Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/230

146 Great wits and valours, like great states, Do sometimes sink with their own weights: Th' extremes of glory and of shame, Like east and west, become the same. No Indian Prince has to his palace More followers than a thief to the gallows. But if a beating seems so brave, What glories must a whipping have? Such great achievements cannot fail To cast salt on a woman's tail: For if I thought your nat'ral talent Of passive courage were so gallant, As you strain hard to have it thought, I could grow amorous, and dote. When Hudibras this language heard, He prick'd up's ears, and strok'd his beard; Thought he, this is the lucky hour, Wines work when vines are in the flower: This crisis then I'll set my rest on, And put her boldly to the question. Madam, What you would seem to doubt Shall be to all the world made out, How I've been drubb'd, and with what spirit And magnanimity I bear it; And if you doubt it to be true, I'll stake myself down against you: And if I fail in love or troth, Be you the winner, and take both.