"You would think," he said, "to hear these fellows talk, that there was

not one of them who had not been bred to live by Stand and Deliver; and

yet tomorrow you will find them a set of as painstaking mechanics, and

so forth, as ever cut an inch short of measure, or paid a letter of

change in light crowns over a counter. The mercer there wears his hat

awry, over a shaggy head of hair, that looks like a curly water-dog's

back, goes unbraced, wears his cloak on one side, and affects a

ruffianly vapouring humour: when in his shop at Abingdon, he is, from

his flat cap to his glistening shoes, as precise in his apparel as if he

was named for mayor. He talks of breaking parks, and taking the highway,

in such fashion that you would think he haunted every night betwixt

Hounslow and London; when in fact he may be found sound asleep on his

feather-bed, with a candle placed beside him on one side, and a Bible on

the other, to fright away the goblins."

"And your nephew, mine host, this same Michael Lambourne, who is lord of

the feast--is he, too, such a would-be ruffler as the rest of them?"

"Why, there you push me hard," said the host; "my nephew is my nephew,

and though he was a desperate Dick of yore, yet Mike may have mended

like other folks, you wot. And I would not have you think all I said

of him, even now, was strict gospel; I knew the wag all the while, and

wished to pluck his plumes from him. And now, sir, by what name shall I

present my worshipful guest to these gallants?"

"Marry, mine host," replied the stranger, "you may call me Tressilian."

"Tressilian?" answered mine host of the Bear. "A worthy name, and, as I

think, of Cornish lineage; for what says the south proverb-'By Pol, Tre, and Pen,

You may know the Cornish men.' Shall I say the worthy Master Tressilian of Cornwall?"

"Say no more than I have given you warrant for, mine host, and so shall

you be sure you speak no more than is true. A man may have one of those

honourable prefixes to his name, yet be born far from Saint Michael's

Mount."

Mine host pushed his curiosity no further, but presented Master

Tressilian to his nephew's company, who, after exchange of salutations,

and drinking to the health of their new companion, pursued the

conversation in which he found them engaged, seasoning it with many an

intervening pledge.




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