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Hudibras

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From: The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature
Date: 20030101
Author:MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER

Hudibras, a satire in three parts, each containing three cantos, by Samuel Butler (1613–80). Part I, dated 1663, appeared in Dec. 1662, Part II, dated 1664, was published in 1663, and a revised version of both parts appeared in 1674. Part III was published 1680.

Its narrative form is that of a mock romance, derived from Don Quixote , in which a grotesque Presbyterian knight, Sir Hudibras, and his sectarian squire Ralpho set out on horse-back and encounter a bear-baiting mob who, after a comic skirmish, imprison them in the stocks. In Pt II a widow, whom Hudibras hopes to marry ...

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