Ir. And is there so much Profit in this Art as to maintain you?
Mis. Yes, and nobly too: And I would have you, for the future, if you are wise, leave off that wretched Trade of Begging, and follow ours.
Ir. Nay, I should rather chuse to bring you back to our Trade.
Mis. What, that I should voluntarily return again to that I have escap'd from, and forsake that which I have found profitable?
Ir. This Profession of ours has this Property in it, that it grows pleasant by Custom. And thence it is, that tho' many have fallen off from the Order of St. Francis or St. Benedict, did you ever know any that had been long in our Order, quit it? For you could scarce taste the Sweetness of Beggary in so few Months as you follow'd it.
Mis. That little Taste I had of it taught me, that it was the most wretched Life in Nature.
Ir. Why does no Body quit it then?
Mis. Perhaps, because they are naturally wretched.
Ir. I would not change this Wretchedness, for the Fortune of a King. For there is nothing more like a King, than the Life of a Beggar.
Mis. What strange Story do I hear? Is nothing more like Snow than a Coal?