Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/147

And set th' a task, with subornation,
To stitch up sale and sequestration;
To cheat, with holiness and zeal,725
All parties and the common-weal?
Much better had it been for thee,
H' had kept thee where th' art us'd to be;
Or sent th' on business any whither,
So he had never brought thee hither.730
But if th' hast brain enough in skull
To keep itself in lodging whole,
And not provoke the rage of stones,
And cudgels, to thy hide and bones;
Tremble and vanish while thou may'st,735
Which I'll not promise if thou stay'st.
At this the Knight grew high in wroth,
And lifting hands and eyes up both,
Three times he smote on stomach stout,
From whence, at length, these words broke out:740
Was I for this entitled Sir,
And girt with trusty sword and spur,
For fame and honour to wage battle,
Thus to be brav'd by foe to cattle?
Not all the pride that makes thee swell745
As big as thou dost blown-up veal;
Nor all thy tricks and sleights to cheat,
And sell thy carrion for good meat;
Not all thy magic to repair
Decay'd old age, in tough lean ware,750
Make nat'ral death appear thy work,
And stop the gangrene in stale pork;
Not all the force that makes thee proud,
Because by bullock ne'er withstood:
Tho' arm'd with all thy cleavers, knives,755
And axes made to hew down lives,
Shall save, or help thee to evade
The hand of justice, or this blade,
Which I, her sword-bearer, do carry,
For civil deed and military.760
Nor shall these words of venom base,
Which thou hast from their native place,