"
But the knight was more reasonable, and said, reprovingly, -
"There now, Silas! thou talkest widely, and verily in malice, if
there be any in thee."
"Try him," answered Master Silas; "I don't kneel where he does.
Could he have but his wicked will of me he would chop my legs off,
as he did the poor buck's."
SIR THOMAS.
"No, no, no; he hath neither guile nor revenge in him. We may let
him have his way, now that he hath taken the right one."
SIR SILAS.
"Popery! sheer popery! strong as harts-horn! Your papists keep
these outlandish hours for their masses and mummery. Surely we
might let God alone at twelve o'clock! Have we no bowels?"
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
"Gracious sir! I do not urge it; and the time is now past by some
minutes."
SIR THOMAS.
"Art thou popishly inclined, William?"
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
"Sir, I am not popishly inclined; I am not inclined to pay tribute
of coin or understanding to those who rush forward with a pistol at
my breast, crying, 'STAND, OR YOU ARE A DEAD MAN.' I have but one
guide in faith,--a powerful, an almighty one. He will not suffer to
waste away and vanish the faith for which he died. He hath chosen
in all countries pure hearts for its depositaries; and I would
rather take it from a friend and neighbour, intelligent and
righteous, and rejecting lucre, than from some foreigner educated in
the pride of cities or in the moroseness of monasteries, who sells
me what Christ gave me,--his own flesh and blood.
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