“It is something new under the sun,” said the divine, as he sat down, “to see a great dinner without fish.”
_Mr. Chainmail_.—Fish was for fasts in the twelfth century.
_The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—Well, sir, I prefer our reformed system of putting fasts and feasts together. Not but here is ample indemnity.
Ale and wine flowed in abundance. The dinner passed off merrily: the old harper playing all the while the oldest music in his repertory. The tables being cleared, he indemnified himself for lost time at the lower end of the hall, in company with the old butler and the other domestics, whose attendance on the banquet had been indispensable.
The scheme of Christmas gambols, which Mr. Chainmail had laid for the evening, was interrupted by a tremendous clamour without.
_The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—What have we here? Mummers?
_Mr. Chainmail_.—Nay, I know not. I expect none.
“Who is there?” he added, approaching the door of the hall.
“Who is there?” vociferated the divine, with the voice of Stentor.
“Captain Swing,” replied a chorus of discordant voices.
_The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—Ho, ho! here is a piece of the dark ages we did not bargain for. Here is the Jacquerie. Here is the march of mind with a witness.
_Mr. Mac Quedy_.—Do you not see that you have brought disparates together? the Jacquerie and the march of mind.
_The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—Not at all, sir. They are the same thing, under different names. Πολλῶν ονομάτων μορφὴ μία. What was Jacquerie in the dark ages is the march of mind in this very enlightened one—very enlightened one.
_Mr. Chainmail_.—The cause is the same in both; poverty in despair.
_Mr. Mac Quedy_.—Very likely; but the effect is extremely disagreeable.
_The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—It is the natural result, Mr. Mac Quedy, of that system of state seamanship which your science upholds. Putting the crew on short allowance, and doubling the rations of the officers, is the sure way to make a mutiny on board a ship in distress, Mr. Mac Quedy.
_Mr. Mac Quedy_.—Eh! sir, I uphold no such system as that. I shall set you right as to cause and effect. Discontent arises with the increase of information. That is all.
_The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—I said it was the march of mind. But we have not time for discussing cause and effect now. Let us get rid of the enemy.