Not but that it's a plague, a horrible plague!" went on Amyas, with a ludicrously doleful visage; "but so are other things too, by the dozen; it's all in the day's work, as the huntsman said when the lion ate him.

One would never get through the furze-croft if one stopped to pull out the prickles.

The pig didn't scramble out of the ditch by squeaking; and the less said the sooner mended; nobody was sent into the world only to suck honey-pots.

What must be must, man is but dust; if you can't get crumb, you must fain eat crust.

So I'll go and join the army in Ireland, and get it out of my head, for cannon balls fright away love as well as poverty does; and that's all I've got to say." Wherewith Amyas sat down, and returned to the beer; while Mrs.Leigh wept tears of joy.
"Amyas! Amyas!" said Frank; "you must not throw away the hopes of years, and for me, too! Oh, how just was your parable! Ah! mother mine! to what use is all my scholarship and my philosophy, when this dear simple sailor-lad outdoes me at the first trial of courtesy!" "My children, my children, which of you shall I love best?
Which of you is the more noble?
I thanked God this morning for having given me one such son; but to have found that I possess two!" And Mrs.Leigh laid her head on the table, and buried her face in her hands, while the generous battle went on.
"But, dearest Amyas!--" "But, Frank! if you don't hold your tongue, I must go forth.