ls be dry,
Stray lower where the pleasant fountains lie._

_"'Within this limit is relief enough,
Sweet bottom grass and high delightful plain,
Round rising hillocks, brake obscure and rough
To shelter thee from tempest and from rain;
Then be my deer since I am such a park--
No dog shall rouse thee though a thousand bark!'"_

When he dropped in his chair the revelers went wild with enthusiasm, and
Marlowe and Southampton wished to know where the "Stratford Boy" got the
poem!

William smiled, tapped his forehead and tossed off a bumper of brandy to
the cheers that still demanded more mental food.

But as it was two by the clock, our friend Field suggested that we retire,
when Marlow and himself took us in a carriage to the Devil Tavern, where we
slept off our first spree in London.

_"O thou invisible spirit of wine,
If thou hast no name to be known by,
Let us call thee Devil!"_

We arose the next morning a little groggy, and William had a shade of
melancholy remorse flash over his usually bright countenance.

He abstractedly remarked: "Well, Jack, we are making a fine start for fame
and fortune. The stride we took last night, at the Boar's Head, will soon
land us in Newgate or Parliament!"

I replied that it made little difference to intellectual artists whether
they served their country in prison or in Parliament, for many a man was in
Newgate who might honor Parliament, and many secret scoundrels who had not
been caught should be inmates of Newgate, or, if equal justice prevailed,
their bodies be dangling on the heights of Tyburn!

_"A Daniel come to judgment; yea, a Daniel!
O wise young judge, how I do honor thee!"_

* * * * *

_Poise the cause in justice' equal scales,
Whose beam stands sure?_

It was ten o'clock when we stretched our weary legs under the breakfast
table of Meg Mullen, who had prepared for us a quartette of fat mutton
chops, with salt pork, baked potatoes, a huge omelet and a boiling pot of
black tea, sent, as she said, by the Emperor of China for the guests of the
Boar's Head Tavern!

Meg was a jolly wench, and garnished her food with pleasant words and witty
quips, believing that love and laughter aided digestion and cheered the
traveler in his journey of life.

I reminded William that he had a business engagement with the great
theatrical monarch, Richard Burbage, at noon at the Blackfri