Here providence and charity play such parts, 1 Mast. Nor is it seen, That the whip draws blood here, to cool the spleen Enter ORLANDO before BELLAFRont. That it may sound like music in the ear 47 Your Bridewell, &c.-We have here a curious specimen of the licence which ancient writers used to allow themselves of introducing facts and circumstances peculiar to one country into another. Every thing here said of Bridewell is applicable to the house of correction which goes by that name in London.Changing the names of the duke and his son to those of Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth, all the events mentioned will be found to have happened in the English Bridewell. The situation of the place is also the same. In the time of Henry the Eighth, princes were lodged there; part of it being built in the year 1522, for the reception of Charles the Fifth, whose nobles resided in it. In 1528, Cardinal Campieus had his first audience there; and after Henry's death, Edward the Sixth, in the seventh year of his reign, 1552, gave to the Citizens of London this his palace for the purposes abovementioned. complete the parallel, it was endowed with land, late belonging to the Savoy, to the amount of 700 marks a year, with all the bedding and furniture of that hospital. See Stowe's Survey, Strype's edit. 1721, vol. I. p. 264. There is also the like anachronism in the First Part of this Play concerning Bethlem Hospital. I cannot discover that there is any place for the reception of lunatics, in the city of Milan, distinguished by that name. То Duke. Are your two servants ready? Orl. My two pedlars are pack'd together, my good lord. Duke. Tis well; this day in judgement shall be spent, I had broke his neck for't: but the poor salmontrout is now in the net. Hip. And now the law must teach you to fly high, Math. Right, my lord, and then may you fly Vice, like a wound lanced, mends my punish-low; no more words; a mouse, mum, you are Lod. These-I told him his lark whom he loved was a Bridewell-bird; he's mad that this cage should hold her, and is come to let her out. Duke. 'Tis excellent: away go call him hither. [Exit LODOVICO. Enter one of the Governors of the House, BELLAFRONT after him with MATHEO, after him the Constable. Enter at another door LODOVICO and HIPOLITO: ORLANDO steps forth, and brings in two Pedlars. Duke. You are to us a stranger, worthy lord, Tis strange to see you here. Hip It is most fit, That where the sun goes, Attomyes follow it. Duke. Attomyes neither shape nor honour hear; Be you yourself a sunbeam to shine clear. accusation. Math. I'll hear none: I fly high in that rather than kites sbould seize upon me, and pick out mine eyes to my face, I'll strike my talons through mine own heart first, and spit my blood in theirs; I am here for shriving those two fools of their sinful pack; when those jack daws have caw'd over me, then must I cry guilty, or not guilty; the law has work enough already, and therefore I'll put no work of mine into his hands, the hangman shall ha't first, I did pluck those ganders, did rob them. Duke. 'Tis well done to confess. Math. Confess and be hanged, and then I fly high; is't not so? that for that; a gallows is the worst rub that a good bowler can meet with; I stumbled against such a post, else this night I had played the part of a true son in these days, undone my father-in-law, with him would I have run at leap-frog, and come over his gold, though stopped. Bel. Be good to my poor husband, dear my lords. Math. Ass, why shouldst thou pray them to be good to me, when no man here is good to one another? Duke. Did any hand work in this theft but yours? Math. O yes, my lord, yes:-the hangman has never one son at a birth, his children always come by couples; though I cannot give the old dog, my father, a bone to gnaw, the daughter shall be sure of a choak-pear.-Yes, my lord, there was one more that fiddled my fine pedlars, and that was my wife. Bel. Alas, I? Orl. My lords Bel. My lords, (fellow give me speech) if my Let not these spare me, but tell truth; no, see Orl. A good child, hang thine own father. Duke. Old fellow, was thy hand in too? Orl. My hand was in the pye, my lord, I confess it; my mistress, I see, will bring me to the gallows, and so leave me; but I'll not leave her so: I had rather hang in a woman's company, than in a man's; because if we should go to hell together, I should scarce be let in, for all the devils are afraid to have any women come amongst them; as I am true thief, she neither cousented to this felony, nor knew of it. Duke. What fury prompts thee on to kill thy wife? Math. Its my humour, sir; 'tis a foolish bagpipe that I make myself merry with; why should I eat hemp-seed at the hangman's thirteen-pence half-penny ordinary, and have this whore laugh at me as I swing, as I totter? Math. 48 A barber's cittern for every serving- Math. I cannot talk, sir, and tell of your rems, and your rees, and your whirligigs, and devices; but, my lord, 1 found them like sparrows in one nest, billing together, and bulling of me, I took them in bed, was ready to kill them, was up to stab her Hip. Close thy rank jaws: pardon me, I am vexed, Thou art a villain, a malicious devil, Deep as the place where thou art lost, thou lyest; I'll through, and thou shalt see I'll through un- When thou shalt perish in it. Enter INFELICE. Orl. [He discovers himself.] Say thou art not a whore, and that's more than fifteen women amongst five hundred dare swear without lying: this shalt thou say, no let me say't for thee; thy husband's a kuave, this lord's an honest man; thou art no punk, this lady's a right lady. Pacheco is a thief as his master is, but old Orlando is as true a man as thy father is: I have seen you fly high, sir, and I have seen you fly low, sir; and to keep you from the gallows, sir, a blue coat have I worn, and a thief did I turn ; mine own men are the pedlars, my twenty pound did fly high, sir, your wife's 's gown did fly low, sir: whither fly you now, sir? you have scaped the gallows, to the devil you Duke. Your father has the true physician played. 'Tis a good sign when our cheeks blush at ill. Inf. Alas, good Candido. [Exit Constable. wrong hence. here? Can. And I to bear wrong here with patience. Yet bought I them upon a gentleman's word; Being crack'd, which does his estimation hold. Because I'm with bad people? you cure the injury. Enter Constable, after them BOTS, after him two Hip. He seems a soldier? Bots. I am what I seem, sir, one of fortune's bastards, a soldier, and a gentleman, and am brought in here with master Constable's band of Billmen, because they face me down that I live, like those that keep bowling-alleys, by the sins of the people, in being 50 a squire of the body. Hip. Oh, an apple-squire. Bots. Yes, sir, that degree of scurvy squires, and that I am maintained by the best part that 48 A barber's citt rn-See Note 13 to The Mayor of Quinbrugh, A. 3. S. 3. Again, in More Fools yet, by Roger Sharpe, 4to, 1610: "Here comes old Spunge the barber with his lute." 49 A beetle. A mallet. Malleus ligneus. Barret's Alvearie. 50 A squire of the body-A squire of the body, says Mr Steevens, (Note on the First Part of Henry IV. vol. V. p. 260. edit. 1778,) signified originally the attendant on a knight; the person who bore his headpiece, spear, and shield. It afterwards became a cant term for a pimp, and is so used here. Again, in The Witty fair one, by Shirley, 1633: Fora procuress; here comes the squire of her mistress body. is commonly in a woman, by the worst players of those parts, but I am known to all this company. Lod. My lord, 'tis true, we all know him, 'tis lieutenant Bots. Duke. Bots, and where have you served, Bots? Bots. In most of your hottest services in the Low Countries; at the Groyne I was wounded in this thigh, and halted upon't, but 'tis now sound. In Cleveland I mist but little, having the bridge of my nose broken down with two great stones, as I was scaling a fort: I have been tried, sir, too, in Gelderland, and scaped hardly there from being blown up at a breach: I was fired, and lay i'the surgeon's hands for't till the fall of the leaf following. Hip. All this may be, and yet you no soldier. Bots. No soldier, sir? I hope these are services that your proudest commanders do venture upon, and never come off sometimes. Duke. Well, sir, because you say you are a soldier, I'll use you like a gentleman; make room there, Plant him amongst you, we shall have anon Strange hawks fly here before us; if none light on you, You shall with freedom take your flight; 1 Mast. The pandar is more dangerous to a state, Than is the common thief; and though our laws Lie heavier on the thief, yet that the pandar May know the hangman's ruff should fit him too, Therefore he's set to beat hemp. Duke. This does savour Of justice; basest slaves to basest labour. Inf. Methinks this place 1 Mast. Some it turns good; But, as some men whose hands are once in blood, Duke. Let them be marshal'd in; be covered all, Fellows, now to make the scene more comical. noses. Enter two of the Masters; a Constable after them, then DOROTHEA TARGET, brave; after her two Beadles, the one with a wheel, 51 the other with a blue gown. Lod. Are rot you a bride, forsooth? Car. He wo'd know if these be not your Bride men. Dor. Vuh, yes, sir; and look ye, do you see the bridelaces that I give at my wedding will serve to tie rosemary to both your coffins when you come from hanging-Scab! Orl. Fie, Punk, fie, fie, fie. Dor. Out, you stale stinking head of garlic, foh, at my heels. Orl. My head's cloven. Hip. O, let the gentlewoman alone, she's going to shrift. Ast. Nay, to do penance. Car. Ay, ay, go, Punk, go to the cross and be whipt. Dor. Marry mew, marry muff, marry hang you goodman dog: whipt? do ye take me for a base spittle whore? in troth, gentlemen, you wear the clothes of gentlemen, but you carry not the minds of gentlemen, to abuse a gentlewoman of my_fashion. Lod. Fashion! pox a your fashions, art not a whore? Dor. Goodman slave. 51 A wheel. See Note 44, p. 588. after him PENELOPE WHOREHOUND, like a Ci-had been worse. Hip. Was she ever here before? 1 Mast. Five times at least; Pen. I have worn many a costly gown, but I was never thus guarded with blue coats, and bea-Wrung, and wept out her bail. dles, and constables, and And thus if men come to her, have her eyes Car. Alas, fair mistress, spoil not thus your eyes. if Pen. Oh, sweet sir, I fear the spoiling of other places about me that are dearer than my eyes; you be gentlemen, if you be men, or ever came of a woman, pity my case, stand to me, stick to me, good sir, you are an old man. Orl. Hang not on me I pr'ythee, old trees bear no such fruit. Pen. Will you bail me, gentlemen? Pen. No; God is my judge, sir, I am in for no debts: I paid my tailor for this gown, the last five shillings a week that was behind, yesterday. Duke. What is your name, I pray? Pen. Penelope Whorehound, I come of the Whorehounds. How does lieutenant Bots ? Omnes. A ha, Bots! Bots. A very honest woman, as I'm a soldier, a pox Bots ye. Pen. I was never in this pickle before; and yet, if I go among citizens' wives they jeer at me; if I go among the 52 loose-bodied gowns, they cry a pox on me, because I go civilly attired, and swear their trade was a good trade, till such as I am took it out of their hands: good lieutenant Bots, speak to these captains to bail me. 1 Mast. Begging for bail still? you are a trim Omnes. Bots, you know her? Bots. Is there any gentleman here, that knows not a whore, and is he a hair the worse for that? Duke. Is she a city-dame, she's so attired? 1 Mast. No, my good lord, that's only but the vail To her loose body; I have seen her here In gayer masking suits: as several sauces Give one dish several tastes, so change of habits In whores is a bewitching art; to-day she's all in Colours to besot gallants, then in modest black, To catch the citizen, and this from their examinations Drawn; now shall you see a monster both in shape And nature quite from these, that sheds no tear, 1 Mast. Then behold a swaggering whore. Orl. Keep your ground, Bots. Bots. I do but traverse to spy advantage how to arm myself. Enter two Masters first, after them the Constable, your hands, hold, 52 Loose-bodied gowns.-From several passages in contemporary writers, a loose-bodied gown appears to have been the habit of a courtezan. So in More Fooles yet, by Roger Sharpe, 4to, 1610: "Briscus will turne good husband, marry fye, 53 Set her to her chare.-i. e. Her task-work. So in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra: commanded By such poor passions as the maid that milks, And does the meanest chares. S. 54 A beadle beating a bason.-In Ben Jonson's New Inn, A. 4. S. 3., Latimer says,-" And let her foot man beat the bason afore her." On which Mr Whalley observes, that it alludes "to the custom of old VOL. I. 4 F |
