Trap. There ends act the third.
[Exeunt Sir HARRY, TANKARD, and Mayor.
Fust. Pray, sir, what's the moral of this act?
Trap. And you really don't know?
Fust. No, really.
Trap. Then I really will not tell you; but come, sir, since you cannot find that out, I'll try whether you can find out the plot; for now it is just going to begin to open, it will require a very close attention, I assure you; and the devil take me if I give you any assistance.
Fust. Is not the fourth act a little too late to open the plot, Mr Trapwit?
Trap. Sir, 'tis an error on the right side: I have known a plot open in the first act, and the audience, and the poet too, forget it before the third was over: now, sir, I am not willing to burden either the audience's memory or my own; for they may forget all that is hitherto past, and know full as much of the plot as if they remembered it.
Promp. Call Mr Mayor, Mrs Mayoress, and Miss.
Enter Mayor, Mrs and Miss Mayoress.