dently the model which Butler followed; and Hudibras is Don Quixote turned puritan. He has exchanged the helmet of Malbrino for the close cap of Geneva. Instead of encountering giants and enchanters, he wages war with papists and prelatists. Instead of couching his lance at tilts and tournaments, he mounts the pulpit, and harangues the 'long-eared' multitude. He is not quite so unsophisticated a lunatic as Quixote. When his own interest is concerned, his apprehension becomes wonderfully keen. Ralpho, also, is but a conventical edition of Sancho; but that Butler should have failed in copying from such models as these, is not at all surprising. The work in which the adventures of the Knight of La Mancha are recorded, is, perhaps, as nearly perfect as any work of human genius could be made it is matchless and inimitable. It is, however, possible to be a great and powerful genius, and yet be inferior to Cervantes; and such is Butler. The poem of the latter can not be expected to be so fascinating as the work of the former, for its subject is far more repulsive. The Knight's greatest weaknesses are amiable, and of vices he has none. We sympathize in all his misfortunes, and almost wish him success in his wildest enterprises. We can hardly help quarrelling with the windmills for resisting his attack; and feel inclined to tilt a lance in support of his chivalrous assault upon the flock of sheep. Butler certainly might have made the fanaticism of Hudibras more amiable, and more sincere, without at all weakening either the truth or the comic force of the picture. As it is, we rather turn from it with disgust, than gaze upon it with admiration. These observations, however, apply only to our author's delineation of character, and not to the fine touches of satire, and to the keen and profound observations on morals and manners, in which his work is so remarkably rich. Butler's genius was eminently didactic. He was not an inventor, but an observer. His satire is keen and caustic; his wit brilliant and delightful. His knowledge of the arts and sciences appears to have been both extensive and profound; and he has brought a wonderful variety of attainment and research to the embellishment of his poem. He has also enriched it with many beauties of thought and diction, which form a strong contrast to its general ludicrous cast and character. Nothing, for instance. can be finer than the following lines:— the The moon put off her vail of light Which hides her by the day from sight: That's both her lustre and her shade. This passage, besides being poetically beautiful, is philosophically truerays of the sun causing us to see the moon by night, and preventing us from seeing it during the day. Without, however, pausing to introduce farther instances of this peculiar trait of the author's genius, we shall close this notice by exhibiting the personal appearance, the accomplishments, and the religious sentiments of the hero of the poem, Hudibras himself:— THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF HUDIBRAS. His tawny beard was th' equal grace In cut and dye so like a tile, Its own grave and the state's were made. A sacrifice to fall of state; Whose thread of life the fatal sisters Did twist together with its whiskers, And twine so close, that Time should never, In life or death, their fortunes sever; But with his rusty sickle mow Both down together at a blow. His doublet was of sturdy buff, And though not sword, yet cudgel proof; Who fear'd no blows but such as bruise. His breeches were of rugged woollen, For, as we said, he always chose And when he put a hand but in They stoutly on defence on 't stood And from the wounded foe drew blood; Unless they graz'd, there's not one word On which, with shirt puff'd out behind, As he and all the knights could eat; They took their breakfasts or their luncheons. But let that pass at present, lest We should forget where we digress'd, As learned authors use, to whom To shoot at foes, and sometimes pullets, Of some body to hew and hack: The peaceful scabbard where it dwelt, It had appear'd with courage bolder And prisoners too, or made them run. THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF HUDIBRAS. When civil dudgeon first grew high And men fell out, they knew not why: Set folks together by the ears, And made them fight, like mad or drunk, Whose honesty they all durst swear for, When gospel-trumpeter, surrounded With long-ear'd rout, to battle sounded, And pulpit, drum ecclesiastic, Was beat with fist, instead of a stick: A wight he was, whose very sight would To any thing but chivalry; Nor put up blow, but that which laid The diff'rence was so small, his brain He was very shy of using it; As being loath to wear it out, As men their best apparel do; Beside, 'tis known he could speak Greek As naturally as pigs squeak; That Latin was no more difficile, Than for a blackbird 'tis to whistle: He was in logic a great critic, Profoundly skill'd in analytic; He could distinguish, and divide A hair 'twixt south and south-west side; Of argument, a man 's no horse; And that a lord may be an owl, A calf an alderman, a goose a justice, And rooks committee-men and trustees. He'd run in debt by disputation, And pay with ratiocination: All this by syllogism, true In mood and figure, he would do. For rhetoric, he could not ope His mouth, but out there flew a trope; And when he happen'd to break off I' the middle of his speech, or cough, |