SCENE V.

SHAPE, SLICER, HEARSAY.

SHAPE. Lie thou there, watchman. How the knave that's look'd for May often lurk under the officer! Invention, I applaud thee.

HEAR. London air, Methinks, begins to be too hot for us.

SLICER. There is no longer tarrying here: let's swear Fidelity to one another, and So resolve for New England.[238]

HEAR. 'Tis but getting A little pigeon-hole reformed ruff----

SLICER. Forcing our beards into th' orthodox bent----

SHAPE. Nosing a little treason 'gainst the king, Bark something at the bishops, and we shall Be easily receiv'd.

HEAR. No fitter place. They are good silly people; souls that will Be cheated without trouble. One eye is Put out with zeal, th' other with ignorance; And yet they think they're eagles.

SHAPE. We are made Just fit for that meridian. No good work's Allow'd there: faith--faith is that they call for, And we will bring it 'em.

SLICER. What language speak they?

HEAR. English, and now and then a root or two Of Hebrew, which we'll learn of some Dutch skipper That goes along with us this voyage. Now We want but a good wind; the brethren's sighs Must fill our sails; for what Old England won't Afford, New England will. You shall hear of us By the next ship that comes for proselytes. Each soil is not the good man's country only; Nor is the lot his to be still at home: _We'll claim a share, and prove that nature gave_ _This boon, as to the good, so to the knave._ [_Exeunt._

FOOTNOTES:

[226] Adultery.

[227] See Note to "The Antiquary" [act iv., vol. 13].

[228] [_i.e._, All fours.]

[229] Change.

[230] Plenty, abundance.

[231] The story here alluded to is told in an old play, entitled "The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the first, sir-named Edward Longshankes, with his returne from the holy land. Also the life of Llevellen rebell in Wales. _Lastly, the sinking of Queene Elinor, who sunck at Charing cross, and rose againe at Potters hith, now named Queene-hith._ By George Peele." 4o, 1593, 1599. See also a ballad on the same subject in Evans's "Old Ballads," vol i. p. 237. [Peele's play is, of course, printed in his works by Dyce.]

[232] [The Constable's ideas had become confused, and he thought that _Credulous_, was taxing him with having been circumcised.]

[233] Take hold of him.--_T._

[234] Decorated or adorned [in the forehead or brow.] So in Milton's "Penseroso"--

"Not trick'd and frounc'd as she was wont, With Attic boy to hunt; But kerchief'd in a comely cloud."

--_Steevens_ (_altered_).

[235] Quick reward. [But it may be doubted, perhaps, if Cartwright did not intend _blithe_, _i.e._, glad or joyful.]

[236] _i.e._, A nuptial ditty: from _Fescennia_, or _Fescennium_, a town in Italy, where these kinds of songs were first practised.--_Steevens._

[237] To _bray_, to pound, or grind small--

"I'll burst him, _I will bray_ _His bones, as in a mortar_."

"Except you would _bray_ christendom _in a mortar_, and mould it into a new paste, there is no possibility of a holy war."--_Bacon_. See Johnson's Dictionary, _v._ Bray.

It also means only to _stamp with the feet_: thus in Fortescue's "Foreste of Histories," 1571, fol. 68: "When Apelles his horse was brought into the place the other began to _braie_ and stirre, as is their common usage."--_Collier._

[238] This is intended to ridicule the Puritans of the times, who, on account of the severe censures of the Star Chamber, the greatness of the fines there, the rigorous proceedings to impose ceremonies, the suspending and silencing ministers for not reading in church "The Book of Sports," and other grievances, sold their estates, and settled in _New England_. The emigrations, on these accounts, at length became so general, that a proclamation was put forth in 1635 to stop those who had determined to follow their friends. It is remarkable that amongst those who were actually on shipboard, and prevented by the proclamation from proceeding on their voyage, were the patriot Hampden and his cousin Oliver Cromwell.

THE EPILOGUE

SHAPE. We have escap'd the law, but yet do fear Something that's harder answered--your sharp ear. O, for a present sleight now to beguile That, and deceive you but of one good smile. 'Tis that must free us: th' Author dares not look For that good fortune, to be sav'd by's book. To leave this blessed soil is no great woe; Our griefs in leaving you, that make it so; For if you shall call in those beams you lent, 'Twould ev'n at home create a banishment.

THE LONDON CHANTICLEERS.

_EDITION._

_The London Chaunticleers. A Witty Comoedy, full of Various and Delightfull Mirth. Often Acted with Great applause, and never before Published. London, Printed for Simon Miller, at the Star in St. Pauls Churchyard._ 1659. 4o.

This amusing and peculiar play has never hitherto been re-published from the original edition. It is a performance, as the title-page partly intimates, considerably older than the date of publication. Mr Halliwell ("Dictionary of Old Plays," 1860, p. 144) observes: "This piece is rather an interlude than a play; but it is curious, the characters being London criers.

"From a passage in the prologue we may perhaps infer that the production originally appeared during a visitation of the plague at London, and that it was first presented (the machinery required being simple enough) on some suburban or provincial stage. The metropolis was ravaged by pestilence in 1636, which is a not unlikely date for the composition and original presentation of 'The London Chanticleers.'"

The allusions to old usages, with the mention of many well-known ballads, and of some known no longer, contribute to give the present piece an interest and value of its own.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

HEATH, _a broom-man_. BRISTLE, _a brush-man_. DITTY, _a ballad-man_. BUDGET, _a tinker_. GUM, _a tooth-drawer_. WELCOME, _a host_. BUNG, _a tapster_. FENNETING, _an apple-wench_. CURDS, _a fresh cheese and cream woman_.

PROLOGUE.

The style that banish'd Ovid and his book, And, spite of's laurel made him thunderstrook, Is banish'd from this scene by us; and here Cato may come into the theatre. At our love-tricks none need their eyelids crush, Chaste vestals may look on without a blush: Our cheats do take, if they but time beguile, And all our plot is but to make you smile. You're welcome then to London, which our show, Since you mayn't go to that, has brought to you. Pardon, if we offend you with our noise, 'Tis but an echo of their clamorous voice.

THE LONDON CHANTICLEERS.