ould have been no unfitting one. The maiden turned
against him, however--young girls will have their fancies--and the
matter came to an end. Yet here he dwells under the same roof-tree, at
her elbow from morn to night, with never a sign of that passion which
can scarce have died out so soon. Twice my wool warehouse hath been
nigh burned to the ground since then, and twice he hath headed those who
fought the flames. There are not many whose suit hath been rejected who
would bear themselves in so resigned and patient a fashion.'

'I am prepared to find that your judgment is the correct one,' said Sir
Gervas Jerome. 'I have learned to distrust too hasty dislikes, and bear
in mind that couplet of John Dryden--

"Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow.
He who would search for pearls must dive below."'

'Or worthy Dr. Samuel Butler,' said Saxon, 'who, in his immortal poem of
"Hudibras," says--

"The fool can only see the skin:
The wise man tries to peep within."'

'I wonder, Colonel Saxon,' said our host severely, 'that you should
speak favourably of that licentious poem, which is composed, as I have
heard, for the sole purpose of casting ridicule upon the godly. I should
as soon have expected to hear you praise the wicked and foolish work of
Hobbes, with his mischievous thesis, "A Deo rex, a rege lex."'

'It is true that I contemn and despise the use which Butler hath made of
his satire,' said Saxon adroitly; 'yet I may admire the satire itself,
just as one may admire a damascened blade without approving of the
quarrel in which it is drawn.'

'These distinctions are, I fear, too subtle for my old brain,' said the
stout old Puritan. 'This England of ours is divided into two camps, that
of God and that of Antichrist. He who is not with us is against us, nor
shall any who serve under the devil's banner have anything from me save
my scorn and the sharp edge of my sword.'

'Well, well,' said Saxon, filling up his glass, 'I am no Laodicean or
time-server. The cause shall not find me wanting with tongue or with
sword.'

'Of that I am well convinced, my worthy friend,' the Mayor answered,
'and if I have spoken over sharply you will hold me excused. But I
regret to have evil tidings to announce to you. I have not told the
commonalty lest it cast them down, but I know that adversity will be
but the whetstone to give your ardour a finer edge. Argyle's rising has
failed, and he an