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y ZTbe (Ebancetlor'a (tonsdence 



dreary subject. ' ' Equity, ' * he says, " is a roguish thing. For 

 Law we have a measure, — know what to trust to; Equity is 

 according to the conscience of him that is Chancellor, and 

 as that is larger or narrower, so is Equity. 'Tis all one as if 

 they should make the standard for the measure we call a 

 ' foot, ' a Chancellor's foot; What an uncertain measure would 

 this be! One Chancellor has a long foot, another a short 

 foot, a third an indifferent foot. 'Tis the same thing in the \ 

 Chancellor's conscience." So it is much easier to measure 

 flowers by the Chancellor's conscience than with a tape, and 

 all of the seasons through I have matchless things over here 

 in the deep quiet forests and in yonder orchards which equal 

 the best your hot-house robber has to charm you with. 

 Shall we take a look? 



Let it be spring then with all of the apple trees in blossom, 

 pink as Aurora and light as the spin-drift blown from one of 

 Neptune's waves. Find me a flower more perfect in all that 

 goes to make perfection, — ^form, colour, perfume, and the 

 luscious fruit to follow. And then if you are philosophically 

 inchned, you will find a good bit of food for thought as well 

 as for the table, for if one stops to consider it the apple is by '; 

 way of being the very father of all the fruits of history. 

 Think of Hercules, sent to steal his dear stepmother's wed- 

 ding presents. That would hardly pass as the correct thing 

 today. It is not being done now, but it seems that it was all 

 right in the days when Earth gave Juno the Apples of 

 Hesperides at her nuptials. It was, we will admit, a rather 



