acked out
of it, and Will and I went off to our work in rather a merry cue, for
old Joe had blundered on the truth about himself for once in his life.

The aforesaid Will Shepherd has sometimes come down rather heavy upon me
in his remarks, but it has done me good. It is partly through his
home-thrusts that I have come to write this new book, for he thought I
was idle; perhaps I am, and perhaps I am not. Will forgets that I have
other fish to fry and tails to butter; and he does not recollect that a
ploughman's mind wants to lie fallow a little, and can't give a crop
every year. It is hard to make rope when your hemp is all used up, or
pancakes without batter, or rook pie without the birds; and so I found
it hard to write more when I had said just about all I knew. Giving much
to the poor doth increase a man's store, but it is not the same with
writing; at least, I am such a poor scribe that I don't find it come
because I pull. If your thoughts only flow by drops, you can't pour them
out in bucketfuls.

However, Will has ferreted me out, and I am obliged to him so far. I
told him the other day what the winkle said to the pin: "Thank you for
drawing me out, but you are rather sharp about it." Still, Master Will
is not far from the mark: after three hundred thousand people had bought
my book it certainly was time to write another. So, though I am not a
hatter, I will again turn capmaker, and those who have heads may try on
my wares; those who have none won't touch them. So, friends, I am,

Yours, rough and ready, JOHN PLOUGHMAN.

BURN A CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS, AND IT WILL SOON BE GONE.

Well may he scratch his head who burns his candle at both ends; but do
what he may, his light will soon be gone and he will be all in the dark.
Young Jack Careless squandered his property, and now he is without a
shoe to his foot. His was a case of "easy come, easy go; soon gotten,
soon spent." He that earns an estate will keep it better than he that
inherits it. As the Scotchman says, "He that gets gear before he gets
wit is but a short time master of it," and so it was with Jack. His
money burned holes in his pocket. He could not get rid of it fast enough
himself, and so he got a pretty set to help him, which they did by
helping themselves. His fortune went like a pound of meat in a kennel of
hounds. He was every body's friend, and now he is every body's fool.

HUNCHBACK SEES NOT HIS OWN HUMP, BUT HE SEES HIS NEIGHBOR'S.