XXI.

My beloved pupils, few have yet sufficiently studied the art by which the
practice of jokes becomes subservient to the science of swindlers. The
heart of an inferior is always fascinated by a jest. Men know this in
the knavery of elections. Know it now, my pupils, in the knavery of
life! When you slap yon cobbler so affectionately on the back, it is
your own fault if you do not slap your purpose into him at the same time.
Note how Shakspeare (whom study night and day,--no man hath better
expounded the mysteries of roguery!) causes his grandest and most
accomplished villain, Richard III., to address his good friends, the
murderers, with a jocular panegyric on that hardness of heart on which,
doubtless, those poor fellows most piqued themselves,--

"Your eyes drop millstones, where fools' eyes drop tears--
I like you, lads!"

Can't you fancy the knowing grin with which the dogs received this
compliment, and the little sly punch in the stomach with which Richard
dropped those loving words, "I like you, lads!"



XXII.

As good-nature is the characteristic of the dupe, so should good-temper
be that of the knave; the two fit into each other like joints. Happily,
good-nature is a Narcissus, and falls in love with its own likeness. And
good-temper is to good-nature what the Florimel of snow was to the
Florimel of flesh,--an exact likeness made of the coldest materials.