As for this lawyer, he waited below till the hurly burly was
over, and then stole softly to his own chamber, from whence he
did not venture to make a second sally till eleven in the
forenoon, when he was led into the Public Room, by his own
servant and another assistant, groaning most woefully, with a
bloody napkin round his head. But things were greatly altered --
The selfish brutality of his behaviour on the stairs had steeled
their hearts against all his arts and address -- Not a soul offered
to accommodate him with a chair, cushion, or footstool; so that
he was obliged to sit down on a hard bench -- In that position, he
looked around with a rueful aspect, and, bowing very low, said in
a whining tone, 'Your most humble servant, ladies -- Fire is a
dreadful calamity' -- 'Fire purifies gold, and it ties friendship,'
cried Mrs Tabitha, bridling. 'Yea, madam (replied Micklewhimmen);
and it trieth discretion also' -- 'If discretion consists in
forsaking a friend in adversity, you are eminently possessed of
that virtue' (resumed our aunt). -- 'Na, madam (rejoined the
advocate), well I wot, I cannot claim any merit from the mode of
my retreat -- Ye'll please to observe, ladies, there are twa
independent principles that actuate our nature -- One is instinct,
which we have in common with the brute creation, and the other is
reason -- Noo, in certain great emergencies, when the faculty of
reason is suspended, instinct taks the lead, and when this
predominates, having no affinity with reason, it pays no sort of
regard to its connections; it only operates for the preservation
of the individual, and that by the most expeditious and effectual
means; therefore, begging your pardon, ladies, I'm no accountable
in foro conscientioe for what I did, while under the influence of
this irresistible pooer.
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