As long liveth the merry man, they say, As doth the sorry man, and longer by a day. And a day so acquired is a day worth having. But then-- Another sayd sawe doth men advise, That they be together both merry and wise.{ 1}
1 These two quotations are from the oldest comedy in the English language: _Ralph Roister Doister_, 1566. Republished by the Shakespeare Society, 1847.
Very good doctrine, and fit to be kept in mind: but there is much good laughter without much wisdom, and yet with no harm in it.'
The doctor was approaching the Tower when he met Mr. Falconer, who had made one of his feverish exits from it, and was walking at double his usual speed. He turned back with the doctor, who having declined taking anything before dinner but a glass of wine and a biscuit, they went up together to the library.
They conversed only on literary subjects. The doctor, though Miss Gryll was uppermost in his mind, determined not to originate a word respecting her, and Mr. Falconer, though she was also his predominant idea, felt that it was only over a bottle of Madeira he could unbosom himself freely to the doctor.
The doctor asked, 'What he had been reading of late? He said, 'I have tried many things, but I have alway returned to _Orlando Innamorato_. There it is on the table an old edition of the original poem.{ 1} The doctor said, I have seen an old edition, something like this, on the drawing-room table at the Grange.' He was about to say something touching sympathy in taste, but he checked himself in time. The two younger sisters brought in lights. 'I observe,' said the doctor, 'that your handmaids always move in pairs. My hot water for dressing is always brought by two inseparables, whom it seems profanation to call housemaids.'
[Illustration: Your handmaids always move in pairs 298-256]
_Mr. Falconer._ It is always so on my side of the house that not a breath of scandal may touch their reputation. If you were to live here from January to December, with a houseful of company, neither you nor I, nor any of my friends, would see one of them alone for a single minute.
_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ I approve the rule. I would stake my life on the conviction that these sisters are
Pure as the new-fall'n snow, When never yet the sullying sun Has seen its purity, Nor the warm zephyr touched and tainted it.{ 1}