In what, Dickon?«
    »I speak plain English, I believe, Judge Temple; at least I ought; for my
father, who taught me, could speak« -
    »Greek and Latin,« interrupted Marmaduke - »I well know the qualifications
of your family in tongues, Dickon. But proceed to the point; why are we
travelling over this mountain to-day?«
    »To do justice to any subject, sir, the narrator must be suffered to proceed
in his own way,« continued the Sheriff. »You are of opinion, Judge Temple, that
a man is to be qualified by nature and education to do only one thing well,
whereas I know that genius will supply the place of learning, and that a certain
sort of man can do any thing and every thing.«
    »Like yourself, I suppose,« said Marmaduke, smiling.
    »I scorn personalities, sir, I say nothing of myself; but there are three
men on your Patent, of the kind that I should term talented by nature, for her
general purposes, though acting under the influence of different situations.«
    »We are better off, then, than I had supposed. Who are these triumviri?«
    »Why, sir, one is Hiram Doolittle; a carpenter by trade, as you know, and I
need only to point to the village to exhibit his merits. Then he is a
magistrate, and might shame many a man, in his distribution of justice, who has
had better opportunities.«
    »Well, he is one,« said Marmaduke, with the air of a man that was determined
not to dispute the point.
    »Jotham Riddel is another.«
    »Who?«
    »Jotham Riddel.«
    »What, that dissatisfied, shiftless, lazy, speculating fellow! he who
changes his county every three years, his farm every six months, and his
occupation every season! an agriculturist yesterday, a shoemaker to-day, and a
schoolmaster to-morrow! that epitome of all the unsteady and profitless
propensities of the settlers, without one of their good qualities to
counterbalance the evil! Nay, Richard, this is too bad for even - but the
third?«
    »As the third is not used to hearing such comments on his character, Judge
Temple, I shall not name him.«
    »The amount of all this, then, Dickon, is, that the trio, of which you are
one, and the principal, have made some important discovery.«
    »I have not said that I am one, Judge