SCENE IV.

_Goldsmiths' Row._

_Enter_ TOUCHSTONE, Mistress TOUCHSTONE, GERTRUDE, MILDRED, SINDEFY, _and_ WINIFRED.

_To._ I will sail by you, and not hear you, like the wise Ulysses.

_Mi._ Dear father!

_Mist. T._ Husband!

_Ge._ Father!

_Wi. and Si._ Master Touchstone!

_To._ Away, sirens! I will immure myself against your cries, and lock myself up to your lamentations.

_Mist. T._ Gentle husband, hear me!

_Ge._ Father, it is I, father; my Lady Flash. My sister and I am friends. 11

_Mi._ Good father!

_Wi._ Be not hardened, good Master Touchstone!

_Si._ I pray you, sir, be merciful!

_To._ I am deaf; I do not hear you; I have stopped mine ears with shoemakers' wax, and drunk Lethe and mandragora[119] to forget you. All you speak to me I commit to the air.

_Enter_ WOLF.

_Mi._ How now, Master Wolf?

_Wo._ Where's Master Touchstone? I must speak with him presently; I have lost my breath for haste. 21

_Mi._ What is the matter, sir? Pray all be well!

_Wo._ Master Deputy Golding is arrested upon an execution, and desires him presently to come to him, forthwith.

_Mi._ Ay me! do you hear, father?

_To._ Tricks, tricks, confederacy, tricks! I have 'hem in my nose--I scent 'hem!

_Wo._ Who's that? Master Touchstone?

_Mist. T._ Why, it is Master Wolf himself, husband. 30

_Mi._ Father!

_To._ I am deaf still, I say. I will neither yield to the song of the siren nor the voice of the hyena,[120] the tears of the crocodile nor the howling o' the Wolf. Avoid my habitation, monsters!

_Wo._ Why, you are not mad, sir? I pray you look forth, and see the token I have brought you, sir.

_To._ Ha! what token is it?

_Wo._ Do you know it, sir?

_To._ My son Golding's ring! Are you in earnest, Master Wolf? 41

_Wo._ Ay, by my faith, sir. He is in prison, and required me to use all speed and secrecy to you.

_To._ My cloak, there (pray you be patient). I am plagued for my austerity. My cloak! At whose suit, Master Wolf?

_Wo._ I'll tell you as we go, sir.

[_Exeunt._

[119] A powerful soporific.

[120] See Topsel's _History of Fourfooted Beasts_, ed. 1658, p. 341.