Therefore there needs no more be said here,

We unto them refer our reader;

For brevity is very good,

When w' are, or are not understood.

670

To this town people did repair

On days of market, or of fair ;

And to crack'd fiddle, and hoarse tabor,

In merriment did drudge and labor :

675

But now a sport more formidable Had rak'd together village-rabble; 'Twas an old way of recreating,

'Tis hard to keep out of harm's way,)

Thither the Knight his course did steer,

To keep the peace 'twixt dog and bear;

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As he believ'd h' was bound to do

In conscience and commission too;

And therefore thus bespoke the squire.
We that are wisely mounted higher

Than constables in curule wit,
When on tribunal bench we sit,

Like speculators should foresee,

From Pharos of authority,

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Portended mischiefs farther than

Low Protelarian tything-men.

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And therefore being inform'd by bruit,

That dog and bear are to dispute;

For so of late men fighting name,
Because they often prove the same;
(For where the first does hap to be,
The last does coincidere ;)

Quantum in nobis, have thought good,
To save th' expence of Christian blood,
And try if we, by mediation

Of treaty and accommodation,

Can end the quarrel, and compose

The bloody duel without blows.

To this, quoth Ralpho, verily,

The point seems very plain to me.
It is an antichristian game,

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730

801

Unlawful both in thing and name.

First for the name, the word bear-baiting

805

For now the field is not far off,

Where we must give the world a proof

Of deeds, not words, and such as suit
Another manner of dispute.

A controversy that affords

Actions for arguments, not words:

Nor will we fail in th' execution,
For want of equal resolution,
Honour is like a widow, won

With brisk attempt and putting on,

With ent❜ring manfully and urging,
Not slow approaches like a virgin.

This said as yerst the Phrygian knight,

So ours with rusty steel did smite
His Trojan horse, and just as much
He mended pace upon the touch;
But from his empty stomach groan'd
Just as that hollow beast did sound,

870

911

915.

920

And angry answer'd from behind,

With brandish'd tail and blast of wind.

So have I seen, with armed heel,

925

A wight bestride a common-weal:

While still the more he kick'd and spurr'd,
The less the sullen jade has stirr❜d.

CANTO II.

THE ARGUMENT.

The catalogue and character
Of th' enemies' best men of war:
Whom, in a bold harangue, the knight
Defies and challenges to fight:
H'encounters Talgol, routs the bear,
And takes the fiddler prisoner;

Conveys him to inchanted castle,

There shuts him fast in wooden bastile.

THERE was an ancient sage philosopher,
That had read Alexander Ross over;
And swore the world as he could prove,
Was made of fighting and of love:

Just so romances are, for what else

Is in them all but love and battles?

O' th' first of these we've no great matter

To treat of, but a world o' th' latter.

And as for our part, we shall tell

The naked truth of what befel;

5

35

And as an equal friend to both

The knight and bear, but more to troth,
With neither faction shall take part,
But give to each his due desert;
And never coin a formal lye on't,

To make the knight o'ercome the giant.

Fig. 13.

40

38. Fig. 13 exhibits the bear and the dog, as seen on