Chapter 4

_A School_.

_Enter_ AMINADAB, _with a rod in his hand, and_ BOYS _with their books_.

AMIN. Come, boys, come, boys, rehearse your parts, And then, _ad prandium; jam, jam, incipe_!

1ST BOY. Forsooth, my lesson's torn out of my book.

AMIN. _Quae caceris chartis deseruisse decet_. Torn from your book! I'll tear it from your breech. How say you, Mistress Virga, will you suffer _Hic puer bonae[11] indolis_ to tear His lessons, leaves, and lectures from his book?

1ST BOY. Truly, forsooth, I laid it in my seat, While Robin Glade and I went into _campis_; And when I came again, my book was torn.

AMIN. _O mus_, a mouse; was ever heard the like?

1ST BOY. _O domus_, a house; master, I could not mend it.

2D BOY. _O pediculus_, a louse; I knew not how it came.

AMIN. All toward boys, good scholars of their times; The least of these is past his accidence, Some at _qui mihi_; here's not a boy But he can construe all the grammar rules. _Sed ubi sunt sodales_? not yet come? Those _tardè venientes_ shall be whipp'd. _Ubi est_ Pipkin? where's that lazy knave? He plays the truant every Saturday; But Mistress Virga, Lady Willow-by,[12] Shall teach him that _diluculo surgere Est saluberrimum_: here comes the knave.

_Enter_ PIPKIN.

1ST BOY. _Tardè, tardè, tardè_.

2D. BOY. _Tardè, tardè, tardè_.

AMIN. _Huc ades_, Pipkin--reach a better rod-- _Cur tam tardè venis_? speak, where have you been? Is this a time of day to come to school? _Ubi fuisti_? speak, where hast thou been?

PIP. _Magister, quomodo vales_?

AMIN. Is that _responsio_ fitting my demand?

PIP. _Etiam certè_, you ask me where I have been, and I say _quomodo vales_, as much as to say, come out of the alehouse.

AMIN. Untruss, untruss! nay, help him, help him!

PIP. _Quaeso, preceptor, quaeso_, for God's sake do not whip me: _Quid est grammatica_?

AMIN. Not whip you, _quid est grammatica_, what's that?

PIP. _Grammatica est_, that, if I untruss'd, you must needs whip me upon them, _quid est grammatica_.

AMIN. Why, then, _dic mihi_, speak, where hast thou been?

PIP. Forsooth, my mistress sent me of an errand to fetch my master from the Exchange; we had strangers at home at dinner, and, but for them, I had not come _tardè; quaeso, preceptor_!

AMIN. Construe your lesson, parse it, _ad unguem et condemnato_ to, I'll pardon thee.

PIP. That I will, master, an' if you'll give me leave.

AMIN. _Propria quae maribus tribuuntur mascula, dicas; expone, expone_.

PIP. Construe it, master, I will; _dicas_, they say--_propria_, the proper man--_quae maribus_, that loves marrow-bones--_mascula_, miscalled me.

AMIN. A pretty, quaint, and new construction.

PIP. I warrant you, master, if there be marrow-bones in my lesson, I am an old dog at them. How construe you this, master, _rostra disertus amat_?

AMIN. _Disertus_, a desert--_amat_, doth love--_rostra_, roast-meat.

PIP. A good construction on an empty stomach. Master, now I have construed my lesson, my mistress would pray you to let me come home to go of an errand.

AMIN. Your _tres sequuntur_, and away.

PIP. _Canis_ a hog, _rana_ a dog, _porcus_ a frog, _Abeundum est mihi_. [_Exit_.

AMIN. Yours, sirrah, too, and then _ad prandium_.

1ST BOY. _Apis_ a bed, _genu_ a knee, _Vulcanus_, Doctor Dee: _Viginti minus usus est mihi_.

AMIN. By _Juno's_ lip and _Saturn's_ thumb It was _bonus, bona, bonum_.

2D BOY. _Vitrum_ glass, _spica_ grass, _tu es asinus_, you are an ass. _Precor tibi felicem noctem_.

AMIN. _Claudite jam libros, pueri: sat, prata, bibistis_, Look, when you come again, you tell me _ubi fuistis_. He that minds trish-trash, and will not have care of his _rodix_. Him I will be-lish-lash, and have a fling at his _podix_.

[_Exeunt_ BOYS.

_Enter_ YOUNG MASTER ARTHUR.

Y. ART. A pretty wench, a passing pretty wench. A sweeter duck all London cannot yield; She cast a glance on me as I pass'd by, Not Helen had so ravishing an eye. Here is the pedant Sir Aminadab; I will inquire of him if he can tell By any circumstance, whose wife she is: Such fellows commonly have intercourse Without suspicion, where we are debarr'd. God save you, gentle Sir Aminadab!

AMIN. _Salve tu quoque_! would you speak with me? You are, I take it, and let me not lie, For, as you know, _mentiri non est meum_, Young Master Arthur; _quid vis_--what will you?

Y. ART. You are a man I much rely upon; There is a pretty wench dwells in this street That keeps no shop, nor is not public known: At the two posts, next turning of the lane, I saw her from a window looking out; O, could you tell me how to come acquainted With that sweet lass, you should command me, sir, Even to the utmost of my life and power.

AMIN. _Dii boni, boni_! 'tis my love he means; But I will keep it from this gentleman, And so, I hope, make trial of my love. [_Aside_.]

Y. ART. If I obtain her, thou shalt win thereby More than at this time I will promise thee.

AMIN. _Quando venis aput_, I shall have two horns on my _caput_. [_Aside_.]

Y. ART. What, if her husband come and find one there?

AMIN. _Nuncquam time_, never fear, She is unmarried, I swear. But, if I help you to the deed, _Tu vis narrare_ how you speed.

Y. ART. Tell how I speed? ay, sir, I will to you: Then presently about it. Many thanks For this great kindness, Sir Aminadab. [_Exit_.

AMIN. If my _puella_ prove a drab, I'll be reveng'd on both: _ambo_ shall die; Shall die! by what? for _ego_ I Have never handled, I thank God, Other weapon than a rod; I dare not fight for all my speeches. _Sed cave_, if I take him thus, _Ego sum expers_ at untruss.

[_Exit_.