_Bid._ Pippo, 'tis our will and pleasure thou suit thyself like a merchant's wife; leave the managing of the sequence unto our prudence. _Hol._ Or unto our Prudence; truly she is a very witty wench, and hath a stammel[506] petticoat with three guards[507] for the nonce; but for your merchant's wife, alas! I am too little, speak too small, go too gingerly: by my troth I fear I shall look too fair. 124 _Bid._ Our majesty dismounteth, and we put off our greatness; and now, my little knaves, I am plain Crack. As I am Bosphoros Carmelydon Honorificacuminos Bidet, I am imperious, honour sparkles in mine eyes; but as I am Crack, I will convey,[508] crossbite,[509] and cheat upon Simplicius. I will feed, satiate, and fill your paunches; replenish, stuff, or furnish your purses: we will laugh when others weep--sing when others sigh--feed when others starve--and be drunk when others are sober. This is my charge at the loose.[510] As you love our brotherhood, avoid true speech, square dice, small liquor, and above all, those two ungentlemanlike protestations of indeed and verily. And so, 137 Gentle Apollo, touch thy nimble string; Our scene is done; yet 'fore we cease, we sing. [_The Song, and exeunt._ [493] Slipper.--It was part of a page's duty to carry the pantofles of his master or mistress. On entering service he was said to be "sworn to the pantofle." [494] _Crack_ was a common term for a pert boy. [495] A game at cards. [496] Pair of dice.--It would seem that to cog a die was a favourite form of roguery among pages. Nashe, in an address to "the dapper messieurs pages of the court," prefixed to _The Unfortunate Traveller_ (1594), says:--"Thirdly, it shall be lawful for any whatsoever to play with false dice in a corner." [497] So ed. 2.--ed. 1. "pustulent." [498] Attendant on a lady of pleasure. [499] Petticoat. [500] Cant term for a whore. [501] Cf. _Every Man out of His Humour_, iv. 4:--"Let a man sweat once a week in a hot-house, and be well rubb'd and _froted_ with a good plump juicy wench and sweet linen, he shall ne'er ha' the pox." [502] Old eds. "sithing and sithing." [503] _i.e._, an advertisement for a situation: see Nares' Glossary. The middle aisle of Paul's was the favourite place for the display of such advertisements. [504] Properly a German trooper (_reiter_ or _reuter_); but the term was also applied to a roistering gallant. [505] So ed. 1.--Ed. 2. "cuckolds." [506] Red. [507] Facings, trimmings. [508] Pilfer. [509] Cozen. [510] "At the loose"--at my dismissal of you. _Loose_ was a term in archery for the discharging of an arrow. ACT IV.