d, and now will I wage battle with him
and be avenged on him." "Sir, ye shall not do so," said Merlin: "for
the knight is weary of fighting and chasing; so that ye shall have no
worship to have a do with him. Also he will not lightly be matched of
one knight living: and therefore my counsel is, that yet let him pass;
for he shall do you good service in short time, and his sons after his
days. Also ye shall see that day in short space, that ye shall be
right glad to give him your sister to wife." "When I see him," said
King Arthur, "I will do as ye advise me."

Then King Arthur looked upon the sword and liked it passing well.
"Whether liketh you better," said Merlin, "the sword or the scabbard?"
"Me liketh better the sword," said King Arthur. "Ye are more unwise,"
said Merlin; "for the scabbard is worth ten of the sword: for while ye
have the scabbard upon you, ye shall lose no blood, be ye never so
sore wounded--therefore keep well the scabbard alway with you." So
they rode on to Carlion.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 20: From the "Morte d'Arthur."]

SIR THOMAS MORE

Born in 1478, died in 1535; met Erasmus in London in 1497;
after 1503 devoted himself mainly to politics; entered
Parliament in 1504; ambassador to Flanders in 1515;
published "Utopia" in 1516; privy counsellor to Henry VIII
in 1518; present with the King at the Field of the Cloth of
Gold in 1520; speaker of the House of Commons in 1523;
defended the papacy against Luther; succeeded Wolsey as
chancellor in 1529; refused in 1534 to take the oath of
adherence to the act vesting the succession in the issue of
Anne Boleyn and committed to the Tower, indicted for high
treason and executed July 6th, 1535.

LIFE IN UTOPIA[21]

There are fifty-four cities in the island, all large and well built,
the manners, customs, and laws of which are the same, and they are all
contrived as near in the same manner as the ground on which they stand
will allow. The nearest lie at least twenty-four miles' distance from
one another, and the most remote are not so far distant but that a man
can go on foot in one day from it to that which lies next it. Every
city sends three of their wisest senators once a year to Amaurot, to
consult about their common concerns; for that is the chief town of the
island, being situated near the center of it, so that it is the most
convenient place for their assemblies. The jurisdi