Read "Hudibras" by Samuel Butler online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The Knight and Squire, in hot dispute, Within an ace of falling out, Are parted with a sudden fright Of strange alarm, and stranger sight; With which adventuring to stickle, They're sent away in nasty pickle.
'Tis strange how some men's tempers suit (Like bawd and brandy) with dispute, That for their own opinions stand last Only to have them claw'd and canvast; That keep their consciences in cases, As fiddlers do their crowds and bases, Ne'er to be us'd, but when they're bent To play a fit for argument; Make true and false, unjust and just, Of no use but to be discust; Dispute, and set a paradox Like a straight boot upon the stocks, And stretch it more unmercifully Than Helmont, Montaign, White, or Tully.