Fett, cheerfully, piling a heap of dry
twigs; "and we have ship's butter and a frying-pan."
"Are you sure," asked Mr. Badcock, examining one, "that these are
true mushrooms?"
"They were grown in Corsica, and have not subscribed to the
Thirty-nine Articles; still, _mutatis mutandis_, in my belief they
are good mushrooms. If you doubt, we can easily make sure by stewing
them awhile in a saucepan and stirring them with a silver spoon, or
boiling them gently with Mr. Badcock's watch, as was advised by Mr.
Locke, author of the famous 'Essay on the Human Understanding.'"
"Indeed?" said my father. "The passage must have escaped me."
"It does not occur in the 'Essay.' He gave the advice at Montpellier
to an English family of the name of Robinson; and had they listened
to him it would have robbed Micklethwaite's 'Botany of Pewsey and
Devizes' of some fascinating pages."
MR. FETT'S STORY OF THE FUNGI OF MONTPELLIER.
"About the year 1677, when Mr. Locke resided at Montpellier for the
benefit of his health, and while his famous 'Essay' lay as yet in the
womb of futurity, there happened to be staying in the same _pension_
an English family--"
"Excuse me," put in my father, "I do not quite gather where these
people lodged.
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