KEN. No, I will lie at Bradford all this night, And all the next. Come, Bonfield, let us go, And listen out some bonny lasses here. [Exeunt omnes. Enter the JUSTICE, a TOWNSMAN,* GEORGE-AGREENE, and SIR NICHOLAS MANNERING with his commission. Jus. Master Mannering, stand aside, whilst we confer What is best to do. Townsmen of Wakefield, Let me hear, townsmen, what is your consents. Jus. Marry, sir, thus. We will send the earl of Kendal no victuals, And in aiding him we shew ourselves no less. The earl is thirty thousand men strong in power, He lays it flat and level with the ground. Ye silly men, you seek your own decay : Send my a Townsman] i.e. the spokesman of the whole body of townsmen, several of whom must be on the stage during the scene. Jus. Master Mannering, you have your answer, be gone. You may MAN. Well, Woodroffe, for so I guess is thy name, I'll make thee curse thy overthwart denial; And all that sit upon the bench this day Shall rue the hour they have withstood my lord's Commission. Jus. Do thy worst, we fear thee not. MAN. See you these seals? before you pass the I will have all things my lord doth want, In spite of you. [town, GEO. Proud dapper Jack, vail bonnet to the bench, That represents the person of the king; Or, sirrah, I'll lay thy head before thy feet. MAN. Why, who art thou? GEO. Why, I am George-a-Greene, True liegeman to my king, Who scorns that men of such esteem as these, MAN. Fellow, I stand amaz'd at thy presumption. Why, what art thou that dar'st gainsay my lord, Knowing his mighty puissance and his stroke? Why, my friend, I come not barely of myself; GEO. Let me see it, sirrah. Whose seals be these? MAN. This is the earl of Kendal's seal at arms; This lord Charnel Bonfield's; And this sir Gilbert Armstrong's. GEO. I tell thee, sirrah, did good king Edward's son Seal a commission against the king his father, Thus would I tear it in despite of him, [He tears the commission. Being traitor to my sovereign. MAN. What! hast thou torn my lord's commission? Thou shalt rue it, and so shall all Wakefield. GEO. What, are you in choler? I will give you pills To cool your stomach. Seest thou these seals? Now, by my father's soul, Which was a yeoman, when he was alive, * Eat them, or eat my dagger's point, proud squire. MAN. But thou doest but jest, I hope. GEO. Sure that shall you see before we two part. MAN. Well, and there be no remedy, so George: One is gone; I pray thee, no more now. GEO. O sir, If one be good, the others cannot hurt. Now you may go tell the earl of Kendal, MAN. Well, sir, I will do your errand. [Exit. *Eat them, &c.] The resemblance between this incident and an adventure in which Greene was concerned is pointed out in my remarks on The Pinner of Wakefield, in the account of our author's Life see also the extract from the prose History of George-a-Greene at the end of this play. With George-a-Greene, Right Pinner of merry Wakefield town, Pills for a traitor that doth wrong his sovereign. For highly hast thou honour'd Wakefield town, [Exeunt omnes. Enter old MUSGROVE, and young CUDDY his son. CUD. Now, gentle father, list unto thy son, That erst was blithe and bonny in thine eye CUD. Father, You know the ancient enmity of late Not to leave one alive that strides a lance.* O father, You are old, and waning age + unto the grave: Old William Musgrove, which whilom was thought The bravest horseman in all Westmoreland, Is weak, And forc'd to stay his arm upon a staff, That erst could wield a lance. Then, gentle father, resign the hold to me; [quake Mus. Avaunt, false-hearted boy: my joints do *strides a lance.] i. e. not to leave even a child of them alive, one who equitat in arundine longa. Steevens. +age] Qy. "aye." Even with anguish of thy very words. Hath William Musgrove seen an hundred years? Here have I liv'd, and here will Musgrove die. [Exeunt. Enter LORD BON FIELD, SIR GILBERT ARMSTRONG, MASTER GRIME, and BETTRIS his daughter. BON. Now, gentle Grime, god a mercy for our good cheer; Our fare was royal, and our welcome great : We will deal as friendly with thee in recompence. GRIME. I say, sir Gilbert, looking on my daughter, To have poor George-a-Greene unto her husband. BON. On that, good Grime, I am talking with thy daughter; But she, in quirks and quiddities of love, Sets me to school, she is so overwise. But, gentle girl, if thou wilt forsake the Pinner, road] i. e. inroad. |