NOTE ON A PASSAGE IN HUDIBRAS

Butler, in his description of Hudibras, says (Part I. c. i. line 453.) that the knight "——wore but one Spur, As wisely knowing, cou'd he stir To active Foot one side of 's Horse, The other wou'd not hang an A——." Gray, the most copious annotator on the poem, passes these lines in silence; and it is probable, therefore, that the description is taken by readers in general as an original sketch. I find, however, in a volume entitled *Gratiæ Ludentes: Jests from the Universitie*, by H. L., Oxen. [sic], London, 1638, the following, which may have been in Butler's mind:— "*One that wore but one Spur…