Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Samuel Butler (1612–1680)

Extracts from Hudibras: Night

[From Part II.]

THE SUN grew low and left the skies,

Put down, some write, by ladies’ eyes.

The moon pulled off her veil of light

That hides her face by day from sight

(Mysterious veil, of brightness made

That ’s both her lustre and her shade!),

And in the lantern of the night

With shining hours hung out her light;

For darkness is the proper sphere

Where all false glories use to appear.

The twinkling stars began to muster

And glitter with their borrowed lustre,

While sleep the wearied world relieved,

By counterfeiting death revived.