Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1702-1714 -- Humor; Political satire, English
JOHN BULL.--After we had come back to the tavern, and taken t'other
bottle of champagne, we quarrelled a little about the division of the
estate. Lewis hauled and pulled the map on one side and Frog and I on
t'other, till we had like to have tore the parchment to pieces. At last
Lewis pulled out a pair of great tailor's shears and clipt a corner for
himself, which he said was a manor that lay convenient for him, and left
Frog and me the rest to dispose of as we pleased. We were overjoyed to
think Lewis was contented with so little, not smelling what was at the
bottom of the plot. There happened, indeed, an incident that gave us
some disturbance. A cunning fellow, one of my servants, two days after,
peeping through the keyhole, observed that old Lewis had stole away
our part of the map, and saw him fiddling and turning the map from one
corner to the other, trying to join the two pieces together again. He
was muttering something to himself, which he did not well hear, only
these words, "'Tis great pity! 'tis great pity!" My servant added that
he believed this had some ill meaning. I told him he was a coxcomb,
always pretending to be wiser than his companions. Lewis and I are good
friends, he's an honest fellow, and I daresay will stand to his bargain.
The sequel of the story proved this fellow's suspicion to be too well
grounded; for Lewis revealed our whole secret to the deceased Lord
Strutt, who in reward for his treachery, and revenge to Frog and
me, settled his whole estate upon the present Philip Baboon. Then we
understood what he meant by piecing the map together.
MRS. BULL.--And were you surprised at this? Had not Lord Strutt
reason to be angry? Would you have been contented to have been so used
yourself?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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