But Caunt I denounce, and his system of hugging,

A practice more fit for a bear than a man.

As to Freeman, the giant—​I don’t mean offending—

His bulk and his weight may astonish the raw,

But when with Bill Perry, the Slasher, contending,

I’m bless’d if he showed any point worth a straw.

Of falsehood I scorn the unclean manufacture,

My luck with good men always forward to try;

And but for my knee-pan’s unfortunate fracture

With the Yankee I wouldn’t have shrunk from a shy.