And he went on thus:-
JOSEPH CARNABY.
"At this moment one of the accomplices cried, 'Willy! Willy!
prithee stop! enough in all conscience! First thou divertedst us
from our undertaking with thy strange vagaries, thy Italian girls'
nursery sigh, thy Pucks and pinchings, and thy Windsor whimsies. No
kitten upon a bed of marum ever played such antics. It was summer
and winter, night and day with us within the hour; and in such
religion did we think and feel it, we would have broken the man's
jaw who gainsaid it. We have slept with thee under the oaks in the
ancient forest of Arden, and we have wakened from our sleep in the
tempest far at sea. {29a} Now art thou for frightening us again out
of all the senses thou hadst given us, with witches and women more
murderous than they.'
"Then followed a deeper voice: 'Stouter men and more resolute are
few; but thou, my lad, hast words too weighty for flesh and bones to
bear up against. And who knows but these creatures may pop amongst
us at last, as the wolf did, sure enough, upon him, the noisy rogue,
who so long had been crying WOLF! and WOLF!
SIR THOMAS.
"Well spoken, for two thieves; albeit I miss the meaning of the most
part.
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