A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court by Mark Twain Chapter 9 Page 6

buy prayers enough you mark up your candles with a forked pencil, and your bill shows up all right.

And he had a good knack at getting in the complimentary thing here and there about a knight that was likely to advertise — no, I mean a knight that had influence; and he also had a neat gift of exaggeration, for in his time he had kept door for a pious hermit who lived in a sty and worked miracles.

Of course this novice’s report lacked whoop and crash and lurid description, and therefore wanted the true ring; but its antique wording was quaint and sweet and simple, and full of the fragrances and flavors of the time, and these little merits made up in a measure for its more important lacks. Here is an extract from it:

Then Sir Brian de les Isles and Grummore Grummorsum,