. It was gone utterly and without a trace.'

'Whither then?' we asked with one voice.

'That was the question which we set ourselves to solve. For a moment I
do assure ye that we bethought us that it might be a judgment upon us
for our attention to such carnal follies. Then it crossed my mind
that it might be the doing of some malicious sprite, as the Drummer of
Tedworth, or those who occasioned the disturbances no very long time
since at the old Gast House at Little Burton here in Somersetshire.
(Note F. Appendix.) With this thought we hallooed to the coachman, and
told him what had occurred to us. The fellow came down from his
perch, and having heard our story, he burst straightway into much foul
language, and walking round to the back of his calash, showed us that
a slit had been made in the leather wherewith it was fashioned. Through
this the thief had thrust his hand and had drawn my wig through the
hole, resting the while on the crossbar of the coach. It was no uncommon
thing, he said, and the wig-snatchers were a numerous body who waited
beside the peruke-maker's shops, and when they saw a customer come forth
with a purchase which was worth their pains they would follow him, and,
should he chance to drive, deprive him of it in this fashion. Be that as
it may, I never saw my wig again, and had to purchase another before I
could venture into the royal presence.'

'A strange adventure truly,' exclaimed Saxon. 'How fared it with you for
the remainder of the evening?'

'But scurvily, for Charles's face, which was black enough at all
times, was blackest of all to us; nor was his brother the Papist more
complaisant. They had but brought us there that they might dazzle us
with their glitter and gee-gaws, in order that we might bear a fine
report of them back to the West with us. There were supple-backed
courtiers, and strutting nobles, and hussies with their shoulders bare,
who should for all their high birth have been sent to Bridewell as
readily as any poor girl who ever walked at the cart's tail. Then there
were the gentlemen of the chamber, with cinnamon and plum-coloured
coats, and a brave show of gold lace and silk and ostrich feather.
Neighbour Foster and I felt as two crows might do who have wandered
among the peacocks. Yet we bare in mind in whose image we were
fashioned, and we carried ourselves, I trust, as independent English
burghers. His Grace of Buckingham had his flout at us, and Rochester
sneered, an