troubled--I give you your freedom?' And
allied to it is the well-known epigram:

'It blew a hard storm and in utmost confusion
The sailors all hurried to get absolution;
Which done, and the weight of the sins they confessed
Was conveyed, as they thought, from themselves to the priest:
To lighten the ship and conclude their devotion,
They tossed the poor parson souse into the ocean.'

One of the coarse jokes current with the last generation was that of a
sailor who, when a duke with his lady was on board ship, and all
expected soon to be lost, asked the mate if he had ever lain with a
duchess? The other answering in fear and trembling, 'no,' was told by
the reckless fellow: 'Well, we shall all have that pleasure soon.' The
ship, however, was saved, and the sailor being asked by the duke what he
meant by his insulting remark, replied: 'At the bottom of the sea, your
grace, we all lie low in death together.' And he was pardoned. It is
remarkable that in all ages wit has been suffered to save men when
better qualities would perhaps be of no avail.

We may class with these jests of men _in articulo mortis_ the droll
story told by Bebelius, to the effect that a certain duke having caught
a miller in the act of stealing, asked his victim as he stood beneath
the gallows, to swear by his faith if he believed that there was on
earth a single man of his calling who was honest. To which the miller
stoutly swore that to his knowledge there was not one who was not a
greater thief than himself. 'If that be the case,' replied his judge,
'go in peace and live while you may, for I had rather be robbed by you
than by some more rapacious rascal of your trade.'

An excellent illustration of the fact that old stories are frequently
revamped to suit new times and men, may be found in the following
'original,' also given by Bebelius, as _Pulchrum factum cujusdam militis
Tubigentis_--a fine deed of a certain soldier of Tuebingen:

'Conrad Buhel of Tuebingen, distinguished by his bravery among the
captains of Caesar Maximilian in the Hungarian campaign, was, once
in camp, lying on the straw and expecting no evil, when there
entered another soldier to whom Conrad had done an injury. Who,
when he found him thus lying on his back, said with that noble
magnanimity characteristic of the German mind: 'Wert thou not lying
helpless, I would stab thee with my sword!' To which Conrad
replied