Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/147

CANTO II.] And set th' a task, with subornation, To stitch up sale and sequestration; To cheat, with holiness and zeal, All parties and the common-weal? Much better had it been for thee, H' had kept thee where th' art us'd to be; Or sent th' on business any whither, So he had never brought thee hither. But if th' hast brain enough in skull To keep itself in lodging whole, And not provoke the rage of stones, And cudgels, to thy hide and bones; Tremble and vanish while thou may'st, Which I'll not promise if thou stay'st.
 * At this the Knight grew high in wroth,

And lifting hands and eyes up both, Three times he smote on stomach stout, From whence, at length, these words broke out:
 * Was I for this entitled Sir,

And girt with trusty sword and spur, For fame and honour to wage battle, Thus to be brav'd by foe to cattle? Not all the pride that makes thee swell As big as thou dost blown-up veal; Nor all thy tricks and sleights to cheat, And sell thy carrion for good meat; Not all thy magic to repair Decay'd old age, in tough lean ware, Make nat'ral death appear thy work, And stop the gangrene in stale pork; Not all the force that makes thee proud, Because by bullock ne'er withstood: Tho' arm'd with all thy cleavers, knives, And axes made to hew down lives, Shall save, or help thee to evade The hand of justice, or this blade, Which I, her sword-bearer, do carry, For civil deed and military. Nor shall these words of venom base, Which thou hast from their native place,