To put an end to this silly, pernicious, frivolous Way at once, I will give the Reader one late Instance of a Bite, which no Biter for the future will ever be able to equal, tho’ I heartily wish him the same Occasion.  It is a Superstition with some Surgeons who beg the Bodies of condemn’d Malefactors, to go to the Gaol, and bargain for the Carcase with the Criminal himself.  A good honest Fellow did so last Sessions, and was admitted to the condemned Men on the Morning wherein they died.  The Surgeon communicated his Business, and fell into discourse with a little Fellow, who refused Twelve Shillings, and insisted upon Fifteen for his Body.  The Fellow, who kill’d the Officer of Newgate, very forwardly, and like a Man who was willing to deal, told him, Look you, Mr. Surgeon, that little dry Fellow, who has been half-starved all his Life, and is now half-dead with Fear, cannot answer your Purpose.  I have ever liv’d high and freely, my Veins are full, I have not pined in Imprisonment; you see my Crest swells to your Knife, and after Jack-Catch has done, upon my Honour you’ll find me as sound as e’er a Bullock in any of the Markets.  Come, for Twenty Shillings I am your Man—­Says the Surgeon, Done, there’s a Guinea—­This witty Rogue took the Money, and as soon as he had it in his Fist, cries, Bite, I am to be hang’d in Chains.

T.

[Footnote 1:  See No. 47.  Swift writes,

’I’ll teach you a way to outwit Mrs. Johnson; it is a new fashioned way of being witty, and they call it a Bite.  You must ask a bantering question, or tell some lie in a serious manner, then she will answer, or speak as if you were in earnest, and then cry you, “Madam, there’s a Bite.”  I would not have you undervalue this, for it is the constant amusement in Court, and every where else among the great people; and I let you know it, in order to have it among you, and to teach you a new refinement.’

Journal to Stella.  Although ‘bite’ and ‘biter’ have not retained this sense, it remains in an occasional use of the word ‘bitten.’]

* * * * *

No. 505.  Thursday, October 9, 1712.  Addison.

  ’Non habeo denique nauci Marsum Augurem,
  Non vicanos Aruspices, non de circo Astrologos,
  Non Isiacos Conjectores, non Interpletes somnium: 
  Non enim sunt ii aut scientia, aut arte Divini,
  Sed superstitiosi vates, impudentesque harioli,
  Aut inertes, aut insani, aut quibus egestas imperat: 
  Qui sui questus causa fictas suscitant sententias,
  Qui sibi semitam non sapiunt, alteri monstrant viam,
  Quibus divitias pollicentur, ab iis drachmam petunt;
  De divitiis deducant drachmam, reddant coetera.’

  Ennius.