Sim. He is a fine man, law, and has a good wit; for when he list he can go in black satin, ay, and in a cloak lined with unshorn velvet. 57
Qua. By the salvation of humanity, he’s more pestilent than the plague of lice that fell upon Egypt; thou hast been knave if thou credit it; thou art an ass if thou follow it; and shalt be a perpetual idiot if thou pursue it: renounce the world, the flesh, the devil, and thy trust in men’s wives, for they will double with thee: and so I betake myself to the sucking of the juice capon, my ingle bottle-ale, and his gentleman usher, that squirers him, red herring. A fool I found thee and a fool I leave thee; bear record, Heaven, ’tis against the providence of my speech. Good-bye, good signior.
[Exit.
Enter Slip, Nous, Doit, and Bidet.
Sim. Ha, ha, ha! Good-bye, good signior! What a fool ’tis! Ha, ha, what an ass ’tis! Save you, young gentlemen, is she coming? Will she meet me? Shall’s encounter? Ha? 72
Bid. You were not lapt in your mother’s smock:[547] you ha’ not a good cheek, an enticing eye, a smooth skin, a well-shaped leg, a fair hand: you cannot bring a wench into a fool’s paradise for you.
Sim. Not I, by this garter. I am a fool, a very ninny, I! How call you her? How call you her?
Bid. Call her? You rise on your right side to-day, marry. Call her? her name is Mistress Perpetuana: she is not very fair, nor goes extraordinary gay. 81
Bid. A good skin? She is wealthy; her husband’s a fool: she’ll make you; she wears the breeches: she’ll make you——