Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/293

CANTO II.] Nor shalt thou find him a curmudgin, If thou dispatch it without grudging: If not, resolve, before we go, That you and I must pull a crow. Ye 'ad best, quoth Ralpho, as the ancients Say wisely, have a care o' th' main chance, And look before you, ere you leap; For as you sow y' are like to reap: And were y' as good as George-a-green, I should make bold to turn agen; Nor am I doubtful of the issue In a just quarrel, as mine is so. Is 't fitting for a man of honour To whip the saints, like Bishop Bonner? A knight t' usurp the beadle's office, For which y' are like to raise brave trophies? But I advise you, not for fear, But for your own sake, to forbear; And for the churches, which may chance From hence, to spring a variance, And raise among themselves new scruples, Whom common danger hardly couples, Remember how in arms and politics, We still have worsted all your holy tricks;