Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/183

CANTO III.] Each striving to confirm his party With stout encouragements and hearty. Quoth Ralpho, Courage, valiant Sir, And let revenge and honour stir Your spirits up; once more fall on, The shatter'd foe begins to run: For if but half so well you knew To use your vict'ry as subdue, They durst not, after such a blow As you have giv'n them, face us now; But from so formidable a soldier, Had fled like crows when they smell powder. Thrice have they seen your sword aloft Wav'd o'er their heads, and fled as oft: But if you let them recollect Their spirits, now dismay'd and check'd, You 'll have a harder game to play Than yet y' have had, to get the day. Thus spoke the stout Squire; but was heard By Hudibras with small regard. His thoughts were fuller of the bang He lately took, than Ralph's harangue; To which he answer'd, Cruel fate, Tells me thy counsel comes too late, The clotted blood within my hose, That from my wounded body flows, With mortal crisis doth portend My days to appropinque an end. I am for action now unfit, Either of fortitude or wit; Fortune, my foe, begins to frown, Resolv'd to pull my stomach down.