272
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
Her goods and chattels, and good graces,
And person, up to his embraces.
Thought he, the ancient errant knights
Won all their ladies' hearts in fights.
And cut whole giants into fitters,[1] 80
To put them into am'rous twitters;
Whose stubborn bowels scorn'd to yield,
Until their gallants were half kill'd;
But when their bones were drubb'd so sore,
They durst not woo one combat more, 90
The ladies' hearts began to melt,
Subdu'd by blows their lovers felt.
So Spanish heroes, with their lances,
At once wound bulls and ladies' fancies;[2]
And he acquires the noblest spouse 95
That widows greatest herds of cows;
Then what may I expect to do,
Who 've quell'd so vast a buffalo?
Meanwhile the Squire was on his way,
The Knight's late orders to obey; 100
Who sent him for a strong detachment
Of beadles, constables, and watchmen,
T'attack the cunning-man, for plunder
Committed falsely on his lumber;
When he, who had so lately sack'd 105
The enemy, had done the fact,
Had rifled all his pokes and fobs[3]
Of gimcracks, whims, and jiggumbobs,[4]
Which he by hook or crook had gather'd,
And for his own inventions father'd: 110
And when they should, at jail-delivery,
Unriddle one another's thievery,
And person, up to his embraces.
Thought he, the ancient errant knights
Won all their ladies' hearts in fights.
And cut whole giants into fitters,[1] 80
To put them into am'rous twitters;
Whose stubborn bowels scorn'd to yield,
Until their gallants were half kill'd;
But when their bones were drubb'd so sore,
They durst not woo one combat more, 90
The ladies' hearts began to melt,
Subdu'd by blows their lovers felt.
So Spanish heroes, with their lances,
At once wound bulls and ladies' fancies;[2]
And he acquires the noblest spouse 95
That widows greatest herds of cows;
Then what may I expect to do,
Who 've quell'd so vast a buffalo?
Meanwhile the Squire was on his way,
The Knight's late orders to obey; 100
Who sent him for a strong detachment
Of beadles, constables, and watchmen,
T'attack the cunning-man, for plunder
Committed falsely on his lumber;
When he, who had so lately sack'd 105
The enemy, had done the fact,
Had rifled all his pokes and fobs[3]
Of gimcracks, whims, and jiggumbobs,[4]
Which he by hook or crook had gather'd,
And for his own inventions father'd: 110
And when they should, at jail-delivery,
Unriddle one another's thievery,
- ↑ Some editions read fritters; but the corrected one of 1678 has fitters, a phrase often used by romance writers, very frequently by the author of the Romaunt of Romaunts. Fitters signifies small fragments, from fetta, Ital., fetzen, Germ.
- ↑ The bull-fights at Madrid have been frequently described. The ladies have always taken a zealous part at these combats.
- ↑ That is, large and small pockets. Poke from poche, a large pocket, bag, or sack. So "a pig in a poke."
- ↑ Knick-knacks, or trinkets. See Wright's Glossary.
