Hum!—I wonder if they ever sayd as much in favour of me. I know, indeede, Erasmus calls me a forward girl. Alas! that may be taken in two senses.
Grievous work, overnighte, with ye churning. Nought wd persuade Gillian but that ye creame was bewitched by Gammer Gurney, who was dissatisfyde last Friday with her dole, and hobbled away mumping and cursing. At alle events, ye butter wd not come; but mother was resolute not to have soe much goode creame wasted; soe sent for Bess and me, Daisy and Mercy Giggs, and insisted on our churning in turn till ye butter came, if we sate up all nighte for't. 'Twas a hard saying; and mighte have hampered her like as Jephtha his rash vow: howbeit, soe soone as she had left us, we turned it into a frolick, and sang Chevy Chase from end to end, to beguile time; ne'erthelesse, the butter wd not come; soe then we grew sober, and, at ye instance of sweete Mercy, chaunted ye 119th Psalme; and, by the time we had attayned to "Lucerna pedibus," I hearde ye buttermilk separating and splashing in righte earneste. 'Twas neare midnighte, however; and Daisy had fallen asleep on ye dresser. Gillian will ne'er be convinced but that our Latin brake the spell.
Erasmus went to Richmond this morning with Polus (for so he Latinizes Reginald Pole, after his usual fashion), and some other of his friends. On his return, he made us laugh at ye following. They had clomb ye hill, and were admiring ye prospect, when Pole, casting his eyes aloft, and beginning to make sundrie gesticulations, exclaimed, "What is it I beholde? May heaven avert ye omen!" with such-like exclamations, which raised ye curiositie of alle. "Don't you beholde," cries he, "that enormous dragon flying through ye sky? his horns of fire? his curly tail?"
"No," says Erasmus, "nothing like it. The sky is as cleare as unwritten paper."
Howbeit, he continued to affirme and to stare, untill at lengthe, one after another, by dint of strayning theire eyes and theire imaginations, did admitt, first, that they saw something; nexte, that it mighte be a dragon; and last, that it was. Of course, on theire passage homeward, they cd talk of little else—some made serious reflections; others, philosophical! speculations; and Pole waggishly triumphed in having beene ye firste to discerne the spectacle.
"And you trulie believe there was a signe in ye heavens?" we inquired of Erasmus.
"What know I?" returned he, smiling; "you know, Constantine saw a cross. Why shoulde Polus not see a dragon? We must judge by the event. Perhaps its mission may be to fly away with him. He swore to ye curly tail."
How difficulte it is to discerne ye supernatural from ye incredible! We laughe at Gillian's faith in our Latin; Erasmus laughs at Polus his dragon. Have we a righte to believe noughte but what we can see or prove? Nay, that will never doe. Father says a capacitie for reasoning increaseth a capacitie for believing. He believes there is such a thing as witchcraft, though not that poore olde Gammer Gurney is a witch; he believes that saints can work miracles, though not in alle ye marvels reported of ye Canterbury shrine.
Had I beene justice of ye peace, like ye king's grandmother, I wd have beene very jealous of accusations of witchcraft; and have taken infinite payns to sift out ye causes of malice, jealousie, &c., which mighte have wroughte with ye poore olde women's enemies. Holie Writ sayth, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live;" but, questionlesse, manie have suffered hurte that were noe witches; and for my part, I have alwaies helde ducking to be a very uncertayn as well as very cruel teste.