A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume I.

R >> R. Dodsley >> A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume I.




_Hic intrat_ NATURA NATURATA, HUMANITY, _and_ STUDIOUS DESIRE, _portans
figuram_.


NATURA NATURATA.

The high, mighty, most excellent of all,
The Fountain of goodness, virtue, and cunning,
Which is eterne[11] of power most potential,
The Perfection and First Cause of everything,
I mean that only high Nature naturing.
Lo, He by His goodness hath ordained and created
Me here His minister, called Nature Naturate.
Wherefore I am the very naturate nature,
The immediate minister for the preservation
Of everything in His kind to endure,
And cause of generation and corruption
Of that thing that is brought to destruction.
Another thing still I bring forth again,
Thus wondersly I work, and never in vain.
The great world behold, lo, divided wondersly
Into two regions, whereof one I call
The ethereal region with the heavens high,
Containing the planets, stars, and spheres all;
The lower region, called the elemental,
Containing these four elements below,
The fire, the air, the water, and earth also.
But yet the elements and other bodies all
Beneath take their effects and operations
Of the bodies in the region ethereal.
By their influence and constellations,
They cause here corruptions and generations;
For if the movings above should once cease,
Beneath should be neither increase nor decrease.
These elements of themselves so single be
Unto divers forms cannot be divided,
Yet they commix together daily, you see,
Whereof divers kinds of things be engendered,
Which things eftsones, when they be corrupted,
Each element I reduce to his first estate,
So that nothing can be utterly annihilate;
For though the form and fashion of anything
That is a corporal body be destroyed,
Yet every matter remaineth in his being,
Whereof it was first made and formed;
For corruption of a body commixed
Is but the resolution by time and space
Of every element to his own place.
For who that will take any body corporal,
And do what he can it to destroy,
To break it or grind it into powder small,
To wash, to drown, to bren it, or to dry,
Yet the air and fire thereof naturally
To their own proper places will ascend,
The water to the water, the earth to the earth tend;
For if heat or moisture of anything certain
By fire or by water be consumed,
Yet earth or ashes on earth will remain,
So the elements can never be destroyed.
For essentially there is now at this tide
As much fire, air, water, earth, as was
Ever before this time, neither more nor less;
Wherefore thou, man--now I speak to thee--
Remember that thou art compound and create
Of these elements, as other creatures be,
Yet they have not all like noble estate,
For plants and herbs grow and be insensate.
Brute beasts have memory and their wits five,
But thou hast all those and soul intellective;
So by reason of thine understanding,
Thou hast dominion of other beasts all,
And naturally thou shouldst desire cunning
To know strange effects and causes natural;
For he that studieth for the life bestial,[12]
As voluptuous pleasure and bodily rest,
I account him never better than a beast.


HUMANITY.

O excellent prince, and great lord Nature,
I am thine own child and formed instrument!
I beseech thy grace, take me to thy cure,
And teach me such science thou thinkest expedient.


NATURE.

Then sith thou art so humble and benevolent,
That thing that is meet for thy capacity
And good for thy knowledge I shall instruct thee.
First of all, thou must consider and see
These elements, which do each other penetrate,
And by continual alteration they be
Of themselves daily corrupted and generate.
The earth as a point or centre is situate
In the midst of the world, with the water joined,
With the air and fire round, and whole environed.
The earth of itself is ponderous and heavy,
Cold and dry of his own nature proper;
Some part lieth dry continually,
And part thereof covered over with water,
Some with the salt sea, some with fresh river,
Which earth and the water together withal
So joined make a round figure spherical;
So the water which is cold and moist is found
In and upon the earth filling the hollowness,
In divers parts, lying with the earth round,
Yet the hills and mountains of the earth excess
Take nothing of it away the roundness,
In comparison because they be so small,
No more than the pricks do that be on a gall.
The air which is hot and moist also,
And the fire which is ever hot and dry,
About the earth and water jointly they go,
And compass them everywhere orbicularly,
As the white about the yoke of an egg doth lie.
But the air in the lower part most remaineth;
The fire naturally to the higher tendeth.
The ethereal region which containeth
The stars and planets, and every sphere,
About the elements daily moveth,
And covereth them round about everywhere.
Every star and sphere in strange manner
Upon his own poles moveth diversely,
Which now to declare were too long to tarry.
The fire and the air of their natures be light,
Therefore they move by natural providence;
The water, because it is ponderous in weight,
Moveth not naturally, but by violence
Of the stars and planets, by whose influence
The sea is compelled to ebb and flow daily,
And fresh waters to spring continually.
And though that the water be gross and heavy,
Yet nothing so gross as the earth, I wiss;
Therefore by heat it is vapoured up lightly,
And in the air maketh clouds and mists;
But as soon as ever that it grossly is
Gathered together, it descendeth again,
And causeth upon the earth hail, snow, and rain.
The earth, because of his ponderosity,
Avoideth equally the movings great
Of all extremities and spheres that be,
And tendeth to the place that is most quiet;
So in the midst of all the spheres is set
Foremost object from all manner moving,
Where naturally he resteth and moveth nothing.
Mark well now, how I have thee showed and told
Of every element the very situation
And quality, wherefore this figure behold
For a more manifest demonstration.
And because thou shouldst not put to oblivion
My doctrine, this man, called Studious Desire,
With thee shall have continual habitation,
Thee still to exhort more science to acquire.
For the more that thou desirest to know anything,
Therein thou seemest the more a man to be;
For that man that desireth no manner cunning,
All that while no better than a beast is he.
Why been the eyes made, but only to see,
The legs, to bear the body of a creature?
So everything is made to do his nature;
So likewise reason, wit, and understanding,
Is given to thee, man, for that thou shouldst indeed
Know thy Maker and cause of thine own being,
And what the world is, and whereof thou dost proceed;
Wherefore, it behoveth thee of very need
The cause of things first for to learn,
And then to know and laud the high God eterne.


HUMANITY.

O glorious Lord and Prince most pleasant!
Greatly am I now holden unto thee,
So to illumine my mind, that was ignorant,
With such noble doctrine as thou hast here shown me;
Wherefore I promise, upon my fidelity,
My diligence to do to keep in memory,
And thee for to honour still perpetually.


STUDIOUS DESIRE.

And sith it hath pleased thy grace to admit
Me upon this man to give attendance,
With thy doctrine here shown I shall quicken his wit,
And daily put him in remembrance;
His courage and desire I shall also enhance,
So that his felicity shall be most of all
To study and to search for causes natural.


NATURE.

Well, then, for a season I will depart,
Leaving you together here both twain;
What I have shown, man, print well in thine heart,[13]
And mark well this figure that here shall remain,
Whereby thou mayest perceive many things more plain
Concerning the matter I spoke of before;
And when that I shall resort here again,
Of high points of cunning I shall show thee more.


STUDIOUS DESIRE.

Now, Humanity, call to your memory
The cunning points that Nature hath declared;
And though he has shown divers points and many
Of the elements so wondersly[14] formed
Yet many other causes there are would be learned,
As to know the generation of things all
Here in the earth, how they be engendered,
As herbs, plants, well-springs, stone, and metal.


HUMANITY.

Those things to know for me be full expedient,
But yet in those points which Nature late showed me,
My mind in them as yet is not content,
For I can no manner wise perceive nor see,
Nor prove by reason why the earth should be
In the middes of the firmament hanging so small,
And the earth with the water to be round withal.


STUDIOUS DESIRE.

Me thinketh myself, as to some of those points
I could give a sufficient solution;
For, first of all, thou must needs grant this,
That the earth is so deep, and bottom hath none,
Or else there is some gross thing it standeth upon,
Or else that it hangeth, thou must needs consent,
Even in the middes of the firmament.


HUMANITY.

What then? go forth with thine argument.


STUDIOUS DESIRE.

Then mark well, in the day or in a winter's night,
The sun and moon, and stars celestial,
In the east first they do appear to thy sight,
And after in the west they do down fall,
And again in the morrow next of all,
Within twenty-four hours they be come just
To the east point again, where thou sawest them first.
Then if the earth should be of endless deepness,
Or should stand upon any other gross thing,
It should be an impediment, doubtless,
To the sun, moon, and stars in their moving;
Therefore, in reason, it seemeth most convenient
The earth to hang in the middes of the firmament.


HUMANITY.

Thine argument in that point doth me confound,
That thou hast made, but yet it proveth not right
That the earth by reason should be round;
For though the firmament, with his stars bright,
Compass about the earth each day and night,
Yet the earth may be plane, peradventure,
Quadrant, triangle, or some other figure.


STUDIOUS DESIRE.

That it cannot be plane I shall well prove thee:
Because the stars, that arise in the orient,
Appear more sooner to them that there be,
Than to the other dwelling in the Occident.
The eclipse is thereof a plain experiment
Of the sun or moon which, when it doth fall,
Is never one time of the day in places all;
Yet the eclipse generally is alway
In the whole world as one time being;
But when we, that dwell here, see it in the midday,
They in the west parts see it in the morning,
And they in the east behold it in the evening;
And why that should so be, no cause can be found,
But only by reason that the earth is round.


HUMANITY.

That reason proveth the earth at the least,
One ways to be round, I cannot gainsay,
As for to account from the east to the west;
But yet, notwithstanding all that, it may
Lese his roundness by some other way.


STUDIOUS DESIRE.

Nay, no doubt it is round everywhere,
Which I could prove, thou shouldst not say nay,
If I had thereto any time and leisure;
But I know a man called Experience,
Of divers instruments is never without,
Could prove all these points, and yet by his science
Can tell how many mile the earth is about,
And many other strange conclusions, no doubt.
His instruments could show thee so certain,
That every rude carter should them perceive plain.

HU. Now would to God I had that man now here
For the contemplation of my mind!
STU. If ye will, I shall for him inquire,
And bring him hither, if I can him find.
HU. Then might I say ye were to me right kind.
STU. I shall assay, by God that me dear bought,
For cunning is the thing that would be sought.
SEN. Well hit, quoth Hykman, when that he smote
His wife on the buttocks with a beer-pot.
Aha! now good even, fool, good even!
It is even thee, knave, that I mean.
Hast thou done thy babbling?
STU. Yea, peradventure, what then?
SEN. Then hold down thy head like a pretty man, and take my blessing.
Benedicite! I grant to thee this pardon,
And give thee absolution
For thy sooth saws; stand up, Jackdaw!
I beshrew thy father's son,
Make room, sirs, and let us be merry,
With huffa gallant, sing tirl on the berry,
And let the wide world wind![15]
Sing, frisky jolly, with hey troly lolly,
For I see well it is but a folly
For to have a sad mind:
For rather than I would use such folly,
To pray, to study, or be pope holy,
I had as lief be dead.
By Gog's body, I tell you true!
I speak as I think now, else I beshrew
Even my next fellow's head!
Master Humanity, sir, by your leave,
I were right loth you to grieve,
Though I do him despise;
For if ye knew him as well as I,
Ye would not use his company,
Nor love him in no wise.
HU. Sir, he looketh like an honest man,
Therefore I marvel that ye can
This wise him deprave.
SEN. Though he look never so well,
I promise you he hath a shrewd smell.
HU. Why so? I pray you tell.
SEN. For he savoureth like a knave.
STU. Hold your peace, sir, ye mistake me!
What, I trow, that ye would make me
Like to one of your kin.
SEN. Hark, sirs, hear ye not how boldly
He calleth me knave again by policy?
The devil pull off his skin!
I would he were hanged by the throat,
For by the mass I love him not:
We two can never agree;
I am content, sir, with you to tarry,
And I am for you so necessary,
Ye cannot live without me.
HU. Why, sir, I say, what man be ye?
SEN. I am called Sensual Appetite,
All creatures in me delight;
I comfort the wits five,
The tasting, smelling, and hearing;
I refresh the sight and feeling
To all creatures alive.
For when the body waxeth hungry
For lack of food, or else thirsty,
Then with drinks pleasant
I restore him out of pain,
And oft refresh nature again
With delicate viand.
With pleasant sound of harmony
The hearing alway I satisfy,
I dare this well report;
The smelling with sweet odour,
And the sight with pleasant figure
And colours, I comfort;
The feeling, that is so pleasant,
Of every member, foot, or hand,
What pleasure therein can be
By the touching of soft and hard,
Of hot or cold, nought in regard,
Except it come by me.
HU. Then I cannot see the contrary,
But ye are for me full necessary,
And right convenient.
STU. Yea, sir, beware yet what ye do,
For if you forsake my company so,
Lord Nature will not be content.
Of him ye shall never learn good thing,
Nother virtue nor no other cunning,
This dare I well say.
SEN. Marry, avaunt, knave! I thee defy!
Did Nature forbid him my company?
What sayest thou thereto? Speak openly.
HU. As for that I know well nay.
SEN. No, by God! I am right sure;
For he knoweth well no creature
Without me can live one day.
HU. Sir, I pray you be content,
It is not utterly mine intent
Your company to exile;
But only to have communication,
And a pastime of recreation
With this man for a while.
STU. Well, for your pleasure I will depart.
HU. Now go, knave, go! I beshrew thy heart!
The devil send thee forward!
SEN. Now, by my troth, I marvel greatly,
That ever ye would use the company
So mich of such a knave;
For if ye do no nother thing,
But ever study and to be musing,
As he would have you, it will you bring
At the last unto your grave!
Ye should ever study principal
For to comfort your life natural,
With meats and drinks delicate
And other pastimes and pleasures among,
Dancing, laughing, or pleasant song;
This is meet for your estate.
HU. Because ye say so, I you promise,
That I have mused and studied such wise,
Me thinketh my wits weary;
My nature desireth some refreshing,
And also I have been so long fasting,
That I am somewhat hungry.
SEN. Well, then, will ye go with me
To a tavern, where ye shall see
Good pastance, and at your liberty
Have whatsoever you will?
HU. I am content so for to do,
If that ye will not fro me go,
But keep me company still.
SEN. Company, quotha? then that I shall point-device,
And also do you good and true service,
And thereto I plight my troth!
And if that I ever forsake you,
I pray God the devil take you!
HU. Marry, I thank you for that oath!
SEN. A mischief on it! my tongue, lo!
Will trip sometime, whatsoever I do;
But ye wot that I mean well.
HU. Yea, no force! let this matter pass;
But saidst even now thou knewest, where was
A good tavern to make solace?
Where is that? I pray thee tell.
SEN. Marry, at the door even hereby;
If we call anything on high,
The taverner will answer.
HU. I pray thee, then, call for him now.
SEN. Marry, I will! How, taverner, how!
Why dost thou not appear?

TAVERNER.

Who is that calleth so hastily?
I shrew thine heart, speak softly;
I tell thee I am not here.

SEN. Then I beshrew thee, page, of thine age!
Come hither, knave, for thine advantage;
Why makest thou it so tow?
TA. For mine advantage, marry, then I come.
Beware, sirs, ho! let me have room!
Lo, here I am! what sayest thou?
SEN. Marry, thus: here is a gentleman, I say,
That neither ate nor drank this day;
Therefore tell me, I thee pray,
If thou have any good wine.
TA. Ye shall have Spanish wine and Gascon,
Rose colour, white, claret, rampion,
Tyre, Capric, and Malvoisin,
Sack, raspice, Alicant, rumney,
Greek, ipocras, new-made clary,
Such as ye never had;
For if ye drink a draught or two,
It will make you, ere ye thence go,
By Gog's body, stark mad!
SEN. I wot thou art not without good wine;
But here is a gentleman hath list to dine,
Canst thou get him any good meat?
TA. What meat, master, would ye have?
HU. I care not, so God me save,
So that it be wholesome to eat:
I would we had a good stewed capon.
SEN. As for capons ye can get none,
The king's taker took up each one;
I wot well there is none to get.
TA. Though all capons be gone, what then?
Yet I can get you a stewed hen,
That is ready dight.
HU. If she be fat, it will do well.
TA. Fat or lean, I cannot tell,
But as for this I wot well
She lay at the stews all night.
HU. Thou art a mad guest, by this light!
SEN. Yea, sir, it is a fellow that never fails:
But canst get my master a dish of quails,
Small birds, swallows, or wagtails,
They be light of digestion?
TA. Light of digestion! for what reason?
SEN. For physic putteth this reason thereto,
Because those birds fly to and fro,
And be continual moving.
TA. Then know I a lighter meat than that.
HU. I pray thee, tell me what?
TA. If ye will needs know at short and long,
It is even a woman's tongue,
For that is ever stirring![16]
HU. Sir, I pray thee, let such fantasies be,
And come hither near, and hark to me,
And do after my bidding.
Go, purvey us a dinner even of the most
Of all manner of dishes both sod and roast,
That thou canst get: spare for no cost,
If thou make three course.
TA. Then ye get neither goose nor swan,
But a dish of dregs, a dish of bran,
A dish of draff, and I trow then
Ye cannot get three worse!
HU. What, whoreson! wouldst thou purvey
Bran, draff, and stinking dregs, I say;
I hold thee mad, I trow.
TA. Gog's passion! said ye not thus,
That I should purvey you three coarse dishes,
And these be coarse enou'!
HU. Three coarse dishes, quotha?
What, mad fool! thou mistakest me clean!
I see well thou wott'st not what I mean,
And understandest amiss;
I mean this wise, I would have thee
To purvey meat so great plenty,
That thou shouldst of necessity
Serve them at three courses.
That is to understand, at one word,
Thou shouldst bring them unto the board
At three several times.
TA. What then, I see well ye will make a feast.
HU. Yea, by the rood! even with the greatest.
SEN. By my troth, then do your best
Even after my mind;
But ye must have more company.
HU. That is true, and so would I gladly,
If I knew any to find.
SEN. Why, will ye follow my counsel?
HU. Yea.
SEN. Then we will have little Nell,
A proper wench, she danceth well,
And Jane with the black lace;
We will have bouncing Bess also,
And two or three proper wenches mo.
Right fair and smoother of face.
HU. Now be it so! thou art _sans_ peer.
TA. Then I perceive ye will make good cheer.
HU. Why, what should I else do?
TA. If ye think so best, then will I
Go before, and make all things ready
Again ye come thereto.
HU. Marry, I pray thee, do so.
TA. Then, farewell, sirs; for I am gone.
HU. And we shall follow thee anon
Without any tarrying.
SEN. Then it is best, sir, ye make haste,
For ye shall spend here but time in waste,
And do no nother thing.
HU. If ye will, let us go by and by.
SEN. I pray you be it, for I am ready,
No man better willing.

_Exeat Sen. et Hu. Intrat Experiens et Stu_.

Now, cousin Experience, as I may say,
Ye are right welcome to this country
Without any feigning.
EX. Sir, I thank you thereof heartily,
And I am as glad of your company
As any man living.
STU. Sir, I understand that ye have been
In many a strange country,
And have had great facility
Strange causes to seek and find.
EX. Right far, sir, I have ridden and gone,
And seen strange things many one,
In Africa, Europe, and India;
Both east and west I have been far,
North also, and seen the south star
Both by sea and land,
And been in sundry nations,
With people of divers conditions,
Marvellous to understand.
STU. Sir, if a man have such courage,
Or devotion in pilgrimage,
Jerusalem unto
For to account the next way,
How many miles is it, I you pray,
From hence thither to go?
EX. Sir, as for all such questions,
Of towns to know the situation,
How far they be asunder,
And other points of cosmography,
Ye shall never learn them more surely
Than by that figure yonder;
For who that figure did first devise,
It seemeth well he was wise,
And perfect in this science;
For both the sea and land also
Lie true and just as they should do,
I know by experience.
STU. Who, think you, brought here this figure?
EX. I wot not.
STU. Certes, Lord Nature,
Himself not long agone,
Which was here personally
Declaring high philosophy,
And laft this figure purposely
For Humanity's instruction.
EX. Doubtless, right nobly done.
STU. Sir, this realm you know is called England,
Sometimes Britain, I understand;
Therefore, I pray you, point with your hand
In what place it should lie.
EX. Sir, this is England lying here,
And that is Scotland that joineth him near,
Compassed about everywhere
With the ocean sea around;
And next from them westwardly,
Here by himself alone, doth lie
Ireland, that wholesome ground.
Here then is the narrow sea,
To Calais and Boulogne the next way,
And Flanders in this part;
Here lieth France next him joining,
And Spain southward from them standing,
And Portugal in this quarter.
This country is called Italy,
Behold where Rome in the midst doth lie,
And Naples here beyond;
And this little sea that here is
Is called the Gulf of Venice,
And here Venice doth stand.
As for Almaine lieth this way;
Here lieth Denmark and Norway;
And northward on this side
There lieth Iceland where men doth fish,
But beyond that so cold it is,
No man may there abide.
This sea is called the Great Ocean,
So great it is that never man
Could tell it, since the world began,
Till now, within this twenty years,
Westward be found new lands,
That we never heard tell of before this
By writing nor other means,
Yet many now have been there;
And that country is so large of room,
Much lenger than all Christendom,
Without fable or guile;
For divers mariners had it tried,
And sailed straight by the coast side
Above five thousand mile!
But what commodities be within,
No man can tell nor well imagine;
But yet not long ago
Some men of this country went,
By the king's noble consent,
It for to search to that intent,
And could not be brought thereto;
But they that were th' adventurers[17]
Have cause to curse their mariners,
False of promise and dissemblers,
That falsely them betrayed,
Which would take no pains to sail farther
Than their own list and pleasure;
Wherefore that voyage and divers other
Such caitiffs have destroyed.
Oh, what a thing had be then,
If that they that be Englishmen
Might have been the first of all
That there should have take possession,
And made first building and habitation,
A memory perpetual!
And also what an honourable thing,
Both to the realm and to the king,
To have had his dominion extending
There into so far a ground,
Which the noble king of late memory,
The most wise prince the seventh Herry,
Caused first for to be found.
And what a great meritorious deed
It were to have the people instructed
To live more virtuously,
And to learn to know of men the manner,
And also to know God their Maker,
Which as yet live all beastly;
For they nother know God nor the devil,
Nor never heard tell of heaven nor hell,
Writing nor other scripture;
But yet, in the stead of God Almighty,
They honour the sun for his great light,
For that doth them great pleasure;
Building nor house they have none at all,
But woods, cots, and caves small,
No marvel though it be so,
For they use no manner of iron,
Neither in tool nor other weapon,
That should help them thereto:
Copper they have, which is found
In divers places above the ground,
Yet they dig not therefore;
For, as I said, they have none iron,
Whereby they should in the earth mine,
To search for any wore:
Great abundance of woods there be,
Most part fir and pine-apple tree,
Great riches might come thereby,
Both pitch and tar, and soap ashes,
As they make in the east lands,
By brenning thereof only.
Fish they have so great plenty,
That in havens take and slain they be
With staves, withouten fail.
Now Frenchmen and other have found the trade,
That yearly of fish there they lade
Above a hundred sail;
But in the south part of that country
The people there go naked alway,
The land is of so great heat:
And in the north part all the clothes
That they wear is but beasts' skins,
They have no nother fete;
But how the people first began
In that country, or whence they came,
For clerks it is a question.
Other things mo I have in store,
That I could tell thereof, but now no more
Till another season.
STU. Then at your pleasure show some other thing;
It liketh me so well your communing,
Ye cannot talk amiss.
EX. Then will I turn again to my matter
Of cosmography, where I was ere:
Behold, take heed to this;
Lo, eastward, beyond the great ocean,
Here entereth the sea called Mediterranean,
Of two thousand miles of length:
The Soldan's country lieth hereby,
The great Turk on the north side doth lie,
A man of marvellous strength.
This said north part is called Europa,
And this south part called Africa,
This east part is called India;
But this new lands found lately
Been called America, because only
Americus did first them find.
Lo, Jerusalem lieth in this country,
And this beyond is the Red Sea,
That Moses maketh of mention;
This quarter is India Minor,
And this quarter India Major,
The land of Prester John:
But northward this way, as ye see,
Many other strange regions there be,
And people that we not know.
But eastward on the sea side
A prince there is that ruleth wide,
Called the Can of Catowe.
And this is called the great east sea,
Which goeth all along this way
Towards the new lands again;
But whether that sea go thither directly,
Or if any wilderness between them do lie,
No man knoweth for certain:
But these new lands, by all cosmography,
From the Can of Catowe's land cannot lie
Little past a thousand miles:
But from those new lands men may sail plain
Eastward, and come to England again,
Where we began erewhile.
Lo, all this part of the earth, which I
Have here descrived openly,
The north part we do it call;
But the south part on the other side
Is as large as this full, and as wide,
Which we know nothing at all,
Nor whether the most part be land or sea,
Nor whether the people that there be
Be bestial or cunning;
Nor whether they know God or no,
Nor how they believe, nor what they do,
Of this we know nothing.
Lo, is not this a thing wonderful?
How that-- [_Et subito Studious Desire dicat_.
STU. Peace, sir, no more of this matter!
Behold where Humanity cometh here.
SEN. How say you, Master Humanity?
I pray you have ye not be merry,
And had good recreation?
HU. Yes, I thank thee thereof every deal,
For we have fared marvellously well,
And had good communication.
TA. What, how, master! where be ye now?
SEN. What! I shrew thee! what haste hast thou,
That thou speakest so high?
TA. So high, quotha? I trow ye be mad, by St Gile!
For did ye not erewhile
Make pointment openly.
To come again all to supper,
There as ye were to-day at dinner?
And yet ye pointed not plain,
What meat that ye will have dressed,
Nor what delicacies ye love best.
Methink you far oversayne.
HU. As for mine own part I care not;
Dress what meat thou lovest, spare not
Whatsoever thou dost best think.
TA. Now, if ye put it to my liberty,
Of all meats in the world that be,
By this light, I love best drink.[18]
SEN. It seemeth by thy face so to do,
But my master will have meat also,
Whatsoever it cost.
TA. By God, sir, then ye must tell what.
HU. At thy discretion: I force not,
Whether it be sodden or roast.
TA. Well, sir, then care not! let me alone;
Ye shall see that all things shall be done,
And ordained well and fine.
HU. So I require thee heartily,
And in any wise specially,
Let us have a cup of new wine.
TA. Ye shall have wine as new as can be,
For I may tell you in privity,
It was brewed but yesternight.
HU. But that is nothing for my delight.
TA. But then I have for your appetite
A cup of wine of old claret;
There is no better, by this light!
HU. Well, I trust thee well enou'.
TA. But one thing, if it please you now--
Ye see well I take much pain for you,
I trust ye will see to me.
HU. Yea, I promise thee, get thee hence,
And in this matter do thy diligence,
And I shall well reward thee.
SEN. Because thou lookest for a reward,
One thing for thee I have prepared,
That here I shall thee give.
Thou shalt have a knave's skin,
For to put thy body therein,
For term of thy life!
TA. Now, gramercy, my gentle brother;
And therefore thou shalt have another,
For voiding of strife.
SEN. Now, farewell, gentle John!
TA. Then farewell, fool, for I am gone!
SEN. Abide, turn once again! hark what I say!
Yet there is another thing
Would do well at our master's washing.
HU. What thing is that, I thee pray?
SEN. Marry thus, canst thou tell us yet,
Where is any rose water to get?
TA. Yea, that I can well purvey,
As good as ever you put to your nose,
For there is a false wench called Rose
Distilleth a quart every day.
SEN. By God! I would a pint of that
Were poured even upon thy pate
Before all this presence.
TA. Yet I had liever she and I
Were both together secretly
In some corner in the spence;
For, by God, it is a pretty girl!
It is a world[19] to see her whirl,
Dancing in a round;
O Lord God! how she will trip!
She will bounce it, she will whip,
Yea, clean above the ground!
HU. Well, let all such matters pass, I say,
And get thee hence, and go thy way
About this other matter.
TA. Then I go straight; lo! fare ye well.
SEN. But look yet thou remember every deal
That I spake of full ere.
TA. Yes, I warrant you, do not fear.
[_Exit Taverner_.
HU. God's Lord! seest not who is here now?
What, Studious Desire! what news with you?
STU. Ye shall know, sir, ere I go.
SEN. What, art thou here? I see well, I,
The mo knaves the worse company.
STU. Thy lewd conditions thou dost still occupy,
As thou art wont to do.
HU. But, I say, who is this here in presence?
STU. Sir, this is the man called Experience,
That I spake of before.
HU. Experience! why, is this he?
Sir, ye are right welcome unto me
And shall be evermore!
EX. Sir, I thank you thereof heartily,
But I assure you faithfully
I have small courage here to tarry,
As long as this man is here.
SEN. Why, whoreson! what ailest at me?
EX. For thou hast ever so lewd a property,
Science to despise, and yet thou art he
That nought canst nor nought wilt learn.
SEN. Marry, avaunt, knave! I make God avow,
I think myself as cunning as thou,
And that shall I prove shortly!
I shall put thee a question now; come near,
Let me see how well thou canst answer:
How spellest this word Tom Couper
In true orthography?
EX. Tom Couper, quotha? a wise question hardly!
SEN. Yea, I tell thee again yet--Tom Couper, how spellest it?
Lo! he hath forgotten, ye may see,
The first word of his _a b c_.
Hark, fool, hark, I will teach thee,
P.a--pa.--t.e.r--ter--do together Tom Couper.
Is not this a sore matter?
Lo! here you see him proved a fool!
He had more need to go to school,
Than to come hither to clatter.
STU. Certain, this is a solution
Meet for such a boy's question.
HU. Sensual Appetite, I pray thee
Let pass all trifles and vanity
For a while, it shall not long be,
And depart, I thee require;
For I would talk a word or two
With this man here, ere he hence go,
For to satisfy my desire.
SEN. Why, Gog's soul! will ye so shortly
Break pointment with yonder company,
Where you should come to supper?
I trust you will not break promise so.
HU. I care not greatly, if I do;
It is but a tavern matter.
SEN. Then will I go show them what you say.
HU. Spare not, if thou wilt go thy way,
For I will here tarry.
SEN. Then adieu for a while, I tell you plain,
But I promise you, when I come again,
I shall make yonder knaves twain
To repent and be sorry!
EX. Now I am full glad that he is gone!
STU. So am I, for good will he do none
To no man living.
But this is the man with whom ye shall,
I trust, be well content withal,
And glad of his coming;
For he hath expound cunningly
Divers points of cosmography,
In few words and short clause.
HU. So I understand he hath good science,
And that he hath by plain experience
Learned many a strange cause.
STU. Yea, sir, and I say for my part,
He is the cunningest man in that art
That ever I could find;
For ask what question ye will do,
How the earth is round, or other mo,
He will satisfy your mind.
EX. Why, what doubt have ye therein found?
Think ye the earth should not be round?
Or else how suppose ye?
HU. One way it is round, I must consent,
For this man proved it evident;
Toward the east and occident
It must needs round be.
EX. And likewise from the south to north.
HU. That point to prove were some thank worth.
EX. Yes, that I can well prove,[20]
For this ye know as well as I,
Ye see the North Star in the sky,
Mark well, ye shall unneth it spy,
That ever it doth remove.
But this I assure you, if you go
Northward an hundredth mile or two,
Ye shall think it riseth,
And how that it is near approached
The point over the top of your head,
Which is called your zenith.
Yet if ye go the other way,
Southward ten or twelve days' journey,
Ye shall then think anon
It descended, and come more nigh
The circle parting the earth and sky,
As ye look straight with your eye,
Which is called your horizon;
But ye may go southward so far,
That at the last that same star
Will seem so far down right,
Clear underneath your horizon,
That sight thereof can you have none,
The earth will stop your sight.
This proveth of necessity
That the earth must needs round be:
This conclusion doth it try.
HU. Now that is the properest conclusion
That ever I heard, for by reason
No man may it deny.
But, sir, if that a man sail far
Upon the sea, will then that star
Do there as on the ground?
EX. Yea, doubtless, sail northward, rise it will,
And sail southward, it falleth still,
And that proveth the sea round.
STU. So doth it in mine opinion;
But know you any other conclusion
To prove it round, save that alone?
EX. Yea, that I know right well,
As thus: mark well when the sea is clear,
That no storm nor wave thereon doth 'ppear,
This mariners can tell;
Then if a fire be made on night
Upon the shore, that giveth great light,
And a ship in the sea far,
They in the top the fire see shall,
And they on hatch nothing at all,
Yet they on hatches be near;
Also on the sea, where men be sailing
Far from land, they see nothing
But the water and the sky;
Yet when they draw the land more near,
Then the hill-tops begin to appear,
Still they near more high and high,
As though they were still growing fast
Out of the sea till, at last,
When they come the shore to,
They see the hill, top, foot, and all;
Which thing so could not befal,
But the sea lay round also.
HU. Methinketh your argument somewhat hard.
EX. Then ye shall have it more plainly declared,
If ye have great desire;
For here, lo, by mine instruments,
I can show the plain experiments.
HU. Thereto I you require.
EX. With all my heart it shall be done;
But for the first conclusion,
That I speak of the fire,
Be this the sea that is so round,
And this the fire upon the ground,
And this the ship that is here;
You know well that a man's sight
Can never be but in a line right.
HU. Just you say; that is clear.
EX. Mark well then; may not that man's eye.

Copyright (c) 2007. famouswriterz.com. All rights reserved.