Here Sir Thomas did pause a while, and then said unto Master Silas,—
“My own cogitations, and not this stripling, have induced me to consider and to conclude a weighty matter for knightly scholarship. I never could rightly understand before how Colin Clout, and sundry others calling themselves shepherds, should argue like doctors in law, physic, and divinity.
“Silas! they were woolstaplers; and they must have exercised their wits in dealing with tithe-proctors and parsons, and moreover with fellows of colleges from our two learned universities, who have sundry lands held under them, as thou knowest, and take the small tithes in kind. Colin Clout, methinks, from his extensive learning, might have acquired enough interest with the Queen’s Highness to change his name for the better, and, furthermore, her royal license to carry armorial bearings, in no peril of taint from so unsavoury an appellation.”
Master Silas did interrupt this discourse, by saying,—
“May it please your worship, the constable is waiting.”
Whereat Sir Thomas said, tartly,—
“And let him wait.” [55a]
Then to me,—
“I hope we have done with verses, and are not to be befooled by the lad’s nonsense touching mermaids or worse creatures.”
Then to Will,—