The Ancient British Drama ...

As ye have brought yourselfe on pylgrymage,

In the last 6 quarter of your voyage,
Which is 69 far a this side heaven, by God:
There your labour and pardon is od.
With smale cost without any payne,
These pardons bring 7o them to heven playne.
Geve me but a peny or two pens,
And assone as the soule departeth hens,
In halfe an houre, or thre quarters at the moste,
The soule is in heven with the Holy Ghost.

Pot. Send ye any souls to heaven by water?
Pard. If we doo, sir, what is the mater?
Pot. By God, I have a drye soule shulde thy-
ther; }

I pray you let our soules go to heven togyther;
So bysy you twayn be in soules helth,
May nat a Potycary come in by stelth?
Yes, that I wyl,72 by Saynt Antony;
And by the leve of thys company,
Prove

ye false knaves bothe, ere 73 we goo, In parte of your sayings, as thys, lo: Thou, by thy travayle, thynkest heven to gete; [To the Palmer. And thou by pardons and reliques countest no let,74 [To the Pardoner. To sende thyne owne soule to heven sure, And all other whome thou lyste to procure. If I toke an accion, then were they blanke; For lyke theeves the knaves rob75 away my thanke. All soules in heven, havynge releefe, Shall they thanke your craftes? nay, thanke myn chefe.

No soule, ye knowe, entreth heven gate,
Tyll from the bodye he be separate :
And whome have ye knowen dye honestly,76
Without helpe of the Potycary?
Nay, all that commeth to our handlynge,
Except ye happe to come to hangynge;
That way, perchaunce, ye shall nat myster
To go to heven without a glyster.
But be ye sure I wolde be wo,7

If 78 ye shulde chaunce to begyle me so.
As good to lye with me a nyght,
As hang abrode in the mone light.
There is no choyse to fle my hand;
But, as I sayd, into the bande.

When come they to heven, yf they never dyed?
Palm. Long lyfe after good workes in dede
Doth hinder manne's receyt of mede;
And deth before one dewty done
May make us thynke we dye too sone;
Yet better tary a thing then 80 have it,
Then go to sone, and vaynly crave it.
Pard. The longer ye dwell in communicacion
The lesse shall ye lyke thys ymagynacion.
For ye

81 may perceyve even at the fyrst chop
Your tale is trapt in such a stop,
That, at the leste, ye seme worse than we.
Pot. By the masse, I holde us nought all thre,
Ped. By our Lady, then have I gone wronge
And yet to be here I thought it longe.

Pot. Brother, ye have gone wrong no wyt,
I prayse your fortune and your wyt,
That can dyrecte you so discretely,
To plante you in this company.
Thou a Palmer, and thou a Pardoner,
I a Poticary.

Ped. And I a Pedler.

Pot. Nowe, on my fayth, full well watched Where the devyll were we foure hatched?

Ped. That maketh no mater, since we be matched,

I coulde be mery yf that I had catchyd
Some money for parte of the ware in my packe.

Pot. What the devyll hast thou there at thy back?
Ped. What dost thou nat knowe, that every

Pedler

In all kinde of trifles 82 must be a medler?
Specyally in women's tryflinges;
Those use we cheefly 83 above all thynges..
Whiche thyngs to se, yf ye be disposed,
Beholde what ware here is disclosed:
This gere sheweth itself in suche bewte,
That eche man thynketh 84 it saith come bye me.

72 Iwyl-we will, ed. 1569.

75 Rob-they rob, ed. 1569.

70 Bring-bryngeth, 1st edit.

73 Ere-or, 1st edit.

76 Honestly-hostely, ist edit.

77 I wolde be wo—To be woe, is often used by old writers to signify to be sorry. So Shakspeare's Tempest, A. 5. S. 1.

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Loke were yourself can lyke to be chooser,
Yourselfe shall make pryce, though I be a looser.
Is here $5 nothynge for my father Palmer?
Have ye nat a wanton in a corner?
For all your walkyng to holy places,

By Cryste, I have herde of as straunge cases.
Who lyveth in love, and love wolde wynne,
Even at this packe he must begynne.
Wherein 86 is right many a proper token,
Of which by name parte shall be spoken :
Gloves, pynnes, combes, glasses unspottyd,
Pomanders, bookes, and lasses knotted;
Broches, rynges, and all manner of bedes;
Laces rounde and flat for women's heades;
89 Nedyls, threde, thymbell, shers, and all suche
knackes,

Where lovers be, no suche thynges lacks;
Sypers, swathbonds, rybandes, and sleve laces,
Gyrdyls, knives, pursses, and pyncaces.

Pot. Do women bye their pyncaces of you?
Ped. Ye, that they do, I make God a vow.
Pot. So mot I thryve then for my parte,
I beshrewe thy knave's nakyd herte,
For makynge my wifys pyncace so wyde,
The pynnes fall out, they cannat abyde:
Yet pynnes she must have, one or other;
Yf she lese one, she wyll fynde another.
Wherein I fynde cause to complayne;
New pynnes to her pleasure, but to my payne.

Pard. Syr, ye seme wel sene in women's causes;
I pray you tell me what causeth this:
That women after theyr arysynge,"
Be so longe in theyr appareleng?

Ped. Forsoth, women have many lettes,
And they be masked in many nettes:

As frontlettes,93 fyllettes, partlettes,9+ and brace-
lettes;

And then theyr bonettes and theyr poynettes
By these lettes and nettes, the lette is suche,
That spede is small, whan haste is muche.

Pot. Another cause why they come nat forwarde,
Whiche maketh them dayly to drawe backwarde;
And yet 96 is a thynge they cannat forbere;
The trymmynge and pynnynge up of theyr gere;
Specyally theyr fydling with the tayle pyn;
And when they wolde have it prickt 97 in,
If it chaunce to double in the clothe,
98 Then be they 99 wode, and swere an othe.
Tyl it stande reght they wyll nat forsake it,
Thus though it may not, yet wyll they make it.
But be ye sure they do but defarre it;

101

100

89 Nedles, thred, thimbles, and such other knacks-Edition, 1569.

90 Sypers-i. e. Cyprus; thin stuff of which women's veils were made. So, in Shakspeare's Winter's Tale, A. 4. S. 3.

Again, in Twelfth Night:

"Lawn as white as driven snow,

Cyprus black as any crow."

a cyprus, not a bosom

91 Swathbonds-i. e. rollers in which infants were swath'd. So, in Tymon of Athens:

Hides my poor heart."

"Had thou, like us, from thy first swath," &c.

92 Arysynge-uprising, edit. 1569.

93 Frontlettes-Frontal, Fr. A frontlel, or forehead-band. COTGRAVE. A frontlet is mentioned as part of a woman's dress, in Lyly's Midas, 152: " Hoods, frontlets, wires, cauls, curling irons, periwigs, bodkins, fillets, hair laces, ribbons, rolls, knotstrings, glasses," &c. See also Mr Steevens's Note on King Lear, A. 1. S. 4.

94 Partlettes-Ruffs or bands for women.
95 Poynettes-Little bodkins or puncheons.
96 Yet-it, edit. 1569.

See Glossary to Douglas's Translation of Virgil.
Cotgrave, voce Poinçonnet.

97 Prickt-prycke, 1st edit. 98 Then be they wode-Wode signifies mad, furious, or violent. So, in Ascham's Toxophilus, Bennet's edition, 4to. p. 86. "How will you thincke that suche furiousnesse, with woode countenance, and brenninge eyes, with staringe and bragginge, with hart redye to leape out of the bellye for swellinge, can be expressed the tenthe-part to the uttermost." Churchyard's Worthiness of Wales, p. 103. Evans's edition, 1776.

"It flowes with winde, although no rayne there bee,
And swelles like sea, with waves and foming flood:
A wonder sure, to see this river Dee,

With winde alone, to waxe so wyld and wood,
Make such a sturre, as water would be mad,

And shewe such life, as though some spreete it had."

99 They they be, edit. 1569. 101 Wyll-wil, edit. 1569.

100 Swere-swereth, 1st edit.
102 Ful-fall, Ist edit.

Ped. Let women's maters passe, and marke |

myne; What ever theyr poyntes be, these poyntes bé fyuè. Wherfore yf ye be wyllynge to bye, Lay downe money, come off quyckely.

103

Palm. Nay, by my trouth, we be lyke fryers; We are but beggars, we be no byers.

Pard. Syr, ye may showe your ware for your mynde,

But I thynke ye shall no profyte fynde.

Ped. Well, though this journey acquyte no coste,
Yet thynke I nat my labour loste:
For, by the fayth of my body,

I lyke ful well thys company.
Up shall this packe; for, it is playne,
I came not hyther al for gayne.

Who may nat play one day in a weke,
May thynke hys thryfte is farre to seyke.
Devyse what pastyme that ye thynke beste,
And make ye sure to fynde me prest.
Pot. Why, be ye so unyversall
That ve can do what so ever ye shall?

104

Ped. Syr, yf ye lyste for to appose me;

What I can do, then shall you se. Pot. Then tell me thys; are you perfyt in drynkynge?

Ped. Perfyt in drynkynge, as may be wysht by thynkynge.

Pot. Then, after your drynkynge, how fall ye to wynking?

Ped. Syr, after drynkynge, whyle the shot 105 is tynkynge, Some hedes be swymmyng, 106 but myne wyll be synkyng;

And, upon drynkynge, my eyse wil be pynkynge; For wynkynge to drynkynge is alway lynkynge. Pat. Then drynke and slepe you can well do; But, yf ye were desyred therto,

I pray you tell me, can you synge?

Ped. Syr, I have some syght in syngynge.
Pot. But is your brest 17 any thynge swete?
Ped. What ever my breste be, my voyce is mete.
Pot. That answere showeth you a ryght syng-

ynge man.

Now what is your wyll, good father, than? Palm. What helpeth wyll, where is no skyll?

103 Come off-i. e. pay down.

104 Prest-i. e. ready; pret, Fr. So, in Cæsar and Pompey, 1607 :

"What must be, must be; Cæsar's prest for all.”

See a note on The Merchant of Venice, act i. scene 1. S.

Again, Churchyard's Challenge, 1593, p. 80 :

"Then shall my mouth, my muse, my pen, and all,
Be prest to serve at each good subject's call."

Cynthia's Revels. act v. scene 4:

"I am prest for the encounter."

105 Shot-i. e. the reckoning. See Mr Steevens's note to The First Part of King Henry IV. act v. sc. 3. Again, in Churchyard's Worthyness of Wales:

"Behold besides, a further thing to note,

The best cheap cheare they have that may be found;

The shot is great when each mans pais his groate,

If all alike the reckoning runneth round."

106 Swymmyng-The second edition reads, swynking.

107 But is your brest any thinge swete-In Sir John Hawkins's History of Music, Vol. III. p. 466. a passage, in Tusser's Five Hundred Points of Husbandry, 1580, is cited, in which this line occurs:

"The better brest, the lesser rest :"

upon which he makes this observation: "In singing, the sound is originally produced by the action of the lungs; which are so essential an organ in this respect, that to have a good breast was formerly a common periphrasis to denote a good singer. The Italians make use of the terms, voce de petto, and voce di testa, to signify two kinds of voice, of which the first is the best. In Shakespeare's comedy of Twelfth Night, after the clown is asked to sing, Sir Andrew Aguecheek says,

"By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast."

"And in the statutes of Stoke college, in Suffolk, founded by Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, is a provision in these words: Of which said queristers, after their breasts are changed, (i. e. their voices broke,) we will the most apt of wit and capacity be helpen with exhibitions of forty shillings," &c. See also the notes of Mr Warton and Mr Steevens to Twelfth Night, act ii, scene 3.

Again, in Middleton's More Dissembleis besides Women, act i. scene 1. Dondolo, after a song by his page, says, "Oh rich, ravishing, rare, and enticing! Well, go thy ways, for as sweet a brested page as ever lay at his master's feet, in a truckle-bed."

Women beware of Women, act iii. scene 2.

"Duke. Yea, the voice too, sir?

Fab. I, and a sweet brest too, my lord, I hope;

Or I have cast away my money wisely."

Purd. And what helpeth skyll, where is no wil ?108 Pot. For wyll or skyll what helpeth it, Where frowarde knaves be lackynge wit ?109 Leve off thys curiositie;

And who that lyste, synge after me.

[Here they synge. Ped. Thys lyketh me wel, so mot I the. Pard. So helpe me God, it lyketh nat me. Where company is met, and well agreed, Good pastyme dooth ryght well indede. But who can syt in dalyaunce,

110

Men set in suche a variaunce?
As we were set, or ye came in,
Whiche stryfe thys man dyd fyrst begynne;
Alledgynge, that suche men as use,
For love of God, and not "I refuse
On fot to goo, from place to place,
A pylgrimage, callynge for grace,
Shall in that payne with penitence,
Obtayne discharge of conscyence;
Comparynge that lyfe for the beste
Enduccion to your endless rest.
Upon these workes our mater grewe;
For yf he could avow them true,
As good to be a gardener,
As for to be a Pardoner.

But when I harde hym so farre wyde,
I then aproched, and replyed:
Sayenge this, that this 112 indulgence,
Havyng the foresaid penitence,
Dyschargeth man of all offence,

With muche more profyt then this pretence.
I aske but two pens at the moste;

I wys this is nat very great coste,
And from 13 all payne without dyspayre,
My soule for his kepe 1130
even his chayre.
And when he dyeth, he may be sure
To come to heven even at plesure.
And more then heven he can 114 nat get,
How farre so ever he lyste to jet.
Then is bys payne more then hys wit,
To walke 115 to heven, syns he may syt.
Syr, as we were in this contencion,
In came thys daw with hys invencyon;
Revelynge us, himselfe avauntynge,
That all the soules to heven assendynge,
Are most bounde to the Poticary,
Bycause he helpeth moste men to dye;
Before whiche deth, he sayeth in dede,
No soule in heven can have hys mede.
Ped. Why? do Poticaries kyll men?

Pot. By God! men say so now and then. Ped. And I thought ye wolde nat have myst, To make them lyve as longe as ye lyste.

Pot. As longe as we lyste? nay, as longe as they can.

116

Ped. So myght we lyve without you than. Pot. Ye; but yet it is necessary For to have a Poticary;

For, when ye fele your conscyens redy,

117

I can sende you to heven very quyckly.
Wherfore, concernynge our mater here,
Above these twayne I am best, clere;
And yf ye lyste to take me so,

I am content; you, and no mo

Shal be our judge, as in thys case,

Whiche of us thre shall take the best place.

Ped. I neyther wyll judge the beste nor worste; For be ye bleste, or be ye curste,

Ye know it is no whyt my sleyght,
To be a judge in maters of weyght.
It behoveth no Pedlers, nor proctours,
To take on them judgemente as doctours;
But yf your myndes be onely set

To worke for soule helthe, ye be well met;
For eche of you somwhat doth showe
That soules towarde heven by you doe growe.
Then yf ye can so well agree,

To contynue togyther all thre;
And all you thre obay one wyll,
Then all your myndes ye may fulfyll.

As yf ye came all to one man,

Who shulde goo pylgrymage 118 more then he can? In that ye Palmer, as debite,

May clerely dyscharde hym, parde.

And for all other syns ones had contryssyon,
Your pardons geveth hym full remyssyon.
And then ye Mayster Poticary,

May sende hym to heven by and by.

Pot. Yf he taste this boxe nye aboute the pryme, By the masse, he is in heven or even-songe tyme! My craft is suche, that I can ryght well,

120

Sende my fryndes to heven, and myselfe to hell.
But, syrs, marke this man, for he is wyse;
Who 119 coulde devyse suche a devyse?
For yf we thre may be as one,
Then be we lordes everych one;
Betwene us all coulde nat be myste,
To save the soules of whome we lyste.
But, for good order, at a worde,
Twayne of us must wayte on the thyrde.
And unto that I do agree,

121 For bothe you twayne shall wayt on me.
Pard. What chaunce is this, that suche an elf
Commaund two knaves beside himself?
Nay, nay, my frende, that wyll nat be;
I am to good to wayt on the.

Palm. By our Lady, and I wolde be loth
To wayt on the better of you both!

Ped. Yet, be ye sewer, for all thys dout,
This waytynge must be brought about.
Men cannat prosper wylfully ledde;
All things decay 122 where is no hedde.
Wherfore, doubtlesse, marke what I say,
To one of you thre twayne must obey.
And, synnes ye cannat agree in voyce,
Who shall be hed, there is no choyce,
But to devyse some maner of thynge,
Wherin ye all be lyke connynge:
And in the same who can do beste,
The other twayne to make them preste,
In every thynge of hys entente,
Holy 123 to be at commaundement.
And now have I founde one mastry,'
That ye can do indyfferently;
And is nother sellynge nor byenge,
But evyn onely very lyeng:
And all ye thre can lye as well,
As can the falsest devyll in hell.

124

And though, afore, ye harde me grudge
In greater maters to be your judge;
Yet in lyeng I can boste some skyll,
And yf I shall be judge, I wyll.
And be you sure, without flattery,
Where my consciens fyndeth the mastrye,
Ther shall my judgement strayt be founde,
Though I myght wynne a thousande pounde.
Palm. Syr, for lyeng, though I can do it,
Yet am I loth for to goo to it.
Ped. Ye have no
125 cause to fear: Be bolde;126
For ye may here 127 lie uncontrolde.
And ye in this have good avauntage,
For lyeng is your comen usage.

And you in lyeng be well spedde,
For all your craft doth stande in falshed.
Ye nede nat care who shall begyn;
For eche of you may hope to wyn.
Now speke all thre evyn as ye fynde,
Be ye agreed to folowe my mynde?
Palm. Ye, by my troth, I am contente.
Pard. Now, in good fayth, and I assente.
Pot. If I denyed, I were a nody;
For all is myne, by Goddes body.

[Here the Poticary hoppeth: Palm. Here were a hopper to hop for the rynge! But, syr, 128 this gere goth nat by hoppynge.

129

Pot. Syr, in this hoppynge I wyll hop so well, That my tonge shall hop better then my hele: Upon whiche hoppynge, I hope and not doute it, To hop 130 so that ye shall hop 131 without it.

Palm. Syr, I wyll neyther boste ne brawll,
But take suche fortune as may fall;
And yf ye wynne this maystery,
I wyli obaye you quietly;

And sure I thynke that quietnesse

In any man is great richesse.

In any manner of company,

To rule or be ruled 132 indifferently.

Pard. By that host thou semest a begger indede; What can thy quietnesse helpe us at nede? Yf we shulde starve, thou hast nat, I thynke, One peny to bye us one potte of drynke. Nay, vf richesse myghte rule the roste, Beholde what cause I have to boste: Lo, here be 133 pardons halfe a dosyn, For gostely ryches they have no cosyn; And moreover to me they brynge Sufficient succour for my lyvynge. And here be 134 relykes of suche a kynde, As in this worlde no man can 135 fynde. Knele down all thre, and when ye leve kyssynge, Who lyst to offer shall have my blyssynge. Frendes, here shall ye se evyn anone, Of All-hallowes, the blessyd jaw-bone,13

136

121 For bothe, &c.-First edition reads,

"For bothe you twayne shall wayt on me.
What chaunce is this, that suche an elfe
Commaunded two knaves besyde hymselfe."

122 Things decay-thynge decayed, 1st edit.

123 Holy-Holly, Ist edit.

124 One mastry—i, e. one magisterium; a chemical term, expressive of the highest powers of transmutation, and sometimes used for any masterly performance. S. 125 No-not, Ist edit.

126 Be bolde-beholde, edit. 1569.

127 May here may here, 1st edit.; may lie, edit. 1569.

128 Syr-sirs, edit. 1569.

130 Hop-hope, 1st edit.

132 Be ruled to be rulde, edit. 1569.

134 Be-are, edit. 1569.

129 Better-as well as, 1st edit.

131 Hop-hope, 1st edit.

133 Here be here are, edit. 1569. 135 Can-may, edit. 1569.

136 All-hallowes, the blessyd jaw-bone-All- hallowes is All-saints. Mr Steevens, in his Note on The First Part of King Henry IV. A. 1. S. 2. remarks on the absurdity of appropriating a word formed to express a community of saints to a particular one of the number.

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