CHAP. v. THE FOURTH DAY. 93 



he had got is. by dividing the money, though not one of them 

 knew any reason to demand more, yet, like lords and courtiers, 

 eve^ gipsy envied him that was the gainer, and wrangled with 

 him, and_every one said the remaining shilling belonged to 

 him : and so they fell to so high a contest about it, as none that / 

 knoj&s~trie laitiiSlnrni of nnr -g^t^y^ t^anofTTer. will easily 

 bejjevej_ only we that have lived these last twenty years are / 

 cerfain^that money has been able to* do much mischief. 

 Hd\vever, the gipsies were too wise to go to iaw ? and aid triere- | 

 fore choose their choice friends Rook and Shark, and our late 

 English Gusman, to be their arbitrators and umpires; and so 

 theyhjft this honeysuckle hedge, and went to tell fortunes, and 

 cheat, ar>f] gpf mnrfijrioney and lodging in the next village. 



When these were gone, we heard a high contention amongst 

 trie-beggars ttdiether it was easiest to rip a cloak or to unrip a 

 cloak. One beggar affirmed it was all one. But that was denied 

 by asking- hprJTflning" artrl Mpdoing were all one. Then another 

 said~'twas easiest to unrip a cloak, for that was to let it alone. 

 But she was answered by asking her how she unripped it, if she 

 let it alone: and she confessed herself mistaken. These and 



twenty-SIldl-like qupgtinn<; were, prnpnyr), pnH ancivm-ftH with as 



much-beggarly logicjnri gnr.ng S fne? g ^s was ever heard tp proceed 

 from the mouth of the m^fit pprtinafiinng schismatic : and some- 

 times alTTHe^beggars, whose number was neither more nor less 

 than the poet's nine muses, talked altogether about this ripping 

 and unripping, and so loud that not one heard what the other 

 said: but at last one beggar craved audience, and told them 

 that old father Clause, whom Ben Jonson in his Beggar's Bush 

 createcTking' of their corporation, was to lodge at an alehouse 

 called " Catch-her-by-the-way," not far from Waltham Cross, 

 and in the high road towards London ; and he therefore desired 

 them to spend no more time about that and such-like questions, 

 but refer all to father Clause at night, for he was an upright 

 judge, and in the meantime draw cuts what song should be next 

 sung, and who should sing it. They all agreed to the motion ; 

 and the lot fell to her that was the youngest and veriest virgin 

 of the company. And she sung Frank Davison's song, which he 



