Languages & literature > Aurus clavus, or, The adventures of a gold trinket, supposed to have been written by itself

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(for his nose was always hungry), but he gave
freely to every well-wisher who would partake
with him of the contents of his mull, and at the
long run he was no loser; and, besides, on the
lid of his capacious companion, there was en¬
graved (it had a copper covered lid)—“ He who
wont help his friend in a pinch is not worth a
snuff.” Now this was both a sterling truth
and a broad hint.
There are many beggars who spend as fast
as they get; but my master was very careful.
Supported by his crutch, large oak stick, and
wooden leg, he was at the post of honour every
morning ; and in the evening he carefully de¬
posited his day’s alms in an old chest, of which
he always kept the key about his person,
treated himself with a comfortable diet, and
when cold or wet, thought it no harm, before
turning in, to regale himself with a drop of good
mountain dew. Such was my master's manner
of living. He troubled none of his neighbours.
He was his own master and his own servant; he
was in no man s debt, and, except that in frosty
weather he sometimes felt an acute pain in the
remains of his mutilated limb, he was as happy
as a prince. Gilbert might have had a house-