"That you would rather be a tinker than a king?"
"Why, to be sure I would," he rejoined. "Bein' a literary cove I know summat o' history, and a king's life weren't all lavender—not by no manner o' means, nor yet a bed o' roses."
"Yet there's much to be said for a king."
"Very little, I think," said the Tinker.
"A king has great advantages."
"Which he generally abuses," said the Tinker.
"There have been some great and noble kings."
"But a great many more bad 'uns!" said the Tinker. "And then, look how often they got theirselves pisoned, or stabbed, or 'ad their 'eads chopped off! No—if you axes me, I prefer to tinker a kettle under a hedge."
"Then you are contented?"
"Not quite," he answered, his face falling; "me being a literary cove (as I think I've mentioned afore), it has always been my wish to be a scholar."