Vol.1 f.031 recto

fellow yeoman,, with a double chin, and a voice husky with good [??pes] living, good sleeping, good humour, and good health. [?? ??? he was past ??? prime of life] He was past the prime of life, but [??? does not ????] Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, [??]though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in fill vigour. With such people the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life.
The person whom the traveller had so abruptly encountered was of this kind: bluff, hale, hearty, and in a green old age: at peace with himself, and evidently disposed to be so with all the world. Although muffled up in divers coats and handkerchiefs -- one of which, passed over his crown, and tied in a convenient crease of his double chin secured his three-cornered hat and bob-wig from blowing off his head -- there was no disguising his plump and comfortable figure; neither did certain dirty finger-marks upon his face give it any other than an odd and comical expression, through which its natural good humour shone with undiminished lustre.
"He is not hurt," said the traveller at length raising his