Note 25:1 — Chapter I · MEDIAEVAL NEWGATE
Reading edition
Our ancestors, with a strong love for practical jokes and an equally strong aversion to falsehood and boasting, checked an indulgence in such vices when they became offensive by very plain satire. A confirmed liar was presented with a whetstone to jocularly infer that his invention, if he continued to use it so freely, would require sharpening.—Chambers's "Book of Days," ii. 45.