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From “Hudibras,” Part I.
HIS puissant sword unto his side | |
| Near his undaunted heart was tied, | |
| With basket hilt that would hold broth, | |
| And serve for fight and dinner both. | |
| In it he melted lead for bullets | 5 |
| To shoot at foes, and sometimes pullets, | |
| To whom he bore so fell a grutch | |
| He ne’er gave quarter to any such. | |
| The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty, | |
| For want of fighting was grown rusty, | 10 |
| And ate into itself, for lack | |
| Of somebody to hew and hack. | |
| The peaceful scabbard, where it dwelt, | |
| The rancor of its edge had felt; | |
| For of the lower end two handful | 15 |
| It had devoured, it was so manful; | |
| And so much scorned to lurk in case, | |
| As if it durst not show its face. * * * * * | |
| This sword a dagger had, his page, | |
| That was but little for his age, | 20 |
| And therefore waited on him so | |
| As dwarfs unto knight-errants do. | |
| It was a serviceable dudgeon, | |
| Either for fighting or for drudging. | |
| When it had stabbed or broke a head, | 25 |
| It would scrape trenchers or chip bread, | |
| Toast cheese or bacon, though it were | |
| To bait a mouse trap ’t would not care; | |
| ’T would make clean shoes, and in the earth | |
| Set leeks and onions, and so forth: | 30 |
| It had been ’prentice to a brewer, | |
| Where this and more it did endure; | |
| But left the trade, as many more | |
| Have lately done on the same score. | |
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