Shakespeare:
[Interrupting.] “Or indeed both,” Chettle, put in “or indeed both,”—the salmon and the lamprey.
Chettle:
Right you are, bully boy. Right! [Corrects the letter and reads again.] “Say a slice of calver’d salmon at first or a pickled lamprey or indeed both, [looks up at Shakespeare and laughs] and then a loin of young pork dressed with your own select and poignant sauce and then a few oiled mushrooms——
Shakespeare:
Too many “thens,” Chettle. “A few oiled mushrooms and one is ready to loose a button and begin.” [All laugh.]
Chettle:
True, true, lad; ’tis but a beginning. [Writes and reads on.] “For something to eat, a shoulder of mutton and a cantle of one of your noble pasties [Shakespeare interjects “just to quiet the stomach’s craving,” and Chettle writes and repeats the phrase] just to quiet the stomach’s craving, and then a bird, say a pheasant for choice, and afterwards a goose [Shakespeare interjects “to trifle with,” and again Chettle writes and repeats the words] to trifle with, and instead of salad some barbel’s beards—you know how I like ’em—and nothing more an’ you love me—nothing, unless it be a morsel of cheese [Shakespeare interjects “to take away the cannibal taste of the meat” and Chettle writes and repeals the words with a loud laugh] to take away the cannibal taste of the meat.”
Jonson:
You gulf of gluttony! No wonder you’re lame with gout!