A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12Dodsley, Robert
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12
Dodsley, Robert
English drama
WEL. How? 'tis cold; the rogue has put ice into't instead of
toast, or else one of's hundred leger wafers the baker dried
for him t'other day in's oven, after his bread was drawn, for
the yeast of two barrels. [_Aside._] You rascal, cheat your
master?
BUNG. Cry you mercy, good sir; I protest I had forgot who 'twas
for, and popped it in before I was aware; but I'll air it for
you instantly, if you please.
WEL. No, no, I'll warm't myself, and it shall warm me. Come,
here's to all good swallows! So, so, one cup of ale will shroud
one better from the cold than all the furs in Russia.
WITHIN. Tapster, where are you? Show's a room here.
BUNG. Anon, anon, sir. You are welcome, gentlemen. Please you,
walk into th' George; there's a good fire, and no company.
[_Exit._
WEL. To see what luck a handsel will procure! No sooner the
cup out of my mouth but another called for! It seems it stayed
at me all this while; a dry, shabby host is more absurd than a
dumb Exchange. These are some boon fellows, I know; the rogue
is so perfect in his lerry.[241] Ditty and's comrades, perhaps;
the rascal can never sing well till he has wetted his whistle
at my house. He made me set up the sign o' th' Flying Horse for
a Pegasus. Budget the tinker, too, is as good at cracking a pot
as any, and Bristle the merriest, cunningest whoreson; he sells
his traps twopence dearer, only by giving rules how to bait
them--for a Dutch mouse, with butter forsooth, or bacon; and
then for a Welsh one, toasted cheese is the best.
_Enter_ BUNG _again_.
BUNG. The gentlemen within desire your company.
WEL. What are they?
BUNG. The four churchwardens o' th' parish, that never exceed
halfpence apiece at a morning's draught, must have a flagon
instead of a black-pot, and fire, toast and nutmeg over and
above; nay, sometimes a breakfast too.
WEL. And when they mount so high as a penny, drink at Widow
Grunt's--she that has an eleven children, and say they are
prodigal, merely out of charity to the poor orphan pigs; but at
th' hall, on a court-day, can be as drunk as so many tinkers at
Banbury, or nurses at a christ'ning! Pox on 'um, tell 'um I am
busy with other company.
BUNG. Nay, sir, they protest they'll have your jug in.[242]
WEL. They shall have me too then, and for once I'll obey their
summons; but let 'um expect to pay for all they call for, and
therefore for me. [_Exeunt._
SCENE VI.
_Enter_ GUM, _a tooth-drawer_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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