The papers are not worth reading; they do not go
against him in the point at issue."
SIR THOMAS.
"We must see that,--they being taken upon his person when
apprehended."
SIR SILAS.
"Let Ephraim read them, then; it behooveth not me, a Master of Arts,
to con a whelp's whining."
SIR THOMAS.
"Do thou read them aloud unto us, good Master Ephraim."
Whereupon I took the papers which young Willy had not bestowed much
pains on; and they posed and puzzled me grievously, for they were
blotted and scrawled in many places, as if somebody had put him out.
These likewise I thought fit, after long consideration, to write
better, and preserve, great as the loss of time is when men of
business take in hand such unseemly matters. However, they are
decenter than most, and not without their moral; for example:-
"TO THE OWLET.
"Who, O thou sapient, saintly bird!
Thy shouted warnings ever heard
Unbleached by fear?
The blue-faced blubbering imp, who steals
Yon turnips, thinks thee at his heels,
Afar or near.
"The brawnier churl, who brags at times
To front and top the rankest crimes, -
To paunch a deer,
Quarter a priest, or squeeze a wench, -
Scuds from thee, clammy as a tench,
He knows not where.
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