For they a sad adventure met,
Of which anon we mean to treat;
But ere we venture to unfold 635
Atchievements so resolv’d and bold,
We shou’d as learned poets use,
Invoke th’ assistance of some muse: 
However, criticks count it sillier
Than jugglers talking to familiar. 640
We think ’tis no great matter which
They’re all alike; yet we shall pitch
On one that fits our purpose most
Whom therefore thus do we accost: 

Thou that with ale, or viler liquors, 645
Did’st inspire Withers, Pryn , and VICKARS,
And force them, tho’ it was in spite
Of nature and their stars, to write;
Who, as we find in sullen writs,
And cross-grain’d works of modern wits, 650
With vanity, opinion, want,
The wonder of the ignorant,
The praises of the author, penn’d
B’ himself, or wit-insuring friend;
The itch of picture in the front, 655
With bays and wicked rhyme upon’t;
All that is left o’ th’ forked hill,
To make men scribble without skill;
Canst make a poet spite of fate,
And teach all people to translate, 660
Tho’ out of languages in which
They understand no part of speech;
Assist me but this once, I ’mplore,
And I shall trouble thee no more.

In western clime there is a town, 665
To those that dwell therein well known;
Therefore there needs no more be said here,
We unto them refer our reader;
For brevity is very good,
When w’ are, or are not, understood. 670
To this town people did repair,
On days of market, or of fair,
And, to crack’d fiddle, and hoarse tabor,
In merriment did drudge and labor. 
But now a sport more formidable 675
Had rak’d together village rabble: 
’Twas an old way of recreating,
Which learned butchers call bear-baiting: 
A bold advent’rous exercise,
With ancient heroes in high prize:  680
For authors do affirm it came
From Isthmian or Nemean game: 
Others derive it from the bear
That’s fix’d in northern hemisphere,
And round about the pole does make 685
A circle like a bear at stake,
That at the chain’s end wheels about,
And overturns the rabble-rout. 
For after solemn proclamation,
In the bear’s name, (as is the fashion, 690
According to the law of arms,
To keep men from inglorious harms,)
That none presume to come so near
As forty foot of stake of bear,
If any yet be so fool-hardy, 695
T’ expose themselves to vain jeopardy,
If they come wounded off, and lame,
No honour’s got by such a maim;
Altho’ the bear gain much, b’ing bound