"
"Sir!" answered Willy, "I wrote not down the words, fearing to mis-
spell them, and begged them of the doctor, when I took my leave of
him on the morrow; and verily he wrote down all he had repeated. I
keep them always in the tin-box in my waistcoat-pocket, among the
eel-hooks, on a scrap of paper a finger's length and breadth, folded
in the middle to fit. And when the eels are running, I often take
it out and read it before I am aware. I could as soon forget my own
epitaph as this."
"Simpleton!" said Sir Thomas, with his gentle, compassionate smile;
"but thou hast cleared thyself."
SIR SILAS.
"I think the doctor gave one idle chap as much solid pudding as he
could digest, with a slice to spare for another."
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
"And yet after this pudding the doctor gave him a spoonful of
custard, flavoured with a little bitter, which was mostly left at
the bottom for the other idle chap."
Sir Thomas not only did endure this very goodnaturedly, but deigned
even to take in good part the smile upon my countenance, as though
he were a smile collector, and as though his estate were so humble
that he could hold his laced bonnet (in all his bravery) for bear
and fiddle.
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