Hau. He has given it you, Centaure, i' faith. But do you hear, master Morose? a jest will not absolve you in this manner. You that have suck'd the milk of the court, and from thence have been brought up to the very strong meats and wine of it; been a courtier from the biggen to the night-cap, as we may say, and you to offend in such a high point of ceremony as this, and let your nuptials want all marks of solemnity! How much plate have you lost to-day, (if you had but regarded your profit,) what gifts, what friends, through your mere rusticity! Mor. Madam 2 Hau. Pardon me, sir, I must insinuate your errors to you; no gloves? no garters? no scarves? no epithalaniium? no masque? Daw. Yes, madam, I'll make an epithalamium, I promise my mistress; I have begun it already: will your ladyship hear it? Hau. Ay, good Jack Daw. Mor. Will it please your ladyship command a chamber, and be private with your friend ? you shall have your choice of rooms to retire to after my whole house is yours. I know it hath been your ladyship's errand into the city at other times, however now you have been unhappily diverted upon me; but I shall be loth to break any honourable custom of your ladyship's. And therefore, good madam▬▬ Epi. Come, you are a rude bridegroom, to entertain ladies of honour in this fashion. Cen. He is a rude groom indeed. True. By that light you deserve to be grafted, and have your horns reach from one side of the From the biggen to the night-cap, as we may say.] i. e. from infancy to age. See p. 315. island to the other.-Do not mistake me, sir; I but speak this to give the ladies some heart again, not for any malice to you. Mor. Is this your bravo, ladies? True. As God [shall] help me, if you utter such another word, I'll take mistress bride in, and begin to you in a very sad cup; do you see? Go to, know your friends, and such as love you. Enter CLERIMONT, followed by a number of musicians. Cler. By your leave, ladies. Do you want any music? I have brought you variety of noises.3 Play, sirs, all of you. [Aside to the musicians, who strike up all together. 3 Mor. O, a plot, a plot, a plot, a plot, upon me! this day I shall be their anvil to work on, they will grate me asunder. 'Tis worse than the noise of a saw. Cler. No, they are hair, rosin, and guts: I can give you the receipt. True. Peace, boys! Cler. Play! I say. True. Peace, rascals! You see who's your friend now, sir: take courage, put on a martyr's resolution. Mock down all their attemptings with patience: 'tis but a day, and I would suffer heroically. Should an ass exceed me in fortitude? no. You betray your infirmity with your hanging dull ears, and make them insult: bear up bravely, and constantly. [La Foole passes over the stage as a sewer, followed by servants carrying dishes, and mistress Ötter.]-Look you here, sir, 3 I have brought you variety of noises.] i. e. several little bands of musicians. See above, p. 402. what honour is done you unexpected, by your nephew; a wedding-dinner come, and a knightsewer before it, for the more reputation: and fine mistress Otter, your neighbour, in the rump or tail of it. Mor. Is that Gorgon, that Medusa come! hide me, hide me. True. I warrant you, sir, she will not transform you. Look upon her with a good courage. Pray you entertain her, and conduct your guests in. No! Mistress bride, will you entreat in the ladies? your bridegroom is so shame-faced, here. Epi. Will it please your ladyship, madam? Hau. With the benefit of your company, mis tress. Epi. Servant, pray you perform your duties. Mav. Very prettily, absolutely well. Mav. You shall pardon me, mistress Otter. Mav. But not in ordinary. Mrs. Ott. But I am. Mav. We'll dispute that within. [Exeunt Ladies. Cler. Would this had lasted a little longer. True. And that they had sent for the heralds. Enter captain OTTER. -Captain Otter! what news? Ott. I have brought my bull, bear, and horse, in private, and yonder are the trumpeters without, and the drum, gentlemen. [The drum and trumpets sound within. Mor. O, O, O! Ott. And we will have a rouse in each of them, anon, for bold Britons, i'faith. [They sound again Mor. O, O, O! Omnes. Follow, follow, follow! [Exit hastily. [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE I. A Room in Morose's House. Enter TRUEWIT and CLERIMONT. True. Was there ever poor bridegroom so tormented? or man, indeed? Cler. I have not read of the like in the chronicles of the land. True. Sure, he cannot but go to a place of rest, after all this purgatory. Cler. He may presume it, I think. True. The spitting, the coughing, the laughter, the neezing, the farting, dancing, noise of the music, and her masculine and loud commanding, and urging the whole family, makes him think he has married a fury." 4 And we will have a rouse in each of them,] A rouse, it may be just necessary to observe, is a full glass, a bumper, and was usually drank to some toast. See more of this in Massinger, Vol. 1. 237. Whalley justly observes that this scene is conducted with consummate art and judgment: the gradual accumulation and swell of the several noises, from the speaking of Epicœne to the grand finale, or chorus of boisterous shouts, drums, and trumpets, which drives Morose off the stage, is highly comic, and, in action, must be singularly amusing. 5 He has married a fury.] This, with what precedes it, is Cler. And she carries it up bravely. True. Ay, she takes any occasion to speak: that's the height on't. Cler. And how soberly Dauphine labours to satisfy him, that it was none of his plot ! True. And has almost brought him to the faith, in the article. Here he comes.- Enter sir DAUPHINE. Where is he now? what's become of him, Dauphine? Daup. O, hold me up a little, I shall go away in the jest else." He has got on his whole nest of night-caps, and lock'd himself up in the top of the house, as high as ever he can climb from the noise. I peep'd in at a cranny, and saw him sitting over a cross-beam of the roof, like him on the sadler's horse in Fleet-street, upright: and he will sleep there. Cler. But where are your collegiates? Daup. Withdrawn with the bride in private. True. O, they are instructing her in the college-grammar. If she have grace with them, she knows all their secrets instantly. Cler. Methinks the lady Haughty looks well to-day, for all my dispraise of her in the moraing. I think, I shall come about to thee again, Truewit. True Believe it, I told you right. Women ought to repair the losses, time and years have from Libanius: ἁπανα παλαχοθεν, ἥνικα ἡγεμην ταυτην την εξιννυν, %. T. a. See p. 303. "Daup. O, hold me up a little, I shall go away in the jest else.] I shall faint, or fall down with laughing. WHAL. Is it not rather, I shall expire in my fit, i. c. die with laughing? |