Page 1414 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

Exit a Servingman.
I know the boy will well usurp the grace,
Voice, gait, and action of a gentlewoman. [130]
I long to hear him call the drunkard husband,
And how my men will stay themselves from laughter
When they do homage to this simple peasant.
I’ll in to counsel them. Haply my presence
May well abate the over-merry spleen [135]
Which otherwise would grow into extremes.

[Exeunt.]

Scene II IT

Enter aloft Sly, with Attendants; some with apparel, basin and ewer,
and other oppurtenances; and Lord.

SLY

For God’s sake, a pot of small ale.

FIRST SERVANT

Will’t please your lordship drink a cup of sack?

SECOND SERVANT

Will’t please your honour taste of these conserves?

THIRD SERVANT

What raiment will your honour wear today?

SLY

I am Christophero Sly, call not me ‘honour’ nor [5] ‘lordship’. I ne’er drank
sack in my life. And if you give me any conserves, give me conserves of
beef. Ne’er ask me what raiment I’ll wear, for I have no more doublets
than backs, no more stockings than legs, nor no more shoes than feet -
nay, sometime more feet than shoes, or such [10] shoes as my toes look
through the overleather.

LORD

Heaven cease this idle humour in your honour!
O, that a mighty man of such descent,