"
SIR THOMAS.
"Silas, they may stamp wit, they may further wit, they may send wit
into good company, but not make it."
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
"Behold my wall of defence!"
SIR SILAS.
"An thou art for walls, I have one for thee from Oxford, pithy and
apposite, sound and solid, and trimmed up becomingly, as a collar of
brawn with a crown of rosemary, or a boar's head with a lemon in the
mouth."
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
"Egad, Master Silas, those are your walls for lads to climb over, an
they were higher than Babel's."
SIR SILAS.
"Have at thee!"
"Thou art a wall
To make the ball
Rebound from.
"Thou hast a back
For beadle's crack
To sound from, to sound from.
The foolishest dolts are the ground-plot of the most wit, as the
idlest rogues are of the most industry. Even thou hast brought wit
down from Oxford. And before a thief is hanged, parliament must
make laws, attorneys must engross them, printers stamp and publish
them, hawkers cry them, judges expound them, juries weigh and
measure them with offences, then executioners carry them into
effect. The farmer hath already sown the hemp, the ropemaker hath
twisted it; sawyers saw the timber, carpenters tack together the
shell, grave-diggers delve the earth.
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