Wise Men of Gotham.
TALE XVII.
There was a man of Gotham who would be married, and when the day of marriage was come they went to church. The priest said, Do you say after me. The man said, Do you say after me. The priest said, Say not after me such words, but say what I tell you; thou dost play the fool to mock the holy Scripture concerning matrimony. Then the fellow said, Thou dost play the fool to mock the holy Scripture concerning matrimony. The priest could not tell what to say, but answered,. What shall I do with this fool? And the man said, What shall I do with this fool? So the priest took his leave, and would not marry them. But he was instructed by others how to do, and was afterwards married. And thus the breed of the Gothamites has been perpetuated even unto this day.
TALE XVIII.
There was a Scotsman who dwelt at Gotham, and he took a house a little distance from London, and turned it into an inn; and for his sign he would have a boar's head. Accordingly he went to a carver, and said, Can you
