Excerpt from A Health Unto His Majesty These exiles, half a dozen in number, were in true accord with their environment. They were almost all clad in garments which evidently had once been fine and modish, but which the passage of time and long usage had reduced to a pitiable condition that suggested the wardrobe of a none too successful travelling tinker. Velvets, frayed to the cord; silks that were split and ripped and very ill-mended; laces that were torn beyond repair; these were the common attributes of the wear ing apparel of the occupants of the chamber. One man alone, that sat apart from the others and was busy writ ing at a table, had somehow contrived to keep his person covered with a greater neatness; a youngish man, with a grave, quiet face and steady watchful eyes, a man in his appearance as unlike the other occupants of the room as in his garb. These others all were, or affected to be, jolly fellows, bully Cavaliers, mighty swordsmen, mighty lovers, mighty trencher-men and fiagon-men whenever meat and wine came their way. They were for ever shaking their long locks with laughter, for ever busy in the desperate pursuit of amusement under difficulties. Four of them were playing at cards, all with knitted brows and a great show of earnestness. One shabby gentleman that was seated in the window-seat, with a little ink-horn by his side, was writing in a little paper book. The gentleman seemed to be much amused by what he was writing, for ever and anon he would pause in his task to chuckle over his work, and to slap his thigh caressingly with the hand that carried the quill. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.