ep HUMAN UfE. 257 



afhamed of having mocked fuch a man ; they afked his 

 pardon, and from that moment treated him with great 

 refpedl:. — And now Paul Lucas can relate fuch a hif- 

 tory as this, without once making a wry mouth ! He 

 does not fay, indeed, that he holds it for true ; but 

 yet he only finds it very extraordinary ; and one may 

 do him the juftice to confefs, that lie would with all 

 readinefs believe it, could he but, fomehow or other, 

 render it poflible. 



All this, however, does not prove any thing againft 

 his ho nelly. The worft that could be drawn from it 

 would be : that Paul Lucas was a man that on all oc- 

 caflons was very ealily to be impofed on ; but not that 

 he was capable of deceiving his reader on purpofe. But 

 why then come out with fuch a Canterbury tale ? 

 What advantage was he to gain by it ? — At firft light, 

 at leaf!:, none at all. But, that, out of mere waggery, 

 and for playing upon the credulous, he might have in- 

 vented fomething of the kind, and have delivered It in 

 this ferious manner, it can only be faid, that there is 

 not the leaft ftroke in all his writings that can juftify 

 fuch an imputation. 



We find ourfelves then reduced to the necefTity of 

 calling the uubec dervife, infread of him, to a fome- 

 what more fevere account. That Paul Lucas acciden- 

 tally became acquainted with him at BrurTa, and heard 

 him deliver all that he relates to us as an ear-witnefs, 

 is, as we have good caufe to believe, fairly told : the 

 liar, the impoftor, is then the dervife. — But who was 

 this dervife ? How came he by his knowledge of Fla- 

 mel ? Arid what motive might he have for putting 



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