does not hesitate to enlarge upon the original, serving up from his unctuous literary kitchens a largesse of words as quaint and original as any used by the master himself.
In the well known passage of the animal noises that disturbed the peace of the philosopher Rabelais is content with nine, but seventy-nine are scarcely sufficient for Sir Thomas Urquhart! And as a matter of fact how ill we could spare such inventions as the "cheeping of mice," "coriating of storks," "snuttering of monkies" and "nuzzing of camels"!
Unbroken indeed is the silence surrounding the latter years of the philosopher of Cromartie. It is known that he crossed over to the continent of Europe, but that is all.
Did he, the Urquhart "Parresiastes" or "Free of Speech," grow mute and inarticulate at the last? We cannot tell. Only once, and that in the legend of his death do we hear of him again. For it is reported that when news came to him of the Restoration and the delight of the counties of England at the return of the royal house they had been at such pains to evict, he fell into so great a fit of Gargantuan laughter that it cracked his heart, dispatching the queer spirit of this abstractor of quintessences forthwith into the presence of its Maker.
