Page:The Life of Sir Thomas More (William Roper, ed by Samuel Singer).djvu/107

 Audley that in the same office succeeded him, to whom also he gave his great barge: then calling us all that were his children unto him, and asking our advice how we might now in this decay of his ability, by the surrender of his office so impaired, that he could not as he was wont, and gladly would, bear out the whole charges of them all himself, from thenceforth be able to live and continue together, as he wished we should; when he saw us silent, and in that case not ready to show our opinions unto him; then will I, said he, show my poor mind to you. I have been brought up, quoth he, at Oxford, at an Inn of the Chancery, at Lincoln's Inn, and also in the king's court, and so forth from the lowest degree to the highest, and yet have I in yearly revenues at this present left me little above a hundred pounds by the year. So that now we must hereafter, if we like to live together, be contented to become contributaries together. But by my counsel it shall not be best for us to fall to the lowest fare first; we will not, therefore, descend to Oxford fare, nor to the fare of New Inn, but we will begin with Lincoln's Inn diet, where many right-worshipful and of good years do live full well. Which, if we find not ourselves the first year able to maintain, then will we the next year go one