(137.)
'Tis reported of King James, that when a Gen∣tleman made as though he took a louse off his arm, he gave him twenty pounds, saying it was a Gen∣tleman's companion. Whereupon, to make the King merry, he said, That he would maintain a Louse to be the nimblest and the slowest of all Ani∣mals; the strongest and the weakest; the worst and the best. The nimblest, says he, because let me go never so fast, it never deserts me; the slowest, be∣cause if I will pull it out of my head and lay it down, it can never overtake me; the strongest, because if a house fall on me, yet 'tis ten to one if the Louse be kill'd and knock'd in the head; the weakest, be∣cause I can kill it with my thumb; the worst com∣panion, because it always preys upon me; and the best, because it always accompanies me in my ad∣versity.