pretended not to apprehend
The mystery of what he mean'd,
And therefore wish'd him to expound
His dark expressions less profound. 180
Madam, quoth he, I come to prove
How much I've suffer'd for your love,
Which, like your votary, to win,
I have not spar'd my tatter'd skin;[2]
And, for those meritorious lashes, 185
To claim your favour and good graces.
Quoth she, I do remember once[3]
I freed you from th' enchanted sconce;[4]
And that you promis'd, for that favour,
To bind your back to 'ts good behaviour,[5] 190
Honour the shadow of your shoe-tie;[1]
And now am come, to bring your ear 165
A present you'll be glad to hear;
At least I hope so: the thing's done,
Or may I never see the sun;
For which I humbly now demand
Performance at your gentle hand; 170
And that you'd please to do your part,
As I have done mine to my smart.
With that he shrugg'd his sturdy back,
As if he felt his shoulders ake:
But she, who well enough knew what, 175
Before he spoke, he would be at,
Pretended not to apprehend
The mystery of what he mean'd,
And therefore wish'd him to expound
His dark expressions less profound. 180
Madam, quoth he, I come to prove
How much I've suffer'd for your love,
Which, like your votary, to win,
I have not spar'd my tatter'd skin;[2]
And, for those meritorious lashes, 185
To claim your favour and good graces.
Quoth she, I do remember once[3]
I freed you from th' enchanted sconce;[4]
And that you promis'd, for that favour,
To bind your back to 'ts good behaviour,[5] 190
- ↑ This rhyme is used before by Crashaw, in his Delights of the Muses, published in 1646:I wish her beauty,
That owes not all its duty
To gaudy tire, or glistering shoe-ty. - ↑ Roman Catholics used to scourge themselves before the image of a favourite saint.
- ↑ The lady here with amusing affectation speaks as if the event had happened some time before, though in reality it was only the preceding day.
- ↑ From the stocks.
- ↑ Var. To th' good behaviour.
up his beard in due order, and standing bolt upright." Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, lib iii. p. 349. See also Troilus and Cressida, Act i.; Cleveland's Mixt Assembly, p. 43; Don Quixote, Part i. book iii. chap. 12.
