We would both fain have been excused from going but we feared that our refusal might give undue offence, and so hinder the success of our mission.

My homespun garments ware somewhat rough for such an occasion, yet I determined to appear in them, with the addition of a new black baize waistcoat faced with silk, and a good periwig, for which I gave three pounds ten shillings in the Haymarket.' The young Puritan opposite turned up his eyes and murmured something about 'sacrificing to Dagon,' which fortunately for him was inaudible to the high-spirited old man.
'It was but a worldly vanity,' quoth the Mayor; 'for, with all deference, Sir Gervas Jerome, a man's own hair arranged with some taste, and with perhaps a sprinkling of powder, is to my mind the fittest ornament to his head.

It is the contents and not the case which availeth.

Having donned this frippery, good Master Foster and I hired a calash and drove to the Palace.

We were deep in grave and, I trust, profitable converse speeding through the endless streets, when of a sudden I felt a sharp tug at my head, and my hat fluttered down on to my knees.