"
"Our memory waneth, Master Silas!" quoth Sir Thomas, looking
seriously. "If thou couldst repeat it, without the grimace of
singing, it were not ill."
Master Silas struck the table with his fist, and repeated the first
stave angrily; but in the second he forgot the admonition of Sir
Thomas, and did sing outright, -
"Jack Calvin and Jack Cade,
Two gentles of one trade,
Two tinkers,
Very gladly would pull down
Mother Church and Father Crown,
And would starve or would drown
Right thinkers.
"Honest man! honest man!
Fill the can, fill the can,
They are coming! they are coming! they are coming!
If any drop be left,
It might tempt 'em to a theft -
Zooks! it was only the ale that was humming."
"In the first stave, gramercy! there is an awful verity," quoth Sir
Thomas; "but I wonder that a dean should let his skewer slip out,
and his fat catch fire so wofully, in the second. Light stuff,
Silas, fit only for ale-houses."
Master Silas was nettled in the nose, and answered, -
"Let me see the man in Warwickshire, and in all the counties round,
who can run at such a rate with so light a feather in the palm of
his hand.
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