A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12Dodsley, Robert
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12
Dodsley, Robert
English drama
AND. I would
Not be a leg of mutton here.
HEAR. I saw
In France a monsieur, only in the cutting
Of one cross caper, rise a man, and come
Down, to th' amazement of the standers-by,
A true extemporary skeleton;
And was straight read on.[124]
AND. Sure, this man,
Good tutor, was quite rotten.
MEAN. See how you
Betray your breeding now. Quite rotten! 'Tis
Rottenness, perhaps, in footmen or in yeomen:
'Tis tenderness in gentlemen; they are
A little over-boil'd, or so.
HEAR. He is
A churl, a hind, that's wholesome; some raw thing
That never was at London: one in whom
The clown is too predominant. Refin'd
People feel Naples in their bodies; and
An ache i' th' bones at sixteen passeth now
For high descent: it argues a great birth.
Low bloods are never worthy such infection.
AND. Ay, but my father bid me I should live
Honest, and say my prayers; that he did.
HEAR. If that you cannot sleep at any time, we do
Allow you to begin your pray'rs, that so
A slumber may seize on you.
MEAN. But as for
Your living honest, 'twere to take away
A trade i' th' commonwealth! the surgeons'
Benefit would go down. You may go on
In foolish chastity, eat only salads,
Walk an unskilful thing, and be to learn
Something the first night of your wife; but that's
To marry out of fashion.
AND. Here's no proofs,
No doctrines, nor no uses. Tutor, I
Would fain learn some religion.
HEAR. Religion!
Yes, to become a martyr, and be pictur'd
With a long label out o' your mouth, like those
In Fox's book;[125] just like a juggler drawing
Riband out of his throat.
AND. I must be gone.
MEAN. Obedience is the first step unto science:
Stay, and be wise.
AND. Indeed, I dare not stay;
The clyster works you sent to purge gross humours. [_Exit._
MEAN. Being you will not take your lecture out,
Good-morrow to y', good Andrew. This soft fool
Must swim in's father's wealth! It is a curse
That fortune justly makes the city's lot;
The young fool spends whate'er the old knave got. [_Exit_ MEANWELL.
SCENE IV.
_To_ HEARSAY _enter_ SLICER _and_ CREDULOUS.
HEAR. Sir, let me tell you, this is not the least
Of things wherein your wisdom shows itself,
In that you've plac'd your son in this good sort.
CRE. Nay, nay, let me alone to give him breeding:
I did not hold the university
Fit for the training up of such a spirit.
SLICER. The university! 'T had been the only way
T' have took him off his courage and his mettle:
He had return'd, as slaves do from the galleys:
A naked shorn thing, with a thin-dock'd top,
Learnedly cut into a logic mode.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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