"He is art's pedler, and retails his wares At wakes and wassails, meetings, markets, fairs." In the same play (iii. 1. 111) there is an allusion to the old proverb, "Three women and a goose make a market," where Costard, referring to Moth's nonsense about "the fox, the ape, and the humble-bee," followed by the goose that made up four, says, "And he [the goose] ended the market." In _As You Like It_ (iii. 2. 104) Touchstone, making fun of Orlando's verses which Rosalind has just read, says: "I'll rhyme you so eight years together, dinners and suppers and sleeping-hours excepted: it is the right butter-women's rank to market"; that is, the metre is just like the jog-trot of countrywomen riding to market one after another, with their butter and eggs. In _Richard III._ (i. 1. 160) Gloster, after saying that he means to "marry Warwick's youngest daughter," adds:-- "But yet I run before my horse to market: Clarence still breathes, Edward still lives and reigns; When they are gone, then must I count my gains." He means, in the language of a more familiar proverb, that he is counting his chickens before they are hatched; that is, he is too hasty in reckoning upon the success of his plans. [Illustration: THE FAIR] In _1 Henry VI._ (iii. 2) Joan of Arc gets into Rouen with her soldiers in the guise of countrymen bound for market:-- "_Enter_ La Pucelle, _disguised, and_ Soldiers _dressed like countrymen, with sacks upon their backs_. _Pucelle._ These are the city gates, the gates of Rouen, Through which our policy must make a breach. Take heed, be wary how you place your words; Talk like the vulgar sort of market-men, That come to gather money for their corn. If we have entrance--as I hope we shall-- And that we find the slothful watch but weak, I'll by a sign give notice to our friends That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them. _1 Soldier._ Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city, And we be lords and rulers over Rouen; Therefore we'll knock. [_Knocks._ _Guard._ [_Within._] _Qui est la?_ _Pucelle._ _Paisans, pauvres gens de France_: Poor market-folks, that come to sell their corn. _Guard._ [_Opening the gates._] Enter, go in; the market-bell is rung. _Pucelle._ Now, Rouen, I'll shake thy bulwarks to the ground." The "market-bell" was rung at the hour when the market was to begin. In the same play (v. 5. 54), when a dower is proposed for Margaret, who is to marry Henry, Suffolk says:-- "A dower, my lords! disgrace not so your king, That he should be so abject, base, and poor, To choose for wealth, and not for perfect love. Henry is able to enrich his queen, And not to seek a queen to make him rich: So worthless peasants bargain for their wives, As market-men for oxen, sheep, or horse."