A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 09
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 09
English drama
TAC. Olfactus, if thou lov'st me, get thee gone;
I am an urinal, I dare not stir
For fear of cracking in the bottom.
OLF. Wilt thou sit thus all day?
TAC. Unless thou help me.
OLF. Bedlam must help thee. What wouldst have me do?
TAC. Go to the city, make a case for me;
Stuff it with wool, then come again and fetch me.
OLF. Ha, ha, ha!
Thou'lt be laughed out of case and countenance.
TAC. I care not. So it must be, or I cannot stir.
OLF. I had best leave troubling him; he's obstinate. Urinal, I leave you,
but above all things take heed Jupiter sees you not; for, if he do, he'll
ne'er make water in a sieve again; thou'lt serve his turn so fit, to
carry his water unto Esculapius. Farewell, Urinal, farewell.
[_Exit_ OLFACTUS.
TAC. Speak not so loud; the sound's enough to crack me. What, is he
gone? I an urinal! ha, ha, ha! I protest I might have had my face washed
finely if he had meant to abuse me. I an urinal! ha, ha, ha! Go to,
Urinal; you have 'scaped a fair scouring. Well, I'll away, and get me to
mine own house; there I'll lock up myself fast, playing the chemic,
Augmenting this one crown to troops of angels,
With which gold-winged messengers I mean
To work great wonders, as to build and purchase;
Fare daintily; tie up men's tongues and loose them;
Command their lives, their goods, their liberties,
And captive all the world with chains of gold.
Hey, hey, tery, linkum tinkum.
[_He offers to go out, but comes in suddenly amazed_.
O Hercules!
Fortune, the queen, delights to play with me,
Stopping my passage with the sight of Visus:
But as he makes hither, I'll make hence,
There's more ways to the wood than one[190].
What, more devils to affright me?
O Diabolo! Gustus comes here to vex me.
So that I, poor wretch, am like
A shuttlecock betwixt two battledoors.
If I run there, Visus beats me to Scylla;
If here, then Gustus blows me to Charybdis.
Neptune hath sworn my hope shall suffer shipwreck.
What shall I say? mine Urinal's too thin
To bide the fury of such storms as these.
SCAENA OCTAVA.
VISUS _in a garland of bays, mixed with white and
red roses, a light-coloured taffeta mantle striped
with silver, and fringed upon green silk bases,
buskins, &c_. GUSTUS _in the same fashion, differing
only in colour_. TACTUS _in a corner of the stage_.
VISUS, GUSTUS, TACTUS.
VIS. Gustus, good day.
GUS. I cannot have a bad,
Meeting so fair an omen as yourself.
TAC. Shall I? will't prove? ha! well, 'tis best to venture.
[TACTUS _puts on the robes_.
GUS. Saw you not Tactus? I should speak with him.
TAC. Perchance so; a sudden lie hath best luck.
VIS. That face is his, or else mine eye's deceiv'd.
Why, how now, Tactus! what, so gorgeous?
GUS. Where didst thou get these fair habiliments?
TAC. Stand back, I charge you, as you love your lives;
By Styx, the first that toucheth me shall die.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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