This, as the reader has seen from one end to the other, was as groundless as the dreams of philosophy: _Yorick_, no doubt, as _Shakespeare_ said of his ancestor------ “_was a man of jest_,” but it was temper’d with something which withheld him from that, and many other ungracious pranks, of which he as undeservedly bore the blame; --but it was his misfortune all his life long to bear the imputation of saying and doing a thousand things, of which (unless my esteem blinds me) his nature was incapable. All I blame him for----or rather, all I blame and alternately like him for, was that singularity of his temper, which would never suffer him to take pains to set a story right with the world, however in his power. In every ill usage of that sort, he acted precisely as in the affair of his lean horse----he could have explained it to his honour, but his spirit was above it; and besides, he ever looked upon the inventor, the propagator and believer of an illiberal report alike so injurious to him--he could not stoop to tell his story to them--and so trusted to time and truth to do it for him. This heroic cast produced him inconveniences in many respects--in the present it was followed by the fixed resentment of _Phutatorius_, who, as _Yorick_ had just made an end of his chesnut, rose up from his chair a second time, to let him know it--which indeed he did with a smile; saying only--that he would endeavour not to forget the obligation. But you must mark and carefully separate and distinguish these two things in your mind. ----The smile was for the company. ----The threat was for _Yorick_. CHAPTER XXVIII --Can you tell me, quoth _Phutatorius_, speaking to _Gastripheres_ who sat next to him----for one would not apply to a surgeon in so foolish an affair----can you tell me, _Gastripheres_, what is best to take out the fire? ----Ask _Eugenius_, said _Gastripheres_. ----That greatly depends, said _Eugenius_, pretending ignorance of the adventure, upon the nature of the part ----If it is a tender part, and a part which can conveniently be wrapt up ------It is both the one and the other, replied _Phutatorius_, laying his hand as he spoke, with an emphatical nod of his head, upon the part in question, and lifting up his right leg at the same time to ease and ventilate it. ------If that is the case, said _Eugenius_, I would advise you, _Phutatorius_, not to tamper with it by any means; but if you will send to the next printer, and trust your cure to such a simple thing as a soft sheet of paper just come off the press--you need do nothing more than twist it round. --The damp paper, quoth _Yorick_ (who sat next to his friend _Eugenius_) though I know it has a refreshing coolness in it--yet I presume is no more than the vehicle--and that the oil and lamp-black with which the paper is so strongly impregnated, does the business. --Right, said _Eugenius_, and is, of any outward application I would venture to recommend, the most anodyne and safe.