"well, i thought over the matter all day, and by evening i was in low spirits again; for i had quite persuaded myself that the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its object might be i could not imagine. it seemed altogether past belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the encyclopædia britannica. vincent spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime i had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. however, in the morning i determined to have a look at it anyhow, so i bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, i started off for pope’s court.