Page:Merry tales of the wise men of Gotham (3).pdf/17

 if you live till the next year, ye will be a fool.

was a Man of Gotham who would be married, and when the day of marriage was come, they went to church. The Prieſt ſaid. Do you ſay after me. The man ſaid, Do you ſay after me. The Prieft ſaid. Say not after me ſuch words, bat lay what I tell you; thou doſt but play the fool to mock the holy Scripture concerning matrimony.— Then the fellow ſaid. Thou doft but play the fool to mock the holy Scripture concerning matrimony. The Prieſt did not know what to ſay, and at-length ſaid, What ſhall I do with this fool? The man ſaid alſo. What ſhall I do with this fool! So the Prieſt took his lease, and would not marry them. But he was inſtructed by others how to do, and was afterwards married. And thus the breed of the Gothamites has been perpetuated even unto this day.

was Scotſman who dwelt at Gotham, and he took a houſe a little diſtance from London and turned it into a public inn or tavern; and for his ſign he would