He had gone nearly beside himself on the Sunday, because
of a general backwardness to indorse his definition of mind as 'a
living, thinking substance which cannot be felt, heard, or seen' -
nor, I presume, although he failed to mention it, smelt. Now he came
forward in a pause with another contribution to our culture.
'Just by way of change,' said he, 'I'll ask you a Scripture riddle.
There's profit in them too,' he added ungrammatically.
This was the riddle-
C and P
Did agree
To cut down C;
But C and P
Could not agree
Without the leave of G;
All the people cried to see
The crueltie
Of C and P.
Harsh are the words of Mercury after the songs of Apollo! We were a
long while over the problem, shaking our heads and gloomily wondering
how a man could be such a fool; but at length he put us out of
suspense and divulged the fact that C and P stood for Caiaphas and
Pontius Pilate.
I think it must have been the riddle that settled us; but the motion
and the close air likewise hurried our departure. We had not been
gone long, we heard next morning, ere two or even three out of the
five fell sick. We thought it little wonder on the whole, for the
sea kept contrary all night.
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