Page:Comical transactions of Lothian Tom (1).pdf/15



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P A R T IV.

9. Tom having now left his own native country, went into the county of Northumberland, where he hired himſelf with an old miſer of a farmer; and here he continued for ſeveral years, performing his duty in his service very well, tho' ſometimes playing a roguish bite on thoſe about him. His maſter had a very naughty cuſtom that he would allow them no candle at night to ſee with, when at ſupper: Tom one night ſets himſelf next to his master, and as they were all about to fall on, Tom puts his spoon into the heart of the diſh, where the crowdy was hotteſt, and claps a ſpoonful into his maſter's mouth; a pox on you for a rogue, cried his maſter, for my mouth is burnt! A pox on you for a maſter, lays Tom, for you keep a houſe as dark as Purgatory, for I was going to my own mouth with that ſoup, and miſs'd the way, it being ſo dark; don't think, maſter, that I am ſuch a big fool as to feed you, while I have a mouth of my own. So, from that night that Tom burnt his maſter's mouth with the hot crowdy, they always got a candle to ſhow them light at ſupper, for his maſter would feed