The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Israel Gollancz William Shakespeare [1258]
Hey nonny, nonny, nonny
O for a prick now, like a nightingale,
To put my breast against. I shall sleep like a top else. [Exit]
Act III, Scene 5
Enter Gerald (a schoolmaster), five Countrymen, one of whom is dressed as a Babion [baboon], five Wenches, and Timothy, a taborer. All are attired as morris dancers.
SCHOOLMASTER Fie, fie,
What tediosity and disinsanity
Is here among ye! Have my rudiments
Been labored so long with ye, milked unto ye,
And, by a figure, even the very plum-broth
And marrow of my understanding laid upon ye?
And do you still cry 'how?' and 'wherefore?'
You most coarse frieze capacities, ye jean judgments,
Have I said, 'thus let be', and 'there let be',
And 'then let be', and no man understand me? ...
Proh deum, medius fidius -- ye are all dunces.
For why, here stand I. Here the Duke comes. There are you,
Close in the thicket. The Duke appears. I meet him,
And unto him I offer learned things
And many figures. He hears, and nods, and hums,
And then cries, 'Rare!', and I go forward. At length
I fling my cap up -- mark there -- then do you,
As once did Meleager and the boar,
Break comely out before him, like true lovers,
Cast yourselves in a body decently, ...
And sweetly, by a figure, trace and turn, boys.
1st COUNTRYMAN And sweetly we will do it, master Gerald.
2d COUNTRYMAN Draw up the company. Where's the taborer?
3d COUNTRYMAN Why, Timothy!
TABORER Here, my mad boys, have at ye!
SCHOOLMASTER But I say, where's these women?
4th COUNTRYMAN Here's Friz and Madeline.
2d COUNTRYMAN And little Luce with the white legs, and bounding Barbara.
1st COUNTRYMAN And freckled Nell, that never failed her master.
SCHOOLMASTER Where be your ribbons, maids? Swim with your bodies
And carry it sweetly and deliverly,
And now and then a favor and a frisk
NELL Let us alone, sir.
SCHOOLMASTER Where's the rest o'th' music?
3d COUNTRYMAN Dispersed as you commanded.
SCHOOLMASTER Couple, then,
And see what's wanting. Where's the babion?
[to the Babion.] My friend, carry your tail without offense
Or scandal to the ladies; and be sure
You tumble with audacity and manhood,
And when you bark, do it with judgment
BABION Yes, sir.
SCHOOLMASTER Quousque tandem? Here is a woman wanting!
4th COUNTRYMAN We may go whistle -- all the fat's i' th' fire.
SCHOOLMASTER We have, ...
As learned authors utter, washed a tile;
We have been fatuous, and labored vainly.
2d COUNTRYMAN This is that scornful piece, that scurvy hilding
That gave her promise faithfully she would be here --
Cicely, the seamstress' daughter.
The next gloves that I give her shall be dog-skin.
Nay, an she fail me once -- you can tell, Arcas,
She swore by wine and bread she would not break.
SCHOOLMASTER An eel and woman,
A learned poet says, unless by th' tail ...
And with thy teeth thou hold, will either fail --
In manners this was false position.
1st COUNTRYMAN A fire-ill take her! Does she flinch now?
3d COUNTRYMAN What
Shall we determine, sir?
SCHOOLMASTER Nothing;
Our business is become a nullity,
Yea, and a woeful and a piteous nullity.
4th COUNTRYMAN Now, when the credit of our town lay on it,
Now to be frampold, now to piss o'th' nettle!
Go thy ways -- I'll remember thee, I'll fit thee!
[Enter the Jailer's Daughter.]
DAUGHTER [sings]
The George Alow came from the south, ...
From the coast of Barbary-a;
And there he met with brave gallants of war,
By one, by two, by three-a.
'Well hailed, well hailed, you jolly gallants,
And whither now are you bound-a?
O let me have your company
Till I come to the sound-a.'
There was three fools fell out about an owlet --
The one he said it was an owl,
The other he said nay, ...
The third he said it was a hawk,
And her bells were cut away.
3d COUNTRYMAN There's a dainty madwoman, master,
Comes i' th' nick, as mad as a March hare.
If we can get her dance, we are made again.
I warrant her, she'll do the rarest gambols.
1st COUNTRYMAN A madwoman? We are made, boys.
SCHOOLMASTER [to the Jailer's Daughter.] And are