Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/125

CANTO II.] Through perils both of wind and limb, Through thick and thin she follow'd him In every adventure h' undertook; And never him, or it forsook. At breach of wall, or hedge surprise, She shared i' th' hazard, and the prize: At beating quarters up, or forage, Behaved herself with matchless courage; And laid about in fight more busily Than th' Amazonian Dame Penthesile. And tho' some critics here cry Shame, And say our authors are to blame, That; spite of all philosophers, Who hold no females stout but bears, And heretofore did so abhor That women should pretend to war, They would not suffer the stout'st dame To swear by Hercules his name; Make feeble ladies, in their works, To fight like termagants and Turks;