reasonable to produce our great forgetfulness as an argument
unanswerable for our great wit. I ought in method to have informed
the reader about fifty pages ago of a fancy Lord Peter took, and
infused into his brothers, to wear on their coats whatever trimmings
came up in fashion, never pulling off any as they went out of the
mode, but keeping on all together, which amounted in time to a
medley the most antic you can possibly conceive, and this to a
degree that, upon the time of their falling out, there was hardly a
thread of the original coat to be seen, but an infinite quantity of
lace, and ribbands, and fringe, and embroidery, and points (I mean
only those tagged with silver, for the rest fell off). Now this
material circumstance having been forgot in due place, as good
fortune hath ordered, comes in very properly here, when the two
brothers are just going to reform their vestures into the primitive
state prescribed by their father's will.

They both unanimously entered upon this great work, looking
sometimes on their coats and sometimes on the will. Martin laid the
first hand; at one twitch brought off a large handful of points, and
with a second pull stripped away ten dozen yards of fringe. But
when he had gone thus far he demurred a while. He knew very well
there yet remained a great deal more to be done; however, the first
heat being over, his violence began to cool, and he resolved to
proceed more moderately in the rest of the work, having already very
narrowly escaped a swinging rent in pulling off the points, which
being tagged with silver (as we have observed before), the judicious
workman had with much sagacity double sewn to preserve them from
falling. Resolving therefore to rid his coat of a huge quantity of
gold lace, he picked up the stitches with much caution and
diligently gleaned out all the loose threads as he went, which