"Long may it be so, sir!" said the traveller; "but permit me to ask, in

your own learned phrase, QUID HOC AD IPHYCLI BOVES? what has all this to

do with the shoeing of my poor nag?"

"FESTINA LENTE," said the man of learning, "we will presently came to

that point. You must know that some two or three years past there came

to these parts one who called himself Doctor Doboobie, although it may

be he never wrote even MAGISTER ARTIUM, save in right of his hungry

belly. Or it may be, that if he had any degrees, they were of the

devil's giving; for he was what the vulgar call a white witch, a cunning

man, and such like.--Now, good sir, I perceive you are impatient; but if

a man tell not his tale his own way, how have you warrant to think that

he can tell it in yours?"

"Well, then, learned sir, take your way," answered Tressilian; "only let

us travel at a sharper pace, for my time is somewhat of the shortest."

"Well, sir," resumed Erasmus Holiday, with the most provoking

perseverance, "I will not say that this same Demetrius for so he wrote

himself when in foreign parts, was an actual conjurer, but certain it

is that he professed to be a brother of the mystical Order of the Rosy

Cross, a disciple of Geber (EX NOMINE CUJUS VENIT VERBUM VERNACULUM,

GIBBERISH). He cured wounds by salving the weapon instead of the sore;

told fortunes by palmistry; discovered stolen goods by the sieve and

shears; gathered the right maddow and the male fern seed, through use of

which men walk invisible; pretended some advances towards the panacea,

or universal elixir; and affected to convert good lead into sorry

silver."

"In other words," said Tressilian, "he was a quacksalver and common

cheat; but what has all this to do with my nag, and the shoe which he

has lost?"

"With your worshipful patience," replied the diffusive man of letters,

"you shall understand that presently--PATENTIA then, right worshipful,

which word, according to our Marcus Tullius, is 'DIFFICILIUM RERUM

DIURNA PERPESSIO.' This same Demetrius Doboobie, after dealing with the

country, as I have told you, began to acquire fame INTER MAGNATES, among

the prime men of the land, and there is likelihood he might have aspired

to great matters, had not, according to vulgar fame (for I aver not the

thing as according with my certain knowledge), the devil claimed his

right, one dark night, and flown off with Demetrius, who was never seen

or heard of afterwards. Now here comes the MEDULLA, the very marrow,

of my tale. This Doctor Doboobie had a servant, a poor snake, whom

he employed in trimming his furnace, regulating it by just

measure--compounding his drugs--tracing his circles--cajoling his

patients, ET SIC ET CAETERIS. Well, right worshipful, the Doctor being

removed thus strangely, and in a way which struck the whole country with

terror, this poor Zany thinks to himself, in the words of Maro, 'UNO

AVULSO, NON DEFICIT ALTER;' and, even as a tradesman's apprentice sets

himself up in his master's shop when he is dead or hath retired from

business, so doth this Wayland assume the dangerous trade of his defunct

master. But although, most worshipful sir, the world is ever prone to

listen to the pretensions of such unworthy men, who are, indeed, mere

SALTIM BANQUI and CHARLATANI, though usurping the style and skill

of doctors of medicine, yet the pretensions of this poor Zany, this

Wayland, were too gross to pass on them, nor was there a mere rustic,

a villager, who was not ready to accost him in the sense of Persius,

though in their own rugged words,-DILIUS HELLEBORUM CERTO COMPESCERE PUNCTO

NESCIUS EXAMEN? VETAT HOC NATURA VEDENDI; which I have thus rendered in a poor paraphrase of mine own,-Wilt thou mix hellebore, who dost not know

How many grains should to the mixture go?

The art of medicine this forbids, I trow.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024