SCENE VIII.

_Enter +Bannswright+, +Warehouse+, +Dorcas+._

+Ban.+ Madam, this is the gentleman I mention'd, I've brought him here, according to my function, To give you both an interview: if you Be ready, the church and priest are.

+Aur.+ Is this, sir, The wealthy merchant?

+Ban.+ Madam, this is he That, if you'll wear the price of baronies, Or live at Cleopatra's rate, can keep you.

+Aur.+ Come you a suitor, sir, to me?

+Ware.+ Yes, lady, I did employ my speaker there, who hath, I hope, inform'd you with my purpose.

+Aur.+ Surely Your speaker then hath err'd; I understood Him for my woman: if you can like her, sir, It being, for aught I hear, all one to you, I've woo'd her for you. But, for myself, could you Endow me with the stream that ebbs and flows In waves of gold, I hope you do not think I'd so much stain my birth, as to be bought To match into a company. Sir, plainly, I'm match'd already.

+Ware.+ Bannswright, did not you Tell me she'd have me?

+Ban.+ Faith, sir, I have ears That might deceive me; but I did dream waking, If she were not the party. Madam, pray you, One word in private.

+Aur.+ I'll prevent you. 'Tis true, My brother laid the scene for me; but since We've chang'd the plot, and 'tis contriv'd my woman Shall undertake my part. [_Aside._

+Ban.+ I am instructed I was mistaken, sir; indeed the lady Spoke to me for her gentlewoman. How Do you affect her, sir? you see she is As handsome as her lady; and, her birth Not being so high, she will more size with you.

+Ware.+ I say, I like her best. Her lady has Too much great house in her.

+Ban.+ 'Tis right; this you May govern as you list. I'll motion't. Lady, Pray, pardon our mistake; indeed our errand Was chiefly to your gentlewoman.

+Aur.+ Sir, She's one, whose fortune I so much intend; And yours, sir, are so fair that, though there be Much disproportion in your age, yet I Will overrule her, and she shall refer Herself to be dispos'd by me.

+Ware.+ You much oblige me, madam.

+Aur.+ Dorcas, this is the merchant I have provided for you: he is old, But he has that will make him young, much gold.

+Dor.+ Madam, but that I should offend against Your care, as well as my preferment, I'd Have more experience of the man I mean To make my husband. At first sight to marry, Must argue me of lightness.

+Aur.+ Princes, Dorcas, Do woo by pictures and ambassadors, And match in absent ceremonies.

+Dor.+ But You look for some great portion, sir?

+Ware.+ Fair mistress, Your virtues are to me a wealthy dowry; And if you love me, I shall think you bring More than the Indies.

+Dor.+ But, sir, 't may be, You'll be against my course of life. I love Retirement, must have times for my devotion, Am little us'd to company, and hate The vanity of visits.

+Ware.+ This makes me Love you the more.

+Dor.+ Then I shall never trust you To go to sea, and leave me: I shall dream Of nought but storms and pirates; every wind Will break my sleep.

+Ware.+ I'll stay at home.

+Dor.+ Sir, there Is one thing more: I hear you have a nephew You mean to make your heir; I hope you will Settle some jointure on me.

+Ware.+ He's so lost In my intents that, to revenge myself, I take this course. But, to remove your doubts, I've brought my lawyer with blank deeds: He shall put in your name; and I, before We go to church, will seal 'em.

+Dor.+ On these terms, Where is your priest, sir?

+Ware.+ He expects me at The French Church, mistress.

+Aur.+ Come, when you have seal'd, sir: I'll bear a part in the solemnity. [_Exeunt._

FOOTNOTES:

[244] _i.e._, To make some of the lesser necessaries of a theatre, _properties_ being the usual term for them. So Bottom, in the "Midsummer Night's Dream"--

"I will draw a bill of _properties_."

See a note on this passage.--_Steevens._

Mr Steevens, in his note upon "Midsummer Night's Dream," (Malone's Shakespeare, by Boswell, v. 198), says that _dresses_ were not included in the _properties_ of theatres. Maine's authority is to the contrary, if Aurelia's apparel were to be used for the apparel of the actors.--_Collier._

[245] _Cuerpo_ is an undress: the Spaniards, from whom we borrowed the word, apply it to a person in a light jacket without his cabot or cloak.--Mr Gifford's note on the "Fatal Dowry," iii. 390. Cuerpo is the _body_, and _in cuerpo_ means in body clothing.--_Collier._

[246] _i.e._, The gold on my apparel. So in "King Henry V."

"Our gayness and our _gilt_ are all besmerch'd."

See a note on this passage, vi., 128, edit. 1778.--_Steevens._

[247] [Omitted in former edit.]

[248] [The christening-fee.] The chrysome was the white cloth thrown over the new-baptized child. This perhaps was the perquisite of the officiating clergyman. The child itself, however, was sometimes called a _chrysome_. See a note on "King Henry V.," vi., 52, edit. 1778.--_Steevens._

[249] _i.e._, Leopards, animals often introduced into heraldic devices.

[250] [Former edit., _vocation_.]

[251] [Run into debt. Scores used to be chalked up at taverns. Hence the proverb, "The tapster is undone by chalk!" From being a particular phrase, it became general.]

[252] [The allowance to a kept mistress.]

[253] A _biggon_ was a kind of coif formerly worn by men. It is now only in use for children.

[254] [Granting _infant_ to be the right word, we are perhaps to suppose that illegitimate children were surreptitiously deposited on mercers' counters, occasionally, wrapped up as parcels. _Upon their strengths_ appears to mean _upon their credit_.]

[255] From Dugdale's "Origines Juridiciales," p. 207, &c., we learn that the office of a Reader at the Middle Temple was held at a great charge to the person who executed it. "His expences," says that author, "during this time of _reading_, are very great; insomuch, as some have spent above six hundred pounds in two dayes less than a fortnight, which now is the usual time of _reading_." It appears also that many gentlemen, who were put by their _reading_, were removed from the Bar-table unto a table called, The Auncients Table; "And it is no disgrace," says the same author, "for any man to be removed hither; for by reason of the excessive chardge of _readings_, many men of great learning and competent practise, as well as others of less learning, but great estates, have refused to Read, and are here placed." To relieve the gentlemen who undertook this expensive office, it seems to have been usual to call upon the students for their assistance; and this circumstance is alluded to in the text. [The Ancients' Table is the same as the Benchers', and at Gray's Inn the Benchers are still called _Ancients_.]