BUD. _Ale's a physician,_ _No mountebank bragger,_ _Can cure the chill ague,_ _Though't be with the stagger._ DITTY. _Ale's a strong wrestler,_ _Flings all it hath met,_ _And makes the ground slippery,_ _Though't be not wet._ OMNES. _But come, my boon, &c._ DITTY. _Ale is both Ceres_ _And good Neptune too;_ _Ale's froth was the sea,_ _From whence Venus grew._ BUD. _Ale is immortal,_ _And be there no stops,_ _In bonny lads quaffing,_ _Can live without hops,_ OMNES. _Then come, my boon fellows,_ _Let's drink it around,_ _It keeps us from th' grave,_ _Though it lays us o' th' ground._ [_All drink._ _Enter_ WELCOME. WEL. Well said, my whistling birds; 'tis spring with you all the year long, while the ale flourishes. Come, I have provided a supper will tire your teeth; 'tis but a prologue, though, of to-morrow's feast. I hope your appetites need no provocations. It now waits for you, but will not be ready till you concoct it. Come then, cheer up, my buxom girls; the cakes and posset my wife shall provide, and I'll engage myself to be father to you both. Ditty's ballads and his budget shall be cut out into favours and gloves. [_Exeunt._ FOOTNOTES: [239] See Hazlitt's "Handbook," art. Jack. Only a second part is at present known. [240] It is well known that in our old inns the various rooms had separate names. [241] The usual burden of a song. [242] This points to the custom of the landlord, when he joined any guests at a table, contributing a free jug or bottle. [243] This saying arose from the duty on wool, levied to defray the cost of rebuilding the bridge (Knight's "London," i. 79). Nancy alludes to a dance so called. [244] A well-known and often-quoted dance. See the poem by N. Breton, in "England's Helicon," 1600, repr. Collier, p. 222. [245] Although Budget promises to await Ditty's return, he appears to retire to the back of the stage. [246] Old copy, _hast thou_. [247] Ale. EPILOGUE. WELCOME _the Host_. Gentlemen and ladies, I am sent to you, Not to beg cast-by sheets, a shirt or two, Or clouts for th' teeming women, nor bespeak Gossips or guests against the christ'ning week: No off'ring for the married couple. What, then? Only to bid you welcome, gentlemen, Before your parting; and for th' women, beg That, when they travail, you'ld not sit cross-leg. But when their notes are turn'd to childbirth cries, You'd cry good speed to their deliveries; And if our cries have wanted mirth or wit, There's one more left, _We cry you mercy yet!_