Stripped they were in all conscience.' 'You remind me of a fellow in Dublin who called on me for medical advice, and found he'd forgotten his purse.

He offered to execute a deed to bequeath me his body, naked and not ashamed.' 'You'd a right to cut him up at once, Forbery.

Any Jury 'd have pronounced him guilty of giving up the ghost before he called.' 'I let him go, body and all.

I never saw him again.' 'The fellow was not a lunatic.

As for your golden mean, there's a saying: Prevention is better than cure: and another that caps it: Drink deep or taste not.' 'That's the Pierian Spring.' 'And what is the wine on my table, sir ?' 'Exhaustless if your verses come of it.' 'And pure, you may say of the verses and the fount.' 'And neither heady nor over-composed; with a blush like Diana confessing her love for the young shepherd: it's one of your own comparisons.' 'Oh!' Con could have roared his own comparisons out of hearing.