Will. And he shall buy his merriment as dear 40
As ever coistril bought so little sport:
Ne’er let this sword assist me when I need,
But rust and canker after I have sworn,
If I, the next time that I meet the hind,
Lop not away his leg, his arm, or both.
Shakebag. And let me never draw a sword again,
Nor prosper in the twilight, cockshut light,
When I would fleece the wealthy passenger,
But lie and languish in a loathsome den,
Hated and spit at by the goers-by, 50
And in that death may die unpitied,
If I, the next time that I meet the slave,
Cut not the nose from off the coward’s face
And trample on it for this villainy.
Will. Come, let’s go seek out Greene; I know he’ll swear.
Shakebag. He were a villain, an he would not swear.
’Twould make a peasant swear among his boys,
That ne’er durst say before but ‘yea’ and ‘no,’
To be thus flouted of a coistril.
Will. Shakebag, let’s seek out Greene, and in the morning 60
At the alehouse butting Arden’s house
Watch the out-coming of that prick-eared cur,
And then let me alone to handle him. [Exeunt.
III. ii. 47. A cockshut was a large net used to catch woodcocks after sunset. Cf. ‘Cockshut time.’—Richard III., V. iii. 70.
SCENE III
Room in Franklin’s house as before.
Here enters Arden, Franklin, and Michael.
Arden. Sirrah, get you back to Billingsgate
And learn what time the tide will serve our turn;
Come to us in Paul’s. First go make the bed,
And afterwards go hearken for the flood.