Next one upon a pair of panniers,
Full fraught with that which, for good manners,
Shall here be nameless, mix'd with grains,
Which he dispens'd among the swains,630
And busily upon the crowd
At random round about bestow'd.
Then mounted on a horned horse,
One bore at gauntlet and gilt spurs,
Ty'd to the pommel of a long sword635
He held revers'd, the point turn'd downward.
Next after, on a raw-bon'd steed,
The conqueror's standard-bearer rid,
And bore aloft before the champion
A petticoat display'd, and rampant;[1]640
Near whom the Amazon triumphant,
Bestrid her beast, and on the rump on't
Sat face to tail, and bum to bum,
The warrior whilom overcome;
Arm'd with a spindle and a distaff,645
Which, as he rode, she made him twist off;
And when he loiter'd, o'er her shoulder
Chastised the reformado soldier.[2]
Before the dame, and round about,
March'd whifflers, and staffiers on foot.[3]650
With lackies, grooms, valets, and pages.
In fit and proper equipages;
Of whom some torches bore, solve links,
Before the proud virago-minx.
That was both madam and a don.[4]655
Like Nero's Sporus;[5] or Pope Joan;
- ↑ Ridiculing the terms in which heralds blazon coats of arms.
- ↑ See note on line 116, above.
- ↑ "A mighty whiffler 'fore the king seems to prepare his way." Henry V., Act v., chorus. There were whifflers formerly amongst the inferior officers of the corporation at Norwich. Their duty in recent times (before the date of the municipal reform Act) was to clear the way before his Worship, as he went to church on Guild-day; which they did by running and bounding about, whirling all the time with incredible agility a huge, blunt, two-handled sword. The whifflers who now attend the London companies in processions are standard-bearers and freemen carrying staves. Shaffier is a staff-bearer, or running footman, from the French Estafier.
- ↑ Mistress and master.
- ↑ See Suetonius' Life of Nero, for the particulars of his marriage with
