Two noble partners with you; the old duchess of Norfolk, And lady marquis Dorset; Will these please you? Once more, my lord of Winchester, I charge you, Embrace, and love this man. Gar. With a true heart, And brother-love, I do it. Cran. And let heaven Witness, how dear I hold this confirmation. K.Hen. Good man, those joyful tears shew thy true heart. The common voice, I see, is verified Of thee, which says thus, Do my lord of Canterbury SCENE. III. [Exeunt. The Palace Yard. Noise and tumult within: Enter Porter and his Man. Port. You'll leave your noise anon, ye rascals: Do you take the court for Paris-garden ?6 ye rude slaves, leave your gaping.7 Within. Good master porter, I belong to the larder. Port. Belong to the gallows, and be hanged, you rogue : Is this a place to roar in?-Fetch me a dozen crab-tree staves,and strong ones; these are but switches to them.-I'll scratch your heads: You must be seeing christenings? Do you look for ale and cakes here, you rude rascals? Man. Pray, sir, be patient; 'tis as much impossible (Unless we sweep them from the door with cannons,) To scatter them, as 'tis to make them sleep On May-day morning; which will never be : We may as well push against Paul's, as stir them. spoons were called apostle spoons, because the figures of the apostles were carved on the tops of the handles. Such as were at once opulent and generous, gave the whole twelve; those who were either more moderately rich or liberal, escaped at the expence of the four evangelists; or even sometimes contented themselves with presenting one spoon only, which exhibited the figure of any saint, in honour of whom the child received its name. STEE. [6] The bear-garden of that time. JOHNS. [7] Gaping-that is, shouting or roaring; a sense which this word has now almost lost. REED.- -Such being one of the ancient senses of the verb-to gape, perhaps the "gaping pig" mentioned by Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, has hitherto been inisinterpreted.. STEEV. [8] It was anciently the custom for all ranks of people to go out a maying on the first of May. STEEV, Port. How got they in, and be hang'd? Man. Alas, I know not; How gets the tide in ? Port. You did nothing, sir. Man. I am not Sampson, nor sir Guy, nor Colbrand, 9 to mow them down before me: but, if I spared any, that had a head to hit, either young or old, he or she, cuckold or cuckold-maker, let me never hope to see a chine again; and that I would not for a cow, God save her. Within. Do you hear, master porter? Port. I shall be with you presently, good master puppy. -Keep the door close, sirrah, Man. What would you have me do? Port. What should you do, but knock them down by the dozens? Is this Moorfields to muster in ? or have we some strange Indian with the great tool come to court, the women so besiege us? Bless me, what a fry of fornication is at the door! On my christian conscience, this one christening will beget a thousand; here will be father, god-father, and all together. Man. The spoons will be the bigger, sir. There is a fellow somewhat near the door, he should be a brazier by his face; for, o'my conscience, twenty of the dog-days now reign in's nose; all that stand about him are under the line, they need no other penance. That fire-drake 3 did I hit three times on the head, and three times was his nose discharg'd against me; he stands there, like a mortarpiece, to blow us. There was a haberdasher's wife of small wit near him, that railed upon me till her pink'd porringer fell off her head, for kindling such a combustion in the state. I miss'd the meteor once, and hit that woman, who cry'd out, clubs !4 when I might see from far some forty truncheoneers draw to her succour, which 191 Of Guy of Warwick every one has heard. Colbrand was the Danish giant, whom Guy subdued at Winchester. Their combat is very elaborately described by Drayton, in his Polyolbion. JOHNS. [1] The train-bands of the city were exercised in Moorfields. JOHNS. [2] A brazier signifies a man that manufactures brass, and a reservoir for charcoal occasionally heated to convey warmth. Both these senses are understood. JOHNS. [3] A fire-drake is thus described by Bullokar, 1616: "Firedrake. A fire sometimes seen flying in the night, like a dragon. Common people think it a spirit that keepeth some treasure hid; but philosophers affirme it to be a great unequal exhalation, inflamed betweene two clouds, the one hot, the other cold, which is the reason that it also smoketh; the middle part whereof, according to the proportion of the hot cloud, being greater than the rest maketh it seem like a bellie, and both ends like to a head and taile." MAL [4] The outcry for assistance, upon any quarrel or tumult, WHALLEY, were the hope of the Strand, where she was quartered. They fell on; I made good my place; at length they came to the broomstaff with me, I defied them still; when suddenly a file of boys behind them, loose shot, delivered such a shower of pebbles, that I was fain to draw mine honour in, and let them win the work: The devil was amongst them, I think, surely. Port. These are the youths that thunder at a playhouse, and fight for bitten apples; that no audience, but the Tribulation of Tower-Hill,5 or the limbs of Limehouse, their dear brothers, are able to endure. I have some of them in Limbo Patrum, and there they are like to dance these three days; besides the running banquet of two beadles,7 that is to come. Enter the Lord Chamberlain. Cham. Mercy o'me, what a multitude are here! Your faithful friends o'the suburbs? We shall have We are but men ; and what so many may do, Cham. As I live, If the king blame me for't, I'll lay ye all By the heels, and suddenly; and on your heads Clap round fines, for neglect: You are lazy knaves; Ye should do service. Hark, the trumpets sound: A Marshalsea, shall hold you play these two months. Man. You great fellow, stand close up, or I'll make your head ake. Port. You i'the camblet, get up o'the rail; I'll pick you o'er the pales else.9 [Exeunt. [5] I suspect this to have been a puritanical meeting-house. JOHNS. [6] He means in confinement. In limbo continues to be a cant phrase, in the same sense, at this day. MAL. [7] A public whipping. JOHNS. [8] A bumbard is an ale-barrel; to bait bumbards is to tipple, to lie at the spigot. JOHNS, [9] To pick is to pitch. MAL. SCENE IV. The Palace. Enter trumpets, sounding; then two Aldermen, Lord Mayor, Garter, CRANMER, Duke of NORFOLK, with his marshal's staff, Duke of SUFFOLK, two Noblemen bearing great standing bowls for the christening gifts; then four Noblemen bearing a canopy, under which the Duchess of NORFOLK, godmother, bearing the child, richly habited in a mantle, c. Train borne by a Lady: then follows the Marchioness of DORSET, the other godmother, and Ladies. The troop pass once about the stage, and Garter speaks. Gart. Heaven, from thy endless goodness, send prosperòus life, long, and ever happy, to the high and mighty princess of England, Elizabeth! Flourish. Enter King, and Train. Cran. [Kneeling.] And to your royal grace and the good queen, My noble partners, and myself, thus pray ; K.Hen. Thank you, good lord archbishop ; Cran. Elizabeth. K.Hen. Stand up, lord. [The King kisses the child. With this kiss take my blessing: God protect thee ! Into whose hands I give thy life. Cran. Amen. K.Hen. My noble gossips, ye have been too prodigal : I thank ye heartily; so shall this lady, When she has so much English. Cran. Let me speak, sir, For Heaven now bids me ; and the words I utter : Than this pure soul shall be all princely graces, Shall still be doubled on her: truth shall nurse her, Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her: She shall be lov'd and fear'd: her own shall bless her : And hang their heads with sorrow. Good grows with her: As great in admiration as herself; So shall she leave her blessedness to one, (When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness,) Who, from the sacred ashes of her honour, Shall star-like rise, as great in fame as she was, Shall be, and make new nations: He shall flourish, To all the plains about him :-Our children's children K.Hen. Thou speakest wonders.] Cran. She shall be, to the happiness of England, To the ground, and all the world shall mourn her. Thou hast made me now a man ; never, before This oracle of comfort has so pleas'd me, To see what this child does, and praise my Maker.- [2] These lines, to the interruption by the king, seem to have been inserted at some revisal of the play, after the accession of king James. JOHNS. |