.
[Here the manuscript from which we have painfully transcribed, and frequently, as it were, translated this tale, for the reader's edification, is so indistinct and defaced that, excepting certain "howbeits," "nathlesses," "lo ye's!" etc.

we can pick out little that is intelligible, saving that avarice is defined "a likourishness of heart after earthly things."] A little farther there seems to have been a gay account of Margery's wedding with Ralph the Tasker, the running at the quintain, and other rural games practised on the occasion.

There are also fragments of a mock sermon preached by Gregory upon that occasion, as for example:-- "Mv dear cursed caitiffs, there was once a king, and he wedded a young old queen, and she had a child; and this child was sent to Solomon the Sage, praying he would give it the same blessing which he got from the witch of Endor when she bit him by the heel.

Hereof speaks the worthy Dr.
Radigundus Potator.

Why should not Mass be said for all the roasted shoe souls served up in the king's dish on Saturday?
For true it is that Saint Peter asked father Adam, as they journeyed to Camelot, an high, great, and doubtful question: 'Adam, Adam, why eated'st thou the apple without paring ?'" [This tirade of gibberish is literally taken or selected from a mock discourse pronounced by a professed jester, which occurs in an ancient manuscript in the Advocates' Library, the same from which the late ingenious Mr.Weber published the curious comic romance of the "Limiting of the Hare." It was introduced in compliance with Mr.Strutt's plan of rendering his tale an illustration of ancient manners.