Our fare was royall, and our welcome great ; We will deal as friendly with thee in recompence. Grime. Your welcome was but duty, gentle lord: For wherefore have we given us our wealth, But to make our betters welcome when they come? O, this goes hard when traitors must be flattered; But life is sweet, and I cannot withstand it. Gil. What said you, Grime? Grime. I say, sir Gilbert, looking on my daughter, I curse the hour that ere I got the girl: For, sir, she may have many wealthy suitors, And yet she disdains them all, to have Poor George a Greene unto her husband. Ken. Such news, Bonfield, as will make thee And fret thy fill, to hear how Nick was used. Ready to stoop; but that a churl came in, Bet. Oh lovely George, fortune be still thy friend! And as thy thoughts be high, so be thy mind Bon. On that, good Grime, I am talking with In all accords, even to thy heart's desire! To dignify those hairs of amber hue, I'll grace them with a chaplet made of pearl, Bet. Heigh ho! my heart is in a higher place, Enter the Earl of KENDALL and NICHOLAS MAN NERING. Ken. Come, Nick, follow me. He is the man, and she will none but him. Bon. But him! why, look on me, my girl. Thou knowest, that yesternight I courted thee, And swore at my return to wed with thee. Then tell me, love, shall I have all thy fair? Bet. "I care not for earl, nor yet for knight, Nor baron that is so bold; For George-a-Greene, the merry Pinner, Bon. Bootless, my lord, are many vain replies. Let us hie us to Wakefield, and send her the Pin ner's head. Ken. It shall be so. Shut up thy daughter, Grime, gramercie, bridle her affects,' Let me not miss her when I make return; Therefore look to her, as to thy life, good Grime. Grime. I warrant you, my lord. [Exeunt GRIME and BETTRIS. Ken. And, Bettris, leave a base Pinner, 7 Have all thy fair?-In the former edition Mr Dodsley had altered fair to faith. Fair was, however, frequently used by contemporary writers as a substantive; and several instances of it are produced by Mr Steevens, in his note on the words, " Demetrius loves your fair." A. 1. S. 1. of Midsummer's Night's Dream. 8 Bridle her affects.-Affects are affections, and in that sense the word is used in many contemporary authors; as Gascoigne's Fable of Jeronimi, p. 250:-" Neyther seemeth it reasonable, that one should have the power to discover the thoughts, or at least to bridle the affects of all the rest." Euphues and his England, p. 7:-" Saving that either carried the motion of his minde in his manne, and that the affects of the heart were bewrayed by the eyes.” Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels, A. 3. S. 3: Enter the King of Scors, Lord HUMES, with Soldiers, and JouNY. King. Why, Johny, then the Earl of Kendall is blithe, And hath brave men that troop along with him? Johny. Ay, marry, my liege, And hath good men that come along with him, I will be with him at the appointed day. Enter JANE A BARLEY'S Son. Ned. Sir, I am son unto Sir John a Barley, Eldest, and all that ere my mother had. Edward my name. Jane. And whither art thou going, pretty Ned? Ned. To seek some birds, and kill them, if I can. And now my school-master is also gone, So have I liberty to ply my bow; For when he comes, I stir not from my book. For I protest, by the highest holy God, James. Lord Humes, but mark the visage of this That doometh just revenge for things amiss, child; If you would speak with her, knock at this gate. James. Johny, knock at that gate. Enter JANE A BARLEY upon the Walls. Jane. O, I am betrayed! What multitudes be these? James. Fear not, fair Jane, for all these men are mine, And all thy friends, if thou be friend to me. King James, of all men, shall not have my love. James. Then, list to me! Saint Andrew be my This castle is too strong for thee to scale; I'll draw thee on with sharp and deep extremes; Unless thou open the gate, and let me in. June. O deep extremes! my heart begins to break; My little Ned looks pale for fear. Cheer thee, My boy, I will do much for thee. See also the several instances quoted by Mr Steevens, in his note on the last passage. Ned. But not so much as to dishonour me. Ned. Then die with honour, mother, dying chaste. Jane. I am armed. My husband's love, his honour, and his fame, Alarum within. Enter a Messenger. Enter Old MUSGROVE, with King JAMES Pri soner. Mus. Now, King James, thou art my prisoner. Cuddie. Father, the field is ours; Their colours we have seized, and Humes is slain; Mus. God, and Saint George! Jane. Come in, young Cuddie; come, and drink Bring in King Jamie with you, as a guest; [Exeunt. Enter GEORGE A GREENE alone, Geo. The sweet content of men that live in love, Enter JENKIN, the Clown. Jen. Marry, amen, sir. Geo. Sir, what do you cry amen at? Jen. Well, though I say it, that should not say it, So nettled with love as I have been of late. You rose so early to go to your wenches. Jen. Trow, you have hit it; For, master, be it known to you, There is some good-will betwixt Madge the Sousewife And I; marry she hath another lover. Geo. Canst thou brook any rivals in thy love? Jen. A rider? no, he is a sow-gelder, and goes a-foot. But Madge 'pointed to meet me in your wheat close. Geo. Well, did she meet you there? The priest had been at our backs to have mar Geo. What did she grant? Jen. Did she grant! never make question of And she gave me a shirt-collar, wrought over Geo. What! was it gold? Jen. Nay, it was better than gold. Jen. 10 Right Coventry blue, Who had no sooner come there, but wot you who came by? 9 God and Saint George.-This exclamation is made by Richmond, in Richard III., immediately before attacking his adversary. Mr Wharton observes, that St. George was the common cry of the English soldiers when they charged the enemy. See Note in the last edition, vol. vii. p. 158. 10 Right Coventry blue.-Coventry blue is mentioned by several writers of the times. Laugh and lie down, or the Worlde's Folly, 1605, Sign. E 2:-" It was a simple napkinne wrought with Coventry blew.” Stephens's Satyrical Essayes, 1615, p. 355:-" He must savour of gallantry a little, though he perfume the table with rose-cake; or appropriate bone lace, and Coventry blue.” Ben Jonson's Masque of Gypsiest "The Coventry blue Hangs there upon Prue." Jen. O master, where are you? we have a prize. Geo. A prize! what is it? Jen. Three goodly horses in our wheat close. Geo. Three horses in our wheat close! whose be they? Jen. Marry, that's a riddle to me; but they are there. Velvet horses, and I never saw such horses before. As my duty was, I put off my cap, and said as followeth : My masters, what do you make in our close? One of them hearing me ask what he made there, held up his head and neighed, and after his manner laughed as heartily as if a mare had been tied to his girdle. My masters, said I, it is no laughing matter; for, if my master take you here, you go as round as a top to the pound. Another untoward jade hearing me threaten him to the pound, and to tell you of them, cast up both his heels, and let a monstrous great fart; that was as much as in his language to say, a fart for the pound, and a fart for George a Green. Now I, hearing this, put on my cap, blew my horn, called them all jades, and came to tell you. Geo. Now, sir, go and drive me those three horses To the pound. as good Arms as ever your great grandfather could give. Jen. Marry, my master may give for his arms But my master gives his arms the wrong way, Ken. Well, Pinner, since our horses be in, Geo. Now, by my father's soul, Ken. Why, man, thou knowest not us. Men that, before a month be full expired, Jen. Do you hear? I were best take a constable Thou hast struck au earl. Gro. Why so? Geo. Why, what care I? a poor man, that is true, Jen. Why, they being gentlemen's horses, may Is better than an earl, if he be false. stand Traitors reap no better favours at my hands. Ken. Ay, so methinks; but thou shalt dear | And, if king Edward will redress the same, aby this blow. Now, or never, lay hold on the Pinner. Enter all the Ambush. Geo. Stay, my lords, let us parley on these broils; Not Hercules against two, the proverb is, Nor I against so great a multitude. Had not your troops come marching as they did, I would have stopt your passage into London : But now I'll fly to secret policy. [Aside. Ken. What dost thou murmur, George? Geo. Marry this, my lord; I muse, if thou be Henry Momford, Kendall's earl, That thou wilt do poor George a Greene this wrong, Ever to match me with a troop of men. Ken. Why didst thou strike me then? self; Had you a man had served you long, Bon. A pardon, my lord, for this Pinner; For trust me, he speaketh like a man of worth. Ken. Well, George, Wilt thou leave Wakefield, and 12 wend with me; I'll freely put up all, and pardon thee. Geo. Ay, my lord, considering me one thing, You will leave these arms, and follow your good king. Ken. Why, George, I rise not against king But for the poor that is opprest by wrong; I will not offer him disparagement, I'll make thee captain of a hardy band, Ken. Why, it is a miraculous prophecy, and cannot fail. Geo. Well, my lord, you have almost turned me. Jenkin, come hither. 11 Aby this blow.-To aby, is to pay dear for, to suffer. So in Tom Tyler and his Wife, p. 19: "My neighbour and I might hap to abie, If we should so do, as he suffereth you." Churchyard's Challenge, p. 273: "O God forbid for mother's fault The children should abye : No graine of grudge, nor ground of guile, Midsummer's Night's Dream, A. 3. S. 2: "Thou shalt aby it." See also Mr Steevens's note on the last passage. 12 Wend-See Note to Tancred and Gismunda, A. 1. S. 3. vol. ii. p. 174. 13 And make the king vail bonnet to us both.] To vail bonnet, is a phrase which occurs in Edward ĦI. vol. 11. p. 321. and also in Edward 111. A. 4. S. 7. In all these places it means to stand uncovered as a mark of submission. Again, we find to vail flag, to vail cap, to vail top, in other writers of the time; and all these several modes of expression are intended to denote either inferiority or respect in the persons doing these several acts. |