"
"All shall be amended, Sancte Nigelle, when thou shalt come forth a
new Peter the Hermit, to preach a crusade against dicing, drabbing,
and company-keeping. We will meet for dinner in Saint Sepulchre's
Church; we will dine in the chancel, drink our flask in the vestry,
the parson shall draw every cork, and the clerk say amen to every
health. Come man, cheer up, and get rid of this sour and unsocial
humour. Credit me, that the Puritans who object to us the follies and
the frailties incident to human nature, have themselves the vices of
absolute devils, privy malice and backbiting hypocrisy, and spiritual
pride in all its presumption. There is much, too' in life which we
must see, were it only to learn to shun it. Will Shakespeare, who
lives after death, and who is presently to afford thee such pleasure
as none but himself can confer, has described the gallant Falconbridge
as calling that man
----' a bastard to the time,
That doth not smack of observation;
Which, though I will not practise to deceive,
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn."
But here we are at the door of the Fortune, where we shall have
matchless Will speaking for himself.--Goblin, and you other lout,
leave the horses to the grooms, and make way for us through the
press."
They dismounted, and the assiduous efforts of Lutin, elbowing,
bullying, and proclaiming his master's name and title, made way
through a crowd of murmuring citizens, and clamorous apprentices, to
the door, where Lord Dalgarno speedily procured a brace of stools upon
the stage for his companion and himself, where, seated among other
gallants of the same class, they had an opportunity of displaying
their fair dresses and fashionable manners, while they criticised the
piece during its progress; thus forming, at the same time, a
conspicuous part of the spectacle, and an important proportion of the
audience.
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