Here the manuscript, from which we have painfully transcribed, and frequently, as it were, translated, this tale for the reader’s edification, is so indistinct and defaced, that, excepting certain howbeits, nathlesses, lo ye’s! etc., we can pick out little that is intelligible, saving that avarice is defined ’a likourishness of heart after earthly things.’  A little farther there seems to have been a gay account of Margery’s wedding with Ralph the Tasker, the running at the quintain, and other rural games practised on the occasion.  There are also fragments of a mock sermon preached by Gregory upon that occasion, as for example:—­

’My dear cursed caitiffs, there was once a king, and he wedded a young old queen, and she had a child; and this child was sent to Solomon the Sage, praying he would give it the same blessing which he got from the witch of Endor when she bit him by the heel.  Hereof speaks the worthy Doctor Radigundus Potator; why should not mass be said for all the roasted shoe souls served up in the king’s dish on Saturday; for true it is, that Saint Peter asked Father Adam, as they journeyed to Camelot, an high, great, and doubtful question, “Adam, Adam, why eated’st thou the apple without paring?”

[Footnote:  This tirade of gibberish is literally taken or selected from a mock discourse pronounced by a professed jester, which occurs in an ancient manuscript in the Advocates’ Library, the same from which the late ingenious Mr. Weber published the curious comic romance of the Hunting of the Hare.  It was introduced in compliance with Mr Strutt’s plan of rendering his tale an illustration of ancient manners A similar burlesque sermon is pronounced by the fool in Sir David Lindesay’s satire of the Three Estates.  The nonsense and vulgar burlesque of that composition illustrate the ground of Sir Andrew Aguecheek’s eulogy on the exploits of the jester in Twelfth Night, who, reserving his sharper jests for Sir Toby, had doubtless enough of the jargon of his calling to captivate the imbecility of his brother knight, who is made to exclaim—­’In sooth, thou wast in very gracious fooling last night, when thou spokest of Pigrogremitus, and of the vapours passing the equinoctials of Quenbus; ‘t was very good, i’ faith!’ It is entertaining to find commentators seeking to discover some meaning in the professional jargon of such a passage as this.]

With much goodly gibberish to the same effect; which display of Gregory’s ready wit not only threw the whole company into convulsions of laughter, but made such an impression on Rose, the Potter’s daughter, that it was thought it would be the Jester’s own fault if Jack was long without his Jill.  Much pithy matter, concerning the bringing the bride to bed, the loosing the bridegroom’s points, the scramble which ensued for them, and the casting of the stocking, is also omitted from its obscurity.

The following song which has been since borrowed by the worshipful author of the famous History of Fryar Bacon, has been with difficulty deciphered.  It seems to have been sung on occasion of carrying home the bride