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Till falling back still, for retreat,
He fell to juggle, cant, and cheat :

But with the moon was more familiar
Than e'er was almanack well-willer;
Her secrets understood so clear,

That some believ'd he had been there;

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be derived from sidus (sideris) and pos. There is a view of him in

Fig. 33.

as visible, in shadows, on the north side of the moon (the north being placed on the left hand), and appearing to look through a telescope at the star-like explosion of light so often mentioned as situate on the south side of the moon.

He made an instrument to know

If the moon shine at full or no;

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That wou'd, as soon as e'er she shone, straight Whether 'twere day or night demonstrate; Tell what her d'meter t' an inch is,

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And prove that she's not made of green cheese. It would demonstrate, that the man in

The moon's a sea Mediterranean;

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Which rats would run their own heads in,
And come on purpose to be taken,
Without th' expense of cheese or bacon:
With lute-strings he would counterfeit
Maggots that crawl on dish or meat;
Quote moles and spots on any place
O' th' body, by the index face;

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A paltry wretch he had, half-starv'd, That him in place of Zany serv'd,

323

324. Figure 34 exhibits Whachum with a zany's or

Hight Whachum, bred to dash and draw, 325
Not wine, but more unwholesome law;
To make 'twixt words and lines huge gaps,
Wide as meridians in maps;

To squander paper and spare ink,

Or cheat men of their words some think. 330

fool's cap on, and in the attitude of pumping, as mentioned in 335. He is situate over the head of Sidrophel, in pale light, with his head turned to the south side of the moon. As that portion of the moon which has just now been considered as resembling a pum,, is often assimilated to an hour-glass, his name perhaps, as alluding to that circumstance, may have his derivation from wacht or watch. Fig. 24.

327. Whachum's writings are referable to that portion of light in the moon which is situate on the right hand of the pump, and marked with lines or letters, and which, in the first canto, was assimilated to a mouse-trap, a shoe, &c., and is introduced in fig. 6, ante.

From this, by merited degrees
He'd to more advancement rise;
To be an under-conjuror,

Or journeyman-astrologer':

His business was to pump and wheedle,
And men with their own keys unriddle,
To make them to themselves give answers,
For which they pay the necromancers;

To fetch and carry intelligence,

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Of whom, and what, and where, and whence,

And all discoveries disperse

Among the whole pack of conjurers ;

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What cut-purses have left with them,
For the right owners to redeem;

And what they dare not vent, find out,
To gain themselves and th' art repute :
Draw figures, schemes, and horoscopes,
Of Newgate, Bridewell, brokers' shops,
Of thieves ascendant in the cart;
And find out all by rules of art :

Which way a serving man that's run
With cloaths or money away, is gone;
Who pick'd a fob at holding-forth,
And where a watch for half the worth
May be redeem'd; or stolen plate
Restor'd at conscionable rate.
Beside all this, he serv'd his master
In quality of poetaster:

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.350

355

And rhymes appropriate could make
To ev'ry month i' th' almanack;

Those two together long had liv'd,

In mansion prudently contriv'd;

Where neither tree, nor house could bar
The free detection of a star;

And nigh an ancient obelisk

360

399

Was rais'd by him, found out by Fisk,
On which was written, not in words,
But hieroglyphic mute of birds,
Many rare pithy saws concerning
The worth of astrologic learning:
From top of this there hung a rope,
To which he fasten'd telescope;
The spectacles with which the stars
He reads in smallest characters.
It happen'd as a boy, one night,
Did fly his tarsel of a kite;

405

410

(The strangest long-wing'd hawk that flies, 415

That, like a bird of paradise,

Or herald's martlet, has no legs,

Nor hatches young ones, nor lays eggs ;)

403. The obelisk is formed by the head and body of Ralpho, in which may be seen a sort of hieroglyphic resemblance of a bird, as drawn in fig. 12, ante.

413. Figure 35 gives a view of the boy flying a kite, as visible in the moon opposite to Sidrophel, and having

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