2"iS. VI. 139., Aug. 28. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



lei 



LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 28. 1859. 



Hateg. 



nUDIBBASTlC CODPIET. 



On turning to the General Index to the First 

 Series of "N. & Q.," p. 110., I find that ten arti- 

 cles have been printed on the well-known lines — 



"Por he that fights and runs away, 

 May live to fight another day." 



Our literary detectives, however, have failed 

 to discover the hiding-place of this pugilistic fugi- 

 tive. Lowndes, iu his Bibliographer's Manual, 

 edit. 1834, vol. iii. p. 1252., and IMr. Peter Cun- 

 ningham (^Hand-Book of London, edit. 1849, p. 

 602.), both refer us to Sir John Mennis's Mvsarum 

 DelicicB, 12mo., 1656, p. 101., as containing them. 

 Mr. Cunningham, however, in the new edition of 

 his Hand- Booh, 1850, has wisely qualified his 

 statement, and now tells us, at p. 364., that " Sir 

 John Mennis is said to have written this famous 

 couplet." 



But not to stop here, Me. T. H. Riley (P' S. 

 X. 135.) will not permit the editor of " N. & Q." 

 (P' S. vii. 298. 346 ) to deprive Sir John Mennis 

 of the authorship, for he assures him (writing in 

 August, 1854) that he has a distinct recollection 

 of having read the lines in 1841 in a copy of the 

 Musariim DelicicB, 1656, in Sion College. With 

 the assistance of the respected librarian, I have 

 carefully examined the old as well as the new 

 Catalogue, and cannot discover that any early 

 edition of this work was ever in the library. It 

 is true I found a small volume by Sir John Men- 

 nis, but published anonymously, entitled Wit 

 Restbrd in Severall Select Poems not formerly 

 publish't. Ijondon, 12mo. 1658, where at p. 33. 

 occur the following lines, which may probably be 

 those that Me. Rilet had read thirteen fears 

 before : — 



" S.iying, Fight on my merry meh all, 

 And see that none of you be taine, 

 For I will stand by and bleed but a while, 

 And then will I come and fight again." 



Has not Lowndes betrayed us into a wrong 

 scent? and that instead of looking after the early 

 editions of the Musai-um JDelicia, the quotation 

 may more probably be found in some early edi- 

 tion of Iludibrus. ^Vhat increases the probabi- 

 lity is the fact, that in the Grub Street Journal of 

 May 13, 1736, I find the following parody on 

 these very lines ; and from the way in which they 

 are quoted, one can almost fancy that the writer 

 had Hudibras open before him : for he says, " Ac- 

 cording to the Iludibrastic method of reasoning — 



" ' The coiner tliat extends a rope 

 To coin again can never hope ; 

 lint he that coins and gets away, 

 •May live to coin another day.' " 



Hence I would suggest to the fortunate posses- 

 sors of the early editions of Hudibras a careful 

 examination of that portion of the work (Part iii. 

 canto iii. ver. 243.) where a similar passage occurs 

 in the later editions : — 



" For those that &y may fight again, 

 Which he can never do that's slain." 



The first edition of Part i. is dated 1663, but 

 that it was published in December, 1662, we learn 

 from Pepys's Diary, as well as from Marriot's 

 advertisement in the Publick Intelligencer of Dec. 

 23, 1662. Pepys, under Dec. 26, 1662, has the 

 following gossiping note : — 



" To the Wardrobe ; hither come Mr. Battersby ; and 

 we falling into discourse of a new book of drollery in use, 

 called Hadtbras, 1 would needs go find it out, and met 

 with it at the Temple; cost me 2s. Grf. But when I come 

 to read it, it is so silly an abuse of the Presbyter Knight 

 going to the wars, that 1 am ashamed of it ; and by and 

 by meeting at Mr. Townsend's at dinner, I sold it to him 

 for ISrf." 



Pepys, however, soon discovered that his judg- 

 ment was at fault ; for wherever he went he found 

 Hudibras the common talk of the metropolis, so 

 that six weeks afterwards we find him jotting 

 down the following note : — 



" Feb. 6. 1G62-3. To a blsokseller's in the Strand, and 

 there bought Hudibras again, it being certainly some ill 

 humour to be so against that which all the world cries 

 up to be the example of wit ; for which I am resolved 

 once more to read him, and see whether I can find it or 

 no." 



It may be convenient to give a sei-iatim list of 

 the Three Parts as they appeared, as printed in 

 the new edition of Lowndes's Bibliographers 

 Manual, i. 335. : — 



" P.Trt I. 16mo. ' London, printed in the year 1G63.' 

 Without printer or imblisher's name, and presumed to be 

 spurious. 



" Part I. small 8vo. Lond. Printed by J. G. for Richard 

 Marriot, 1G63, with Imprimatur .Jo. Berkenhead, Nov. 11, 

 1GG2. 



" Part I. IGmo. with exactly the same imprint and im- 

 primatur as the preceding. 



" Part II. small 8vo. Lond. Printed by T. R. for John 

 Martyn and James Allestry, 16G4, with Imprimatur Roger 

 L'Estrange, Nov. 5, 1G63. 



"Part II. IGmo. with the same imprint and impri- 

 matur. 



"Part II. Spurious, under title of ' Hudibras, the se- 

 cond part.' Lond. printed in the year 1CG3. 



" Part III. small 8vo. Lond. printed for Simon Miller, 

 1G78. 



"Of this there is only one ostensible edition, but there 

 are two states of it under the same date. The earlier has 

 five lines of Errata at the end : the later has the correc- 

 tions inserted, and on the back of the title, 'Licensed and 

 entered according to the Act of Parliament for printing.' 



"Hudibras. Sfxond Edition. The First and Second 

 Part (in one volume), corrected and amended, with seve- 

 ral additions and annotations. Lond. Printed by T. N. 

 for John Martyn and Henry Ilerringman, 1G74, small 

 8vo. 412 pages. The Third Part. Loud. Printed for Ro- 

 bert Ilornc, 1G79, small «vo. 254 pages. 



"Hudibras, in three Parts. Lond. 1710. 18mo. 3 vols. 



