Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/243

CANTO I.] Your pettifoggers damn their souls, To share with knaves in cheating fools: And merchants, venturing through the main, Slight pirates, rocks, and horns for gain. This is the way I advise you to. Trust me, and see what I will do. Quoth she, I should be loth to run Myself all th' hazard, and you none; Which must be done, unless some deed Of yours aforesaid do precede; Give but yourself one gentle swing For trial, and I'll cut the string: Or give that rev'rend head a maul, Or two, or three, against a wall; To show you are a man of mettle, And I'll engage myself to settle. Quoth he, My head's not made of brass, As Friar Bacon's noddle was; Nor, like the Indian's skull, so tough, That, authors say, 'twas musket-proof: As it had need to be to enter, As yet, on any new adventure; You see what bangs it has endur'd, That would, before new feats, be cur'd: