He has no fcull, 'tis well known To thousands of beholders; Nothing but a skin Does keep his brains in From running about his shoulders. On both fides of his noddle Are straps o' th' very fame leather ; But they 're mere hide, Or morfels of tripe, chuse ye 35 whether. 40 When he was whelp'd, for certain, Did grunt and whine, The Ver. 13, 14.] This whimfical liberty our Author takes, of tranfpofing the words for the sake of a rhyme, though at the expence of the fenfe, is a new kind of poetic licence; and it is merry enough to obferve, that he literally does, what he jokingly charges upon other poets in another place; But those that write in rhyme still make For one for fenfe, and one for rhyme, I think, 's fufficient at one time. Hud. p. II. c. i. v. 29. And out o' th' top o' th' chimney He vanifh'd, feen of none; Knew which way he was gone. The country round about there -nefs; for the fight Of him did fright Away men, women, and children. Long did he there continue, And all those parts much harmed, Him into a hog-fty charmed. There, when fhe had him fhut fast, 30 35 40 With brimftone and with nitre She fing'd the claws Of his left paws, With tip of his tail, and his right ear. 45 And with her charms and ointments She made him tame as a spaniel; For the us'd to ride On his back aftride, Nor did he do her any ill. 50 But, God fave the King and Parliament, And quickly fend The wars an end, As here my fong has-Finis. 60 65 Ver. 61. From this circumftance it appears, that this Ballad was wrote before the murder of the King, and that it is the earliest performance of Butler's that has yet been made public; and I think one may, without prejudice, affirm, that it does. no difcredit to his younger years. |