as the Inquisitors do heretics in their banca cava? Out upon him and you, and Sidney, and the whole kin. You have not made a verse among you, and never will, which is not as lame a gosling as Harvey's own—
'Oh thou weathercocke, that stands on the top of Allhallows,
Come thy ways down, if thou dar'st for thy crown, and take the wall on us.'
"Hark, now! There is our young giant comforting his soul with a ballad. You will hear rhyme and reason together here, now. He will not miscall 'blind-folded,' 'blind-fold-ed,' I warrant; or make an 'of' and a 'which' and a 'his' carry a whole verse on their wretched little backs."
And as he spoke, Amyas, who had been grumbling to himself some Christmas carol, broke out full-mouthed:—
"As Joseph was a-walking
He heard an angel sing—
'This night shall be the birth night
Of Christ, our heavenly King.
His birth bed shall be neither
In housen nor in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise,
But in the oxen's stall.
He neither shall be rocked
In silver nor in gold,
But in the wooden manger
That lieth on the mould.
He neither shall be washen
With white wine nor with red,
But with the fair spring water
That on you shall be shed.
He neither shall be clothed
In purple nor in pall,
But in the fair white linen
That usen babies all.'
As Joseph was a-walking
Thus did the angel sing,
And Mary's Son at midnight
Was born to be our King.
Then be thou glad, good people,
At this time of the year;
And light you up your candles,
For His star it shineth clear."
"There, Edmunde Classicaster," said Raleigh, "does not that simple strain go nearer to the heart of him who wrote 'The Shepherd's Calendar,' than all artificial and outlandish
'Wote ye why his mother with a veil hath covered his face?'
Why dost not answer, man?"
But Spenser was silent awhile, and then,—
"Because I was thinking rather of the rhymer than the rhyme
