“ But I’ll not fight if Daffodil be a tother side, that’s flat.
LANCELOT. Tis no such matter, man. Get weapons ready, and be at London ere the break of day: watch near the lodging of the Devonshire youth, but be unseen: and as he goes out, as he will go out, and that very early without doubt—
ARTICHOKE. What, would you have me draw upon him, as he goes in the street?
LANCELOT. Not for a world, man: into the fields; for to the field he goes, there to meet the desperate Flowerdale. Take thou the part of Oliver my son, for he shall be my son, and marry Lucy. Doest understand me, knave? ”

“ Sir Lancelot, I am to ride forth tomorrow. That way which I must ride, no man must deny me the sun; I would not by any particular man be denied common and general passage. If any one saith, Flowerdale, thou passest not this way: my answer is, I must either on or return, but return is not my word, I must on: if I cannot, then, make my way, nature hath done the last for me, and there’s the fine.
LANCELOT. Master Flowerdale, every man hath one tongue, and two ears: nature, in her building, is a most curious work-master. ”

“ LANCELOT.
O fie, Sir Arthur, press him? he is a man of reckoning.
WEATHERCOCK.
Aye, that he is, Sir Arthur, he hath the nobles,
The golden ruddocks he.
ARTHUR.
The fitter for the wars: and were he not
In favour with your worships, he should see,
That I have power to press so good as he.
OLIVER.
Chill stand to the trial, so chill.
FLOWERDALE. Aye, marry, shall he, press-cloth and karsie, white pot and drowsen broth: tut, tut, he cannot.
OLIVER. Well, sir, tho you see vlouten cloth and karsie, chee a zeen zutch a karsie coat wear out the town sick a zilken jacket, as thick a one you wear. ”

“ LANCELOT. He is, he is: fill, Daffodil, fill me some wine. Ha, what wears he on his arm? My daughter Lucy’s bracelet. Aye, tis the same.—Ha to you, Master Weathercock.
WEATHERCOCK. I thank you, sir: Here, Daffodil, an honest fellow and a tall thou art. Well, I’ll take my leave, good knight, and hope to have you and all your daughters at my poor house; in good sooth I must.
LANCELOT. Thanks, Master Weathercock, I shall be bold to trouble you, be sure. ”

“ I should have his daughter Lucy, and for scurvy ten pound, a man shall lose nine hundred three-score and odd pounds, and a daily friend beside. By this hand, Uncle, tis true.
UNCLE.
Why, any thing is true for ought I know.
FLOWERDALE. To see now! why, you shall have my bond, Uncle, or Tom White’s, James Brock’s, or Nick Hall’s: as good rapier and dagger men, as any be in England. Let’s be damned if we do not pay you: the worst of us all will not damn ourselves for ten pound. A pox of ten pound! ”

“ FRANCES. God be with you, father, God be with you, Sir Arthur, Master Oliver, and Master Weathercock, sister, God be with you all: God be with you, father, God be with you every one.
[Exeunt Civet and Frances.]
WEATHERCOCK.
Why, how now, Sir Arthur? all a mort? Master Oliver,
how now man?
Cheerly, Sir Lancelot, and merrily say,
Who can hold that will away?
LANCELOT.
Aye, she is gone indeed, poor girl, undone.
But when they’ll be self-willed, children must smart.
ARTHUR.
But, sir, that she is wronged, you are the chiefest cause,
Therefore tis reason, you redress her wrong. ”

“ FATHER.
Robbed! by whom?
ARTICHOKE.
Marry, by none but by Flowerdale; he is turned thief.
CIVET. By my faith, but that is not well; but God be praised for your escape. Will you draw near, sister?
FATHER. Sirrah, come hither. Would Flowerdale, he that was my master, a robbed you? I prithee, tell me true.
ARTICHOKE.
Yes, yfaith, even that Flowerdale, that was thy master.
FATHER. Hold thee, there is a French crown, and speak no more of this.
ARTICHOKE.
Not I, not a word.—Now do I smell knavery:
In every purse Flowerdale takes, he is half:
And gives me this to keep counsel.—No, not a word I. ”

“ Marry, may you, and overthrow him too.
LANCELOT.
Nay, that’s not so, I may chance be soft,
And sentence past with him.
WEATHERCOCK.
Believe me, so he may, therefore take heed.
LANCELOT.
Well, howsoever, yet I will have warrants:
In prison, or at liberty, all’s one:
You will help to serve them, Master Weathercock?
[Exit Omnes.]
SCENE II. A street in London. [Enter Flowerdale.]
FLOWERDALE. A plague of the devil! the devil take the dice! The dice, and the devil, and his dam go together. Of all my hundred golden angels, I have not left me one denier: A pox of come a five, what shall I do? ”

“ LANCELOT.
Out, hypocrite. I charge thee, trust him not.
LUCY.
Not trust him? by the hopes of after bliss,
I know no sorrow can be compared to his.
LANCELOT.
Well, since thou wert ordained to beggary,
Follow thy fortune; I defy thee, I.
OLIVER. Ywood che were so well ydoussed as was ever white cloth in a tocking mill, and che ha not made me weep.
FATHER.
If he hath any grace, he’ll now repent.
ARTHUR.
It moves my heart.
WEATHERCOCK.
By my troth, I must weep, I can not choose.
UNCLE.
None but a beast would such a maid misuse. ”

“ DELIA.
And you’ll do this with forty pound a year?
CIVET.
Aye, and a better penny, sister.
FRANCES.
Sister, you forget that at cuckolds-haven.
CIVET.
By my troth, well remembered, Frances;
I’ll give thee that to buy thee pins.
DELIA.
Keep you the rest for points: alas the day.
Fools shall have wealth, tho all the world say nay:
Come, brother, will you in? dinner stays for us.
CIVET.
Aye, good sister, with all my heart.
FRANCES.
Aye, by my troth, Tom, for I have a good stomach.
CIVET.
And I the like, sweet Frances. No, sister, do not think
I’ll go beyond my bounds. ”

“ Lucy, look on me that am as light as air.
LUCY.
Yfaith, I like not shadows, bubbles, breath
I hate a light a love, as I hate death.
LANCELOT.
Girl, hold thee there: look on this Devonshire lad:
Fat, fair, and lovely, both in purse and person.
OLIVER. Well, sir, cham as the Lord hath made me. You know me well, uyine: cha have three-score pack a karsie, and black-em hal, and chief credit beside, and my fortunes may be so good as an others, zo it may.
LUCY. [Aside to Arthur.] Tis you I love, whatsoever others say. ”

“ WEATHERCOCK.
By my fai’ and so he is, and a proper man.
LANCELOT.
Aye, proper, enough, had he good qualities.
WEATHERCOCK.
Aye, marry, there’s the point, Sir Lancelot,
For there’s an old saying:
Be he rich, or be he poor,
Be he high, or be he low:
Be he born in barn or hall,
Tis manners makes the man and all.
LANCELOT.
You are in the right, Master Weathercock.
[Enter Monsieur Civet.]
CIVET. Soul, I think I am sure crossed, or witched with an owl. I have haunted them, Inn after Inn, booth after booth, yet cannot find them: ha, yonder they are; that’s she. ”

“ OLIVER.
A vig for all my vrens! doest thou tell me of my vrens?
LANCELOT.
No more, good master Oliver; no more,
Sir Arthur. And, maiden, here in the sight
Of all your suitors, every man of worth,
I’ll tell you whom I fainest would prefer
To the hard bargain of your marriage bed.—
Shall I be plain among you, gentlemen?
ARTHUR.
Aye, sir, tis best. ”

“ By the Lord, in truth, Uncle—
UNCLE.
In truth would a served, cousin, without the Lord.
FLOWERDALE. By your leave, Uncle, the Lord is the Lord of truth. A couple of rascals at the gate set upon me for my purse.
UNCLE.
You never come, but you bring a brawl in your mouth.
FLOWERDALE.
By my truth, Uncle, you must needs lend me ten pound.
UNCLE.
Give my cousin some small beer here.
FLOWERDALE. Nay, look you, you turn it to a jest now: by this light, I should ride to Croyden fair, to meet Sir Lancelot Spurcock. ”

“ God damn us, if we lost not every penny, within an hour after thou wert gone.
FLOWERDALE.
I prithee lend me so much as will pay for my supper.
I’ll pay you again, as I am a gentleman.
RAFE.
Yfaith, we have not a farthing, not a mite:
I wonder at it, Master Flowerdale,
You will so carelessly undo yourself.
Why, you will lose more money in an hour,
Than any honest man spend in a year. ”

“ O for that knave, that villain Daffodil would have done
good service. But to thee.
ARTICHOKE. Aye, this is the tricks of all you gentlemen, when you stand in need of a good fellow. O for that Daffodil, O where is he? but if you be angry, and it be but for the wagging of a straw, then: out a doors with the knave, turn the coat over his ears. This is the humour of you all.
LANCELOT.
O for that knave, that lusty Daffodil.
ARTICHOKE. Why, there tis now: our year’s wages and our vails will scarce pay for broken swords and bucklers that we use in our quarrels. ”

“ FRANCES. Ha, ha, sister, there you played bo-peep with Tom. What shall I give her toward household? Sister Delia, shall I give her my fan?
DELIA.
You were best ask your husband.
FRANCES.
Shall I, Tom?
CIVET. Aye, do, Frances; I’ll buy thee a new one, with a longer handle.
FRANCES.
A russet one, Tom.
CIVET.
Aye, with russet feathers.
FRANCES. Here, sister, there’s my fan towad household, to keep you warm.
LUCY.
I thank you, sister.
WEATHERCOCK. Why this is well, and toward fair Lucy’s stock, here’s forty shillings: and forty good shillings more, I’ll give her, marry. ”

“ FLOWERDALE. Who’s here? my Uncle, and my man Kester? By the mass, tis they. How do you, Uncle, how dost thou, Kester? By my troth, Uncle, you must needs lend me some money: the poor gentlewoman my wife, so God help me, is very sick. ”

“ Indeed she will not marry, I suppose.
WEATHERCOCK.
The more fool she.
LANCELOT.
What, is it folly to love Chastity?
WEATHERCOCK.
No, mistake me not, Sir Lancelot,
But tis an old proverb, and you know it well,
That women dying maids lead apes in hell.
LANCELOT.
That’s a foolish proverb, and a false.
WEATHERCOCK.
By the mass I think it be, and therefore let it go:
But who shall marry with mistress Frances?
FRANCES.
By my troth, they are talking of marrying me, sister.
LUCY.
Peace, let them talk;
Fools may have leave to prattle as they walk.
DAFFODIL.
Sentesses still, sweet mistress ”

“ OLIVER. Sfoot, man, and you be ne’er zutch a commander, should a spoke with my vrens before I should agone, so should.
ARTHUR. Content yourself, man, my authority will stretch to press so good a man as you.
OLIVER.
Press me? I deuve ye, press scoundrels, and thy messels:
Press me! chee scorns thee, yfaith: For seest thee, here’s
a worshipful knight knows cham not to be pressed by thee.
[Enter Sir Lancelot, Weathercock, young Flowerdale, old
Flowerdale, Lucy, Frances.]
LANCELOT.
Sir Arthur, welcome to Lewsome, welcome by my troth.
What’s the matter, man? why are you vexed? ”

“ LANCELOT.
Yes, marry, shall she: Delia, make you ready.
DELIA. I am ready, sir. I will first go to Greenwich, from thence to my cousin Chesterfields, and so to London.
CIVET. It shall suffice, good sister Delia, it shall suffice, but fail us not, good sister; give order to cooks, and others, for I would not have my sweet Frances to soil her fingers.
FRANCES. No, by my troth, not I: a gentlewoman, and a married gentlewoman too, to be companions to cooks and kitchen-boys! not I, yfaith: I scorn that. ”

“ I myself ran an unbridled course till thirty, nay, almost till forty;—well, you see how I am: for vice, once looked into with the eyes of discretion, and well-balanced with the weights of reason, the course past seems so abominable, that the Landlord of himself, which is the heart of the body, will rather entomb himself in the earth, or seek a new Tenant to remain in him:—which once settled, how much better are they that in their youth have known all these vices, and left it, than those that knew little, and in their age runs into it? ”

“ FLOWERDALE. Nay, I do not engage my reputation there is not. You shall not bind me to any condition of hardness: but if there be anything between us, then there is; if there be not, then there is not: be or be not, all is one.
LANCELOT. I do perceive by this, that there is something between you, and I am very sorry for it.
FLOWERDALE. You may be deceived, Sir Lancelot. The Italian hath a pretty paying, Questo—I have forgot it too, tis out of my head, but in my translation, ift hold, thus: If thou hast a friend, keep him; if a foe, trip him. ”

“ FRANCES. O, then, thou canst tell how to help me to cheeks and ears?
LUCY.
Yes, mistress, very vell.
FATHER. Cheeks and ears! why, mistress Frances, want you cheeks and ears? methinks you have very fair ones.
FRANCES.
Thou art a fool indeed. Tom, thou knowest what I mean.
CIVET. Aye, aye, Kester, tis such as they wear a their heads. I prithee, Kit, have her in, and shew her my house.
FATHER.
I will, sir. Come, Tanikin.
FRANCES.
O Tom, you have not bussed me today, Tom.
CIVET.
No, Frances, we must not kiss afore folks. God save me,
Frances,
[Enter Delia, and Artichoke.] ”

“ Sir, I beseech you to take compassion of a man, one whose Fortunes have been better than at this instant they seem to be: but if I might crave of you some such little portion, as would bring me to my friends, I should rest thankful, until I had requited so great a courtesy. ”

“ God bless you, fair mistress. Now would it please you, gentlewoman, to look into the wants of a poor Gentle-Man, a younger brother, I doubt not but God will treble restore it back again: one that never before this time demanded penny, halfpenny, nor farthing.
CITIZEN’S WIFE. Stay, Alexander. Now, by my troth, a very proper man, and tis great pity: hold, my friend, there’s all the money I have about me, a couple of shillings, and God bless thee. ”