"Wouldst thou strike a man when he is down?" "Ay, marry would I," quoth the Tanner, giving him another thwack with his staff.

" Here Polton, who had been, by degrees, rising to an erect posture, smote his thigh a resounding thwack and chuckled aloud, a proceeding that caused all eyes, including those of the judge, to be turned on him.