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James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
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SCENE III. A Room in the Palace. Enter the Lord Chamberlain3 note

, and Lord Sands
4 note.

Cham.
Is it possible, the spells of France should juggle
Men into such strange mysteries5 note



?

-- 344 --

Sands.
New customs,
Though they be never so ridiculous,
Nay, let them be unmanly, yet are follow'd.

Cham.
As far as I see, all the good our English
Have got by the late voyage, is but merely
A fit or two o' the face6 note



; but they are shrewd ones;
For when they hold them, you would swear directly,
Their very noses had been counsellors
To Pepin or Clotharius, they keep state so.

Sands.
They have all new legs, and lame ones; one would take it,
That never saw them7 note pace before, the spavin,
A springhalt reign'd among them8 note


.

Cham.
Death! my lord,
Their clothes are after such a pagan cut too9 note

,
That, sure, they have worn out christendom. How now?
What news, sir Thomas Lovell?

-- 345 --

Enter Sir Thomas Lovell.

Lov.
'Faith, my lord,
I hear of none, but the new proclamation
That's clapp'd upon the court-gate.

Cham.
What is't for?

Lov.
The reformation of our travell'd gallants,
That fill the court with quarrels, talk, and tailors.

Cham.
I am glad, 'tis there; now I would pray our monsieurs
To think an English courtier may be wise,
And never see the Louvre.

Lov.
They must either
(For so run the conditions,) leave these remnants
Of fool, and feather1 note


, that they got in France,

-- 346 --


With all their honourable points of ignorance,
Pertaining thereunto, (as fights and fireworks2 note;
Abusing better men than they can be,
Out of a foreign wisdom,) renouncing clean
The faith they have in tennis, and tall stockings,
Short blister'd breeches3 note, and those types of travel,
And understand again like honest men;
Or pack to their old playfellows: there, I take it,
They may, cum privilegio, wear away4 note
The lag end of their lewdness, and be laugh'd at.

Sands.
'Tis time to give them physick, their diseases
Are grown so catching.

Cham.
What a loss our ladies
Will have of these trim vanities!

Lov.
Ay, marry,
There will be woe indeed, lords; the sly whoresons
Have got a speeding trick to lay down ladies;
A French song, and a fiddle, has no fellow.

Sands.
The devil fiddle them! I am glad, they're going;

-- 347 --


(For, sure, there's no converting of them;) now
An honest country lord, as I am, beaten
A long time out of play, may bring his plain-song,
And have an hour of hearing; and, by'r-lady,
Hold* note current musick too.

Cham.
Well said, lord Sands;
Your colt's tooth is not cast yet.

Sands.
No, my lord;
Nor shall not, while I have a stump.

Cham.
Sir Thomas,
Whither were you a going?

Lov.
To the cardinal's;
Your lordship is a guest too.

Cham.
O, 'tis true:
This night he makes a supper, and a great one,
To many lords and ladies; there will be
The beauty of this kingdom, I'll assure you.

Lov.
That churchman bears a bounteous mind indeed,
A hand as fruitful as the land that feeds us;
His dews fall every where.

Cham.
No doubt, he's noble;
He had a black mouth, that said other of him.

Sands.
He may, my lord, he has wherewithal; in him,
Sparing would show a worse sin than ill doctrine:
Men of his way should be most liberal,
They are set here for examples.

Cham.
True, they are so;
But few now give so great ones. My barge stays5 note;
Your lordship shall along:—Come, good sir Thomas,
We shall be late else: which I would not be,

-- 348 --


For I was spoke to, with sir Henry Guildford,
This night to be comptrollers.

Sands.
I am your lordship's.
[Exeunt.
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James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
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