The Argosy — page 146: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

| 132 The Knight of the Trowel. Tes Ausere. character and powers of his hated Nabal into those of one of his grand old wonder-working prophets, Elisha. There is just one other incident connected with Robin which we would like to record. In the private opinion of Robin, his teeth meant to ache until, hike the “ Kilkenny cats, they had fought till naught but their tails were left.”” Two of these “tails,” or stumps rather, he got drawn on a memorable occasion by his chief friend and patron, Dr. M , a gentleman whose talents and goodness he held in profound admiration, never referring to his favourite practitioner with any other than his choicest term—“ a most comfortable gentleman.” Nevertheless, the extracting of the teeth was not “comfortable ;” and another—‘“ the biggest and baddest of them ”"—-becoming troublesome afterwards, Robin resolved to let it alone, and fight it out as it liked. Fight it certainly did, and that with such tyrannical assiduity that for three weeks in the early spring it rarely permitted poor Robin to enjoy one meal with impunity or one unbroken night's rest. Indeed, it was at night that he suffered most acutely, for, according to the ungenerous and vindictive nature of tooth-ache, the moment it got his head down on the pillow, it ran successively through the whole category of its refined modes. of torture—its gnawings, corkscrewings, twitchings, and stoonings. At length, thoroughly outraged and driven to despair, he bounced up, and poking his old spouse in the side, with profound deliberation and solemnity he thus addressed her :— ‘“‘ Margaret, arise and dress yourself, for I’m about to depart !” Margaret, at once waking up to a lively sense of the inexpediency of this proposal, exclaimed, ‘Oh! Robin, dear, you must not die, for if you die, how would I live? I'd starve, so die you shan’t !” ‘Woman !” replied Robin, sitting bolt upright, his large grey eyes rolling, his hair, stiff, sparse, and sooty as a chimney-sweeper’s patent brusher, now thrice stiff, sparse, and sooty. “Woman, it is in vain for you to insist further; nor do I think you show much feelin’ in doing so. Heaven may provide for you as best it likes ; as for me, I will struggle with this mine adversary no longer!” So saying, he leaned back and shut his eyes, not in death, we are happy to say, but in sleep, for Nature —kind Nature—ever wise, beneficent, and gentle, sent her balmy gift, and for hours rested the worn-out faculties of the poor old man, who, on. awaking, found, to his great joy, that his “ Adversary” had actually departed ; and, as he often told us afterwards, with one of his most striking gestures and very best grimaces, ‘that was the last he ever saze of him,” for as old age advanced,’the tooth fell out piecemeal, and he never felt 1¢ more. GO) comicaooks