"
Then turned the worthy knight unto the youth, saying, -
"'T were well for thee, William Shakspeare, if the learned doctor
had kept thee longer in his house, and had shewn unto thee the
danger of idleness, which hath often led unto deer-stealing and
poetry. In thee we already know the one, although the distemper
hath eaten but skin-deep for the present; and we have the testimony
of two burgesses on the other. The pursuit of poetry, as likewise
of game, is unforbidden to persons of condition."
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
"Sir, that of game is the more likely to keep them in it."
SIR THOMAS,
"It is the more knightly of the two; but poetry hath also her
pursuers among us. I myself, in my youth, had some experience that
way; and I am fain to blush at the reputation I obtained. His
honour, my father, took me to London at the age of twenty; and,
sparing no expense in my education, gave fifty shillings to one
Monsieur Dubois to teach me fencing and poetry, in twenty lessons.
In vacant hours he taught us also the laws of honour, which are
different from ours.
"In France you are unpolite unless you solicit a judge or his wife
to favour your cause; and you inevitably lose it.
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