Page:History of John Cheap the chapman (2).pdf/15

 village, and going in by the side of a house, there was a great big cat sitting in a weaver's window, beiking herself in the sun, and washing her face with her feet. I takes her a civil knap on the nose, which makes her turn back in thro' the window; and the weaver having a plate full of hot pottage in the inner side to cool, poor badrons ran thro' the middle of them, burnt her feet, and threw them all to the ground, ran thro' the house, crying fire and murder in her own language, which caused the weary wicked webster to come running to the door, where he attacked me in a furious rage, and I to avoid the first shock, fled to the top of the midden, where endeavouring to give me a kick, I catched him by the foot, and tumbled him back over into the dirty midden-dub, where both his head and shoulders went under dirt and water; but before I could recover my elwand or arms, the wicked wife and her twa sons were upon me in all quarters, the wife hung in my hair, while the twa sons boxed me both behind and before, and being thus overpowered by numbers, I was fairly beat by this wicked webster, his troops being so numerous.

The same day, as I was going up to a country-house, I met on the way a poor beggar with a boy, who were both of them bitten in different places by a big mastiff dog; they persuaded me to turn back, but I said that I should first see him; so up I goes to the side of a hedge, and cuts a long bramble full of prickles, which I carried in my left hand with my sturdy staff in the right; and as I came near the house, Mr. Yowffer came roaring upon me, like a lion, he being a tyke of such a montrous size, frighted me so that I ran back; but he pursued me so hard, I was forced to face about, and holding the briar, which he gripped in his mouth, and then I stripped it thro' his teeth, and gave him