ust now thou
wert but a coward, and now thou art a Manichee. For thou hast imputed
to an evil creator that which was formed only for a good end, namely,
sharks, which were made on purpose to devour useless carcasses like
thine. Moreover, as a brother of the Rose, thou wert bound by the vow of
thy brotherhood to have leaped joyfully down that shark's mouth.

Jack. Ay, very likely, if Mistress Rose had been in his stomach; but I
wanted to fight Spaniards just then, not to be shark-bitten.

Frank. Jack, thy answer savors of self-will. If it is ordained that thou
shouldst advance the ends of the Brotherhood by being shark-bitten,
or flea-bitten, or bitten by sharpers, to the detriment of thy carnal
wealth, or, shortly, to suffer any shame or torment whatsoever, even to
strappado and scarpines, thou art bound to obey thy destiny, and not,
after that vain Roman conceit, to choose the manner of thine own death,
which is indeed only another sort of self-murder. We therefore consider
thee as a cause of scandal, and a rotten and creaking branch, to be
excised by the spiritual arm, and do hereby excise thee, and cut thee
off.

Jack. Nay faith, that's a little too much, Master Frank. How long have
you been Bishop of Exeter?

Frank. Jack, thy wit being blinded, and full of gross vapors, by reason
of the perturbations of fear (which, like anger, is a short madness,
and raises in the phantasy vain spectres,--videlicet, of sharks and
Spaniards), mistakes our lucidity. For thy Manicheeism, let his lordship
of Exeter deal with it. For thy abominable howling and caterwauling,
offensive in a chained cur, but scandalous in a preacher and a brother
of the Rose, we do hereby deprive thee of thine office of chaplain to
the Brotherhood; and warn thee, that unless within seven days thou do
some deed equal to the Seven Champions, or Ruggiero and Orlando's self,
thou shalt be deprived of sword and dagger, and allowed henceforth to
carry no more iron about thee than will serve to mend thy pen.

"And now, Jack," said Amyas, "I will give thee a piece of news. No
wonder that young men, as the parsons complain so loudly, will not
listen to the Gospel, while it is preached to them by men on whom they
cannot but look down; a set of softhanded fellows who cannot dig, and
are ashamed to beg; and, as my brother has it, must needs be parsons
before they are men.

"Frank. Ay, and even though we may excuse that in Popish priests and
friars, who are vowe