The farthest way about t' o'ercome, I' th' end does prove the nearest home; They that are bruis'd with wood or fists, 280 And think one beating may for once Suffice, are cowards and poltroons : They're stout and gallant fellows reckon❜d. King Pyrrhus cur'd his splenetic And testy courtiers with a kick. 235 The Negus, when some mighty lord 240 And pardon'd for some great offence, 245 250 And justly 's held more formidable, The more his valor 's malleable; But he that fears a bastinado, Will run away from his own shadow : 255 By our own party basely cast, 260 As beards the nearer that they tend To th' earth, still grow more reverend; The lower we let down their breeches: I'll make this low dejected fate 265 Advance me to a greater height. Quoth she, Y' have almost made m' in love With that which did my pity move. Great wits, and valors, like great states, Do sometimes sink with their own weights: 270 Th' extremes of glory and of shame, Like east and west become the same: More followers than a thief to th' gallows. But if a beating seem so brave, 275 What glories must a whipping have? To cast salt on a woman's tail: For if I thought your natʼral talent Of passive courage were so gallant, you strain hard to have it thought, I could grow amorous, and dote. When Hudibras this language heard, Wines work when vines are in the flow'r : 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: 280 How I've been drubb'd, and with what spirit And if you doubt it to be true, I'll stake myself down against you: And if I fail in love or troth, 285 290 295 Be you the winner, and take both. Quoth she, I've heard old cunning stagers Say, fools for arguments use wagers; And tho' I prais'd your valor, yet I did not mean to baulk your wit ; Which if you have, you must needs know I cannot love where I 'm belov'd. Beyond th' infliction of a witch; 300 Quoth Hudibras, 'T is a caprich, 305 So cheats to play with those still aim, That do not understand the game. Love in your heart as idly burns, 310 To warm the dead, and vainly light Have you not pow'r to entertain, 315 320 It is a kind of rape to marry One that neglects, or cares not for ye: To love you, that you may despise us? Why should you not at least allow Those that love you to do so too; For as you fly me, and pursue Love more averse, so I do you: Quoth she, If what you say is true, You must fly me as I do you: But 't is not what we do, but say, In love and preaching that must sway. Quoth he, To bid me not to love, 335 $40 Is to forbid my pulse to move, My beard to grow, my ears to prick up, 345 Or, when I'm in a fit, to kick up: |