III. THE DABCHICKS. I57 



function, on the contrary, is, and always has 

 been, that of the Interpreter only, in the 

 ' j^ilgrim's Progress ; ' and I trust that Mr. 

 Courthope will therefore forgive my arranging 

 his long cadence of continuous line so as to 

 come symmetrically into my own page, (thus 

 also enforcing, for the inattentive, the rhymes 

 which he is too easily proud to insist on,) and 

 my division of the whole chorus into equal 

 strophe and antistrophe of six lines each, in 

 which, counting from the last line of the 

 stanza, the reader can easily catch the word to 

 which my note refers. 



123. \YE wish to declare, 



How the birds of the air 

 All high institutions designed, 

 And, holding in awe 



Art, Science, and Law, 

 6 Delivered the same to mankind. 



To begin with ; of old 



Man went naked, and cold, 

 Whenever it pelted or froze, 

 Till we showed him how feathers 



Were proof against weathers, 

 12 With that, he bethought him of hose. 



Line 9. Pelted, said of hail, not rain. Felt by naked- 

 ness, in a more severe manner than mere rain. 



II. 'Weathers,' i.e., both weathers — hail and cold: the 



