ase rich attire, and procure him a
presentation, he may not prove ungrateful. But of that I shall take good
security. I know what gratitude is. He must be introduced to my Lady
Suffolk. She will know how to treat him. In the first place, he must
cast his country slough. That ill-made doublet of green cloth must be
exchanged for one of velvet slashed in the Venetian style like mine own,
with hose stuffed and bombasted according to the mode. A silk stocking
will bring out the nice proportions of his leg; though, as I am a true
gentleman, the youth has so well formed a limb that even his own
villainous yarn coverings cannot disfigure it. His hair is of a good
brown colour, which the king affects much, and seems to curl naturally;
but it wants trimming to the mode, for he is rough as a young colt fresh
from pasture; and though he hath not much beard on his chin or upper
lip, yet what he hath becomes him well, and will become him better, when
properly clipped and twisted. Altogether he is as goodly a youth as one
would desire to see. What if he should supplant Buckingham, as
Buckingham supplanted Somerset? Let the proud Marquis look to himself!
We may work his overthrow yet. And now to question him."

After replenishing his glass, Sir Francis addressed himself in his
blandest accents, and with his most insidious manner, to his youthful
neighbour:--

"For a stranger to town, as I conclude you to be, young Sir," he said,
"you have made rather a lucky hit in coming hither to-day, since you
have not only got a better dinner than I (a constant frequenter of this
French ordinary) ever saw served here--(though the attendance is
abominable, as you must have remarked--that rascally Cyprien deserves
the bastinado,); but your civility and good manners have introduced you
to one, who may, without presumption, affirm that he hath the will, and,
it may be, the ability to serve you; if you will only point out to him
the way."

"Nay, worthy Sir, you are too kind," the young man modestly replied; "I
have done nothing to merit your good opinion, though I am happy to have
gained it. I rejoice that accident has so far befriended me as to bring
me here on this festive occasion; and I rejoice yet more that it has
brought me acquainted with a worthy gentleman like yourself, to whom my
rustic manners prove not to be displeasing. I have too few friends to
neglect any that chance may offer; and as I must carve my own way in the
world, and fight fo