"
SIR THOMAS.
"And who was the shepherd written here Second Shepherd, that had the
ill manners to interrupt thee? Methinks, in helping thee to mount
the saddle, he pretty nigh tossed thee over, {53a} with his jerks
and quirks."
Without waiting for any answer, his worship continued his
interrogations.
"But do you woolstaplers call yourselves by the style and title of
shepherds?"
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
"Verily, sir, do we; and I trust by right. The last owner of any
place is called the master more properly than the dead and gone who
once held it. If that be true (and who doubts it?) we, who have the
last of the sheep, namely, the wool and skin, and who buy all of all
the flock, surely may more properly be called shepherds than those
idle vagrants who tend them only for a season, selling a score or
purchasing a score, as may happen."
Here Sir Thomas did pause a while, and then said unto Master Silas,
-
"My own cogitations, and not this stripling, have induced me to
consider and to conclude a weighty matter for knightly scholarship.
I never could rightly understand before how Colin Clout, and sundry
others calling themselves shepherds, should argue like doctors in
law, physic, and divinity.
Pages:
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62