steepleman

Updated: June 24, 2025

Now, it says nay. A wonderful thing is the law with its yea, yea, and nay, nay, like Barclay, the Quaker man, that came down here in a leather suit, and ca'd the parson a steepleman. There's the law. It's no use shootin' at it, or passin' pikes through it, no, nor chargin' at it wi' a troop of horse. If it begins by saying "nay" it will say "nay" to the end of the chapter.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Micah Clarke: His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph,: Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734