his dame needed a Norwich worsted; if a yeoman lacked a plough or a
wagon, or his good wife a pot or a kettle; they were to go, not to the
armourer, and the draper, and the tailor, and the weaver, and the
wheelwright, and the blacksmith,--but, hey presto! Master Warner set
his imps a-churning, and turned ye out mail and tunic, worsted and
wagon, kettle and pot, spick and span new, from his brewage of vapour
and sea-coal. Oh, have I not heard enough of the sorcerer from my
brother, who works in the Chepe for Master Stokton, the mercer!--and
Master Stokton was one of the worshipful deputies to whom the old
nigromancer had the front to boast his devices."

"It is true," said the friar, suddenly.

"Yes, reverend father, it is true," said the mechanic, doffing his
cap, and inclining his swarthy face to this unexpected witness of his
veracity. A murmur of wrath and hatred was heard amongst the
bystanders. The soldiers indifferently turned to their female
companions. There was a brief silence; and, involuntarily, the
gossips stretched over the table to catch sight of the house of so
demoniac an oppressor of the poor.

"See," said the baker, "the smoke still curls from the rooftop! I
heard he had come back. Old Madge, his handmaid, has bought cimnel-
cakes of me the last week or so; nothing less than the finest wheat
serves him now, I trow. However, right's right, and--"

"Come back!" cried the fierce mechanic; "the owl hath kept close in
his roost! An' it were not for the king's favour, I would soon see
how the wizard liked to have fire and water brought to bear against
himself!"