 answered, »he could eat both very well; but that he seemed to
have the greatest Appetite for a piece of boiled Beef and Cabbage.«
    Adams was pleased with so perfect a Confirmation that he had not the least
Fever: but advised him to a lighter Diet, for that Evening. He accordingly eat
either a Rabbit or a Fowl, I never could with any tolerable Certainty discover
which; after this he was by Mrs. Tow-wouse's order conveyed into a better Bed,
and equipped with one of her Husband's Shirts.
    In the Morning early, Barnabas and the Surgeon came to the Inn, in order to
see the Thief conveyed before the Justice. They had consumed the whole Night in
debating what Measures they should take to produce the Piece of Gold in Evidence
against him: for they were both extremely zealous in the Business, tho' neither
of them were in the least interested in the Prosecution; neither of them had
ever received any private Injury from the Fellow, nor had either of them ever
been suspected of loving the Publick well enough, to give them a Sermon or a
Dose of Physick for nothing.
    To help our Reader therefore as much as possible to account for this Zeal,
we must inform him, that as this Parish was so unfortunate as to have no Lawyer
in it; there had been a constant Contention between the two Doctors, spiritual
and physical, concerning their Abilities in a Science, in which, as neither of
them professed it, they had equal Pretensions to dispute each other's Opinions.
These Disputes were carried on with great Contempt on both sides, and had almost
divided the Parish; Mr. Tow-wouse and one half of the Neighbours inclining to
the Surgeon, and Mrs. Tow-wouse with the other half to the Parson. The Surgeon
drew his Knowledge from those inestimable Fountains, called the Attorney's
Pocket-Companion, and Mr. Jacob's Law-Tables; Barnabas trusted entirely to
Wood's Institutes. It happened on this Occasion, as was pretty frequently the
Case, that these two learned Men differed about the sufficiency of Evidence: the
Doctor being of opinion, that the Maid's Oath would convict the Prisoner without
producing the Gold; the Parson, è contra, totis viribus. To display their Parts
therefore before the Justice and the Parish was the sole Motive, which we can
discover, to this Zeal, which both of them pretended to be for publick Justice.
    O Vanity! How little is thy Force acknowledged, or thy Operations discerned?
How wantonly dost thou deceive Mankind under
