Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/252

162 Ere I can own you, here i' th' pound. Where, if ye're sought, you may be found; And in the mean time I must pay For all your provender and hay. Quoth he, It stands me much upon T' enervate this objection, And prove myself, by topic clear, No gelding, as you would infer. Loss of virility's averr'd To be the cause of loss of beard, That does, like embryo in the womb, Abortive on the chin become: This first a woman did invent, In envy of man's ornament: Semiramis of Babylon, Who first of all cut men o' th' stone. To mar their beards, and laid foundation Of sow-geldering operation: Look on this beard, and tell me whether Eunuchs wear such, or geldings either? Next it appears I am no horse, That I can argue and discourse, Have but two legs, and ne'er a tail. Quoth she, That nothing will avail; For some philosophers of late here, Write men have four legs by nature, And that 'tis custom makes them go Erroneously upon but two; As 'twas in Germany made good, B' a boy that lost himself in a wood;