"--"I don't
wonder," replied the naturalist, "that you should be so much averse
to the propagation of insects, because, in all likelihood, you are
afraid that they will not leave you a cabbage to cut down with the
same miraculous machine."--"Sir," answered the mechanic, with great
bitterness of voice and aspect, "if the cabbage be as light-headed
as some muck-worm philosophers, it will not he worth cutting
down."--" I never dispute upon cabbage with the son of a cucumber,"
said the fly-breeder, alluding to the pedigree of his antagonist;
who, impatient of the affront, started up with fury in his looks,
exclaiming, "'Sdeath! meaning me, sir?"
Here the patron, perceiving things drawing towards a rupture,
interposed his authority, rebuking them for their intemperance
and recommending to them amity and concord against the Goths and
Vandals of the age, who took all opportunities of ridiculing and
discouraging the adherents of knowledge and philosophy. After this
exhortation, they had no pretence for carrying on the dispute, which
was dropped in all appearance, though the mechanic still retained
his resentment; and after breakfast, when the company broke
up, accosted his adversary in the street, desiring to know how he
durst be so insolent as to make that scurrilous reflection upon his
family.
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