I remember one of the Wardens eyed me rather curiously when I went up; and said, "So thou art young _Osborne_?" "Yea," quod the other, "the Knight of the Flying Leap!" an old Joke I thought every one had forgotten. Howbeit they shook Hands with me, and said they wished every Master as good a 'Prentice. Thereafter I went to see _Tomkins_, whom I had lost Sight of a long Time. His Wife was spreading a clean Diaper over the Table, his little Girl playing with a Kitten on the Hearth, and a straggling Sunbeam through the Lattice was lighting up his pale, placid Face as he sate at his Loom. I have thought since, that ministering Spirits might have been passing to and fro on that Beam, unperceivable to my mortal Sense. "Ha!" quod he, "this is a pleasant Sight. What! the blue Gown is thrown off at last! But how? no Scallops? no Slashes? no Taffeta-lined Cloke, nor Shirt edged with Silver? Thou keepest within the Statute, at all Events. Why, _Miles_ goes as fine as a Popinjay! Howbeit, I like your dark brown better than his Eggs and Spinach; 'tis good Taste, Lad, not to dress above one's Degree. All the World can see which is the Gentleman's Son, which the Burreller's." "Thou art e'en too hard on poor _Miles_," quod I. "He is working very hard just now in hope of marrying." "All the better," saith _Tomkins_; "many a second-rate Fellow is made better by a first-rate Wife. What? is he thinking of _Tryphosa_?" "Oh no," quod I, laughing, "he thinks her quite too old." "Look you there now!" quod he, much amused, "too old, forsooth! To hear how Boys talk! Marry, you must sup with us, and tell me about Everything; that is, if you can condescend to eat aught but Manchet-bread in these grand Days. Step down to _Fishmongersrow_, dear _Dinah_, and fetch us a Crab." "That's a long Step, _Tomkins_," observed his Wife, "would not Something I could get nearer do as well?" "No," quod he gently, "I want a Crab, and I want it from thence; so oblige me, good _Dinah_." "That I will," replied she, cheerfully, tying on her Hood, and departing the next Minute with her Child in her Arms. "I remember," quod _Tomkins_, laughing, "how you and _Miles_ played away at the Crab on our Wedding-day. And if you spurn such homely Dainties now, you'll be Home in Time for your real Supper after all. 'Tis but Three o' the Clock." "To hear you Talk," said I, "one would think we lived just now in _Lubberland_, where the Rivers run Gravy and Apple-sauce, and the roast Pigs run about, saying, Come eat me." "Why, is not Master _Hewet_ Sheriff?" quod _Tomkins_, "and doth he not ride a gray Horse and wear a velvet Coat and a Jewel in his Cap? Sure, you must be steeped in Wassail and Feasting."