I am now resolved, and will be valiant;
This bodkin quilts their skin as full of holes
As e’er was canvas doublet.”
“Spoke like a bold man, Snip!” says Bellario, the old soldier. Ay, and like a discreet and thinking man. There is no foolhardiness and rash action in Snipsnap; but, like the greatest of heroes, he looks his peril calmly in the face, and then encounters it with a gallantry that is not to be resisted.
And it is to be observed that the tailors of the poets are as generous as they are brave. Witness Vertigo in ‘The Maid in the Mill;’ the lords among whom he stands owe him money, and yet affect to have forgotten his name. One of them ventures, indeed, to hope that he has not come to press his claims; and what says this very pearl and quintessence of tailors?
“Good faith, the least thought in my heart; your love, gentlemen,
Your love’s enough for me. Money? hang money!
Let me preserve your love!”
Incomparable Vertigo! What a trade might he drive in London upon those terms! A waistcoat for a good opinion, a fashionable coat for esteem, and a full-dress suit to be paid for with the wearer’s love, in a promissory note made payable at sight!