Page:The Chronicle of Clemendy.pdf/276

 for the old Canonicus he welcomed his nephew, made much of him, and saw that he had plenty to eat and drink, and was lodged well; and listened to the Silurian wisdom he had acquired in his wanderings, for the good man relished the sapience of the tankard and the sparkling black eyes, having himself compiled some Breviates of this pleasant philosophy in his younger days. To be short Sir Philip found himself in desirable quarters, and sometimes of a morning after he had been mortifying his flesh with the warm sauces of Master Cook and the cool juices of Master Cellarer, he would grow melancholy and think of turning monk himself, so that he might keep his throat in a continual state of mortification. But these pensive thoughts went off with his morning draught, after which he commonly went his rounds about Abergavenny to his own delight and that of the townsfolk, who loved a pretty man in a gay surcoat who could tell a merry tale. His chief guide and Cicero was a certain lawyer of the place, called John of Gloucester, the same being an officer of the Chancery of Burgavenny, and by no means bearing the gown in vain. He certainly did not look over sharp, being pudding-faced (if it be lawful to say so) and of a squat figure, but nevertheless his upper stories were well furnished, and he showed Sir Philip all the entertainments that were being performed in the town, and told him below what windows it was amusing to wait after dusk. By the advertisements he received of this witty lawyer Sir Philip threaded many a maze and soon knew the histories and adventures