ool he looked for was one which it takes a wise
man to make--a Shakespearian fool.{1}

1 OEuvre, ma foi, ou n'est facile atteindre:
Pourtant qu'il faut parfaitement sage etre,
Pour le vrai fol bien naivement feindre.
EUTRAPEL, p. 28.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ In that sense he might travel far, and return,
as he did in his own day, without having found the fool he looked for.

_Mr. MacBorrowdale_. A teetotaller! Well! He is the true
Heautontimorumenos, the self-punisher, with a jug of toast-and-water
for his Christmas wassail. So far his folly is merely pitiable, but his
intolerance makes it offensive. He cannot enjoy his own tipple unless he
can deprive me of mine. A fox that has lost his tail. There is no tyrant
like a thoroughpaced reformer. I drink to his own reformation.

_Mr. Gryll._ He is like Bababec's faquir, who sat in a chair full of
nails, _pour avoir de la consideration._ But the faquir did not want
others to do the same. He wanted all the consideration for himself, and
kept all the nails for himself. If these meddlers would do the like by
their toast-and-water, nobody would begrudge it them.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ Now, sir, if the man who has fooled the greatest
number of persons to the top of their bent were to be adjudged
the fittest companion for Jack of Dover, you would find him in a
distinguished meddler with everything who has been for half-a-century
the merry-andrew of a vast arena, which he calls moral and political
science, but which has in it a dash of everything that has ever occupied
human thought.

_Lord Curryfin._ I know whom you mean; but he is a great man in his way,
and has done much good.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ He has helped to introduce much change; whether
for good or for ill remains to be seen. I forgot he was your lordship's
friend. I apologise, and drink to his health.

_Lord Curryfin_. Oh! pray, do not apologise to me. I would not have
my friendships, tastes, pursuits, and predilections interfere in the
slightest degree with the fullest liberty of speech on all persons
and things. There are many who think with you that he is a moral and
political Jack of Dover. So be it. Time will bring him to his level.

_Mr. MacBorrowdale._ I will only say of the distinguished personage,
that Jack of Dover would not pair off with him. This is the true
universal science, the oracle of _La Dive Bouteille._

_Mr. Gryll._ It is not exactly Greek mu