They are like ice that in the hand we hold, "So very melting, yet so very cold;

"On such affection let not man rely,
"The husbands suffer, and the ladies sigh:
"But your friend's offer let us kindly take,
"And spare his pride for his vexation's sake;
"For he has found, and through his life will find,
""Tis easiest dealing with the firmest mind--

"More just when it resists, and, when it yields, more.

1

TALE XIX.

THE CONVERT.

A Tapster is a good trade,

And an old cloak makes a new jerkin,

A wither'd serving-man, a fresh tapster.

Merry Wives of Windsor, Act I. Scene 3.

A fellow, sir, that I have known go about with my troll-my-dames. Winter's Tale, Act IV. Scene 2.

I myself, sometimes leaving the fear of Heaven

on the left hand, and hiding mine honour in my necessity, am forced to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch.

Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II. Scene 2.

Yea, and at that very moment,

Consideration like an Angel came,

And whipp'd th' offending Adam out of him.

Henry V. Act I. Scene 1.

I have liv'd long enough; my May of life
Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf;
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have.

Macbeth, Act V. Scene 3

TALE XIX.

THE CONVERT.

SOME to our Hero have a hero's name
Denied, because no father's he could claim;
Nor could his mother with precision state
A full fair claim to her certificate;

On her own word the marriage must depend,-
A point she was not eager to defend :
But who, without a father's name, can raise
His own so high, deserves the greater praise;
The less advantage to the strife he brought,
The greater wonders has his prowess wrought;
He who depends upon his wind and limbs,
Needs neither cork or bladder when he swims;
Nor will by empty breath be puff'd along,
As not himself-but in his helpers-strong.

Suffice it then, our Hero's name was clear, For, call John Dighton, and he answer'd Here!' But who that name in early life assign'd, He never found, he never tried to find ; Whether his kindred were to John disgrace, Or John to them, is a disputed case;