"Then, sir, I would curtail that scene
In which the Friar feigns a dream;
The tale he tells is much too long,
And critics will pronounce it wrong,—
Too perfect it appears to me
For an impromptu fib to be."
"That's exactly the point, my good fellow," he said;
"It was Fiction who stuffed all those lies in his head.
He the fair muse invoked, so she had (I don't doubt it)
Made him think of a good one while he was about it."