"I never could have thought it!"
SIR THOMAS.
"There again! Another proof of thy inexperience."
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
"Mat Atterend! Mat Atterend! where wert thou sleeping?"
SIR THOMAS.
"I shall now from my own stores impart unto thee what will avail to
tame thee, shewing the utter hopelessness of standing on that golden
weathercock which supporteth but one at a time.
"The passion for poetry wherewith Monsieur Dubois would have
inspired me, as he was bound to do, being paid beforehand, had cold
water thrown upon it by that unlucky one, Sir Everard. He ridiculed
the idea of male and female rhymes, and the necessity of trying them
as rigidly by the eye as by the ear,--saying to Monsieur Dubois that
the palate, in which the French excel all mortals, ought also to be
consulted in their acceptance or rejection. Monsieur Dubois told us
that if we did not wish to be taught French verse, he would teach us
English. Sir Everard preferred the Greek; but Monsieur Dubois would
not engage to teach the mysteries of that poetry in fewer than
thirty lessons,--having (since his misfortunes) forgotten the
letters and some other necessaries.
"The first poem I ever wrote was in the character of a shepherd, to
Mistress Anne Nanfan, daughter of Squire Fulke Nanfan, of
Worcestershire, at that time on a visit to the worshipful family of
Compton at Long Compton.
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