58 SPRING-TIDE. 



and a neat's tongue. We might fare 

 worse. 



J. Ay, and have a worse appetite. 



S. Though mine is generally good, I 

 have wished sometimes for the digestion of 

 a ploughman. " O dura messorum ilia ! " 

 says Horace, who probably knew what a 

 weak stomach was. I have often seen 

 Simon here eat a couple of cucumbers, each 

 more than a foot long, as mere adjuncts to 

 a noontide meal. Eh, Simon ? 



Simon. Eez, zur, um beant much when 

 a body's lear. Our grammer used to zay 

 yettin' too much was wus than drenkin* too 

 much, " the spit kills mwore than th' 

 spigot." 



S. A very good saying too. Note, 

 Julian, that Simon does not quote his gram- 

 mar for this adage, but his grandmother ; 

 the word not being this time derived from 

 the Anglo-Saxon, but from the Norman- 

 French, grandmere. While on the subject 



