Car. A good motion. We'll e'en have an household dinner, and let the fiddlers go scrape : let the bride and bridegroom dance at night together; no matter for the guests:-to-morrow, Sue, to-morrow. Shall's to dinner now?

Thor. We are on all sides pleased, I hope.

Sus. Pray Heaven I may deserve the blessing sent me!

Now my heart's settled.

Frank. So is mine.

Car. Your marriage-money shall be received before your wedding-shoes can be pulled on. Blessing on you both!

Frank. (Aside.) No man can hide his shame

from Heaven that views him;

In vain he flees whose destiny pursues him.'

[Exeunt.

!

ACT II.-SCENE I.

The Fields near Edmonton.

Enter ELIZABETH SAWYER, gathering sticks. Saw. And why on me? why should the envious world

Throw all their scandalous malice upon me? 'Cause I am poor, deform'd, and ignorant,

And like a bow buckled and bent together,

1 Thus far the hand of Ford is visible in every line. Of the Act which follows, much may be set down, without hesitation, to the credit of Decker.

By some more strong in mischiefs than myself,
Must I for that be made a common sink,
For all the filth and rubbish of men's tongues
To fall and run into? Some call me Witch,
And being ignorant of myself, they go
About to teach me how to be one; urging,

That my bad tongue (by their bad usage made so)
Forespeaks their cattle, doth bewitch their corn,
Themselves, their servants, and their babes at

nurse.

This they enforce upon me; and in part
Make me to credit it; and here comes one
Of my chief adversaries.

Enter Old BANKS.

Banks. Out, out upon thee, witch!

Saw. Dost call me witch?

Banks. I do, witch, I do; and worse I would, knew I a name more hateful. What makest thou upon my ground?

Saw. Gather a few rotten sticks to warm me. Banks. Down with them when I bid thee, quickly; I'll make thy bones rattle in thy skin else.

Saw. You won't, churl, cut-throat, miser!there they be; (Throws them down) would they

2 Forespeaks their cattle.] A very common term for bewitch. Thus Burton: "They are surely forespoken, or bewitched."—Anat. of Mel. And Jonson: "Pray Heaven, some of us be not a witch, gossip, to forespeak the matter thus."-Staple of News. And see Cynthia's Revels, vol. ii. p. 275. It is but justice to the speaker to observe, that she details the process of witch-making with dreadful accuracy; there is but too much reason to believe, that many a Mother Sawyer has been formed in this manner.

stuck cross thy throat, thy bowels, thy maw, thy midriff.

Banks. Say'st thou me so, hag? Out of my ground! [Beats her: Saw. Dost strike me, slave, curmudgeon! Now thy bones aches, thy joints cramps, and convulsions stretch and crack thy sinews!'

Banks. Cursing, thou hag! take that, and that. [Beats her, and exit. Saw. Strike, do!-and wither'd may that hand

and arm..

Whose blows have lamed me, drop from the rotten trunk!

Abuse me! beat me! call me hag and witch! What is the name? where, and by what art learn'd,

What spells, what charms or invocations?
May the thing call'd Familiar be purchased?

Enter CUDDY BANKS, and several other clowns.

Cud. A new head for the tabor, and silver tipping for the pipe; remember that: and forget not five leash of new bells.

1 Cl. Double bells;-Crooked-Lane*-you shall

3 This is more than usually harsh and rugged. An imprecation is evidently intended, and to render it at all intelligible, the lines must be filled up somewhat in this way. Now [may] aches [strike] thy bones! cramps [rack] thy joints! and convulsions, &c.

4" Crooked-Lane," my old friend, Mr. Waldron, observes, "leads from Eastcheap to Fish-street-hill, opposite the Monument; and has now (1812) several shops where such kinds of knacks are still sold." In the present rage for demolition, and re-construction on new plans, such local notices may be worth preserving.

have 'em straight in Crooked-Lane:-double bells all, if it be possible.

Cud. Double bells? double coxcombs! trebles, buy me trebles, all trebles; for our purpose is to be in the altitudes.

2 Cl. All trebles? not a mean?

Cud. Not one. The morrice is so cast, we'll have neither mean nor base in our company, fellow Rowland.

3 Cl. What! nor a counter?

Cud. By no means, no hunting counter; leave that to the Enfield Chase men: all trebles, all in the altitudes. Now for the disposing of parts in the Morrice, little or no labour will serve.

2 Cl. If you that be minded to follow your leader, know me, (an ancient honour belonging to our house,) for a fore-horse [i'th'] team, and fore-gallant in a morrice, my father's stable is not unfurnish'd.

3 Cl. So much for the fore-horse; but how for a good Hobby-horse?

Cud. For a Hobby-horse? let me see an almanack. Midsummer-moon, let me see you. "When the moon's in the full, then wit's in the wane." No more. Use your best skill; your morrice will suffer an eclipse.

1 Cl. An eclipse?

Cud. A strange one.

2 Cl. Strange?

Cud. Yes, and most sudden. Remember the

fore-gallant, and forget the hobby-horse! the

whole body of your morrice will be darkened.There be of us-but 'tis no matter:-forget the hobby-horse!

1 Cl. Cuddy Banks!-have you forgot since he paced it from Enfield Chase to Edmonton ?Cuddy, honest Cuddy, cast thy stuff.'

Seek

Cud. Suffer may ye all! it shall be known, I can take my ease as well as another man. your hobby-horse where you can get him.

1 Cl. Cuddy, honest Cuddy, we confess, and are sorry for our neglect.

2 Cl. The old horse shall have a new bridle. 3 Cl. The caparisons new painted.

4 Cl. The tail repair'd.

1 Cl. The snaffle and the bosses new saffroned

over.

1 Cl. Kind,

2 Cl. Honest,

3 Cl. Loving, ingenious-.

4 Cl. Affable, Cuddy.

Cud. To show I am not flint, but affable, as you say, very well stuft, a kind of warm dough or puffpaste, I relent, I connive, most affable Jack. Let the hobby-horse provide a strong back, he shall

Cast thy stuff.] So the quarto. The context might lead us to suppose, that the author's word was snuff, did not Cuddy subsequently advert to it. Cuddy's anger arises from the unlucky question asked by the 3d Clown. "How shall we do for a good hobby-horse?"-as he apparently expected, from his former celebrity in that respectable character, to have been appointed by acclamation.