human
Ay, poor little boy! said she.
gpt
Prithee, Faith, take him on thy lap and cuddle him, and dandle him well, and sing him a song o' sixpence. Oh, my little rogue, my pretty bird! well, then, it shall have a new coral, it shall--Now, Madam, pray you look on this piece of wastry! (Dear heart, but a fool and his money be soon parted!) What think you 'tis like?
human
Truly, my dear, that cannot I say, replied Lady Louvaine, looking at the pipe as Temperance held it out:
gpt
Ill savour, Madam! cried Temperance.
human
Would you even such mean scents as roses and lilies to this celestial odour? Truly, this must it be the angels put in their pouncet-boxes. I am informed of my Lord of Tobago here that all the gentlemen of the Court do use to perfume their velvets with it.
gpt
Well, I can tell you of two which so do, said Aubrey in a nettled fashion--
human
I'll give you a bit of advice, Mr Louvaine: and that is, not to lay your week's wages out in wagers what I shall do. I call any man fool that is given to folly: and as to this filthy business, I should scarce stick at the King's Majesty himself.
gpt
Nay, the King is clean contrary thereto, saith Aubrey, with a rather unwilling air:
human
I hear of my Lord that he saith it soils the inward parts of men with oily soot, and is loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, counted effeminate among the Indians themselves, and by the Spanish slaves called sauce for Lutheran curs.
gpt
Well, on my word! cried Aunt Temperance.
human
And knowing this, thou Lutheran cur, thou wilt yet soil thine inward parts with this oily soot?
gpt
Oh, Aunt, every one so doth.
human
Aubrey, my boy, no true man accounts that a worthy reason for his deeds. It was true of the Israelites when they fell to worship the golden calf, and of the scribes and priests when they cried, `Crucify Him!' Hadst thou been in that crowd before Pontius Pilate, wouldst thou have joined that cry?
gpt
May I tell him?
human
Yes,
gpt
Aubrey, she said,
human
But mine are thirty-five, Aunt,
gpt
In order to be like every one else, Aubrey, and not come in bad odour with his fellows, he spent well-nigh four hundred pound by the year, and--
human
Uncle Walter!
gpt
Ay! said Edith, sadly.
human
And for over ten years thereafter was my father so crippled with his debts, that I mind it being a fine treat when I and my sisters had a new gown apiece, though of the commonest serge, and all but bare necessaries were cut off from our board. Walter laid it so to heart that of a spendthrift he became a miser. I would not have thee so to do, but I bid thee mind that we have very little to live on, owing all we yet have, and have brought withal, to the goodness of my dear Aunt Joyce; and if thou fall in such ways, Aubrey--
gpt
Dear heart, Aunt! Think you I have no wit?
human
Thou hast not an ill wit, my lad, said Aunt Temperance,
gpt
Temperance, you are so unfeeling! exclaimed Faith.
human
Must I needs stand up for my fatherless boy?
gpt
You'd ruin any lad you were mother to,
human
Look here, Hans Floriszoon! Didst ever see any thing like this?
gpt
Oh ay, Mistress Murthwaite, I have seen men to use them.
human
Hast one of these fiddle-faddles thyself? or dost thou desire to have one?
gpt
Neither, in good sooth,
human
There, Mr Louvaine! hearken, prithee.
gpt
Hans is only a boy; I am a man,
human
Lancaster and Derby! and are you then content, my Lord Man, that a contemptible boy should have better wit than your magnifical self? Truly, I think Hans was a man before thou hadst ended sucking of thy thumb.
gpt
See you here, Mr Marshall! cried Temperance, brandishing her pipe.
human
Be you wont to solace your studies with this trumpery?
gpt
Truly, nay, Mistress Murthwaite; 'tis accounted scandalous for divines to use that tobago, not to name the high cost thereof.
human
Pray you, how many pence by the ounce hath any man the face to ask for this stinking stuff?
gpt
Three shillings or more, and that the poorest sort.
human
Mercy me! And can you tell me how folks use it that account it physical?
gpt
Ay, I have heard tell that the manner of using it as physic is to fill the patient's mouth with a ball of the leaves, when he must incline the face downward, and keep his mouth open, not moving his tongue: then doth it draw a flood of water from all parts of the body. Some physicians will not use it, saying it causeth over-quick digestion, and fills the stomach full of crudities. For a cold or headache the fumes of the pipe only are taken. His Majesty greatly loathes this new fashion, saying that the smoke thereof resembles nothing so much as the Stygian fume of the bottomless pit, and likewise that 'tis a branch of drunkenness, which he terms the root of all sins.
human
Why, asked his mother,
gpt
Well, I have heard it said that when the King of Denmark was here, their two Majesties went not to bed sober every night of the week: marry, 'tis whispered all the Court ladies kept not so steady feet as they might have done.
human
Alack the day! not the Queen, I hope?
gpt
Nay, I heard no word touching her.
human
Ah, friends! said Mr Marshall with a sigh,
gpt
Mr Marshall, asked Edith,
human
Ay and no, said he.
gpt
He is not at all thus, in the signification of obeying the Pope, or suffering himself to be ridden of priests: in no wise. But he hates a Puritan worse than a Papist. Mind you not that in his speech when he opened his first Parliament, he said that he did acknowledge the Roman Church to be our mother Church, though defiled with some infirmities and corruptions?
human
Yet he said also, if I err not, that he sucked in God's truth with his nurse's milk.
gpt
Ay. But what one calls God's truth is not what an other doth. All the Papistry in the world is not in the Roman Church; and assuredly she is in no sense our mother.
human
Truly, I thought Saint Austin brought the Gospel hither from Rome.
gpt
Saint Austin brought a deal from Rome beside the Gospel, and he was not the first to bring that. The Gallican Church had before him brought it to Kent; and long ere that time had the ancient British Church been evangelised from no sister Church at all, but right from the Holy Land itself, and as her own unchanging voice did assert, by the beloved Apostle Saint John.
human
That heard I never afore, said Lady Louvaine, who seemed greatly interested.
gpt
Pray you, Mr Marshall, is this true?
human
I do ensure you it is, replied he;
gpt
Was the French Church, then, lesser corrupted than that of Rome?
human
Certainly so, he said:
gpt
Lady Lettice, said he,
human
Hans, my dear boy!
gpt
I will not do it without your good-will thereto, said he;
human
--and rising from his seat, Hans opened his purse, and poured several gold pieces into his friend's lap.
gpt
The former, howbeit, is not--
human
Hans! thou surely thinkest not, dear lad, that I shall strip thee of thy first earnings, won by hard work?
gpt
You will, Lady Lettice, without you mean to disappoint and dishearten me very sore,
human
But all this!
gpt
But, Hans, thou art a gentleman's son!
human
I am a King's son, Madam, said Hans with feeling:
gpt
Yet if so were, dear lad--though I should be verily sorry to see thee come down so low--yet bethink thee, thine apprenticeship may not be compassed without a good payment in money.
human
Your pardon, Madam. There is one craftsman in London that is willing to receive me without a penny. Truly, I did nothing to demerit it, since I did but catch up his little maid of two years, that could scarce toddle, from being run over by an horse that had brake loose from the rein. Howbeit, it pleaseth him to think him under an obligation to me, and his good wife likewise. And having made inquiries diligently, I find him to be a man of good repute, one that feareth God and dealeth justly and kindly by men: also of his wife the neighbours speak well. Seeing, then, all doors shut upon me save this one, whereat I may freely enter, it seems to me, under your Ladyship's leave, that this is the way which God hath prepared for me to walk in: yet if you refuse permission, then I shall know that I have erred therein.
gpt
Hans, I would give my best rebate Aubrey had one half thy wit and goodness!
human
I thank you for the compliment, Mistress Murthwaite, said Hans, laughingly.
gpt
But truly, as for my wit, I should be very ill-set to spare half of it; and as for my goodness, I wish him far more of his own.
human
Where dwells this friend of thine, Hans? inquired Lady Louvaine.
gpt
What is his name? and what craft doth he follow?
human
He dwells near, Madam, in Broad Saint Giles'; his name, Andrew Leigh, and is a silkman.
gpt
We shall miss thee, my boy,
human
Mrs Edith, that was the only one point that made me to doubt if I should take Master Leigh's offer or no. If my personal service be of more value to you than my maintenance is a burden, I pray you tell it me: but if not--
gpt
We never yet reckoned thy maintenance a burden, my dear, answered Lady Louvaine, lovingly.
human
And indeed we shall miss thee more than a little. Nevertheless, Hans, I think thou hast wisely judged. There is thine own future to look to: and though, in very deed, I am sorry that life offer thee no fairer opening, yet the Lord wot best that which shall be best for thee. Ay, Hans: thou wilt do well to take the offer.