SCENE V. Another part of the forest
Enter a Schoolmaster and five Countrymen, one dressed as a Bavian.
SCHOOLMASTER.
Fie, fie,
What tediosity and disinsanity
Is here among ye! Have my rudiments
Been laboured so long with ye, milked unto ye,
And, by a figure, even the very plum-broth
And marrow of my understanding laid upon ye,
And do you still cry “Where?” and “How?” and “Wherefore?”
You most coarse-frieze capacities, ye jean judgements,
Have I said “Thus let be” and “There let be”
And “Then let be” and no man understand me?
Proh Deum, medius fidius, ye are all dunces!
For why?
Here stand I; here the Duke comes; there are you,
Close in the thicket; the Duke appears; I meet him
And unto him I utter learned things
And many figures; he hears, and nods, and hums,
And then cries “Rare!” and I go forward. At length
I fling my cap up—mark there! Then do you
As once did Meleager and the boar,
Break comely out before him; like true lovers,
Cast yourselves in a body decently,
And sweetly, by a figure, trace and turn, boys.
FIRST COUNTRYMAN.
And sweetly we will do it, Master Gerald.
SECOND COUNTRYMAN.
Draw up the company. Where’s the taborer?
THIRD COUNTRYMAN.
Why, Timothy!
TABORER.
Here, my mad boys, have at ye.
SCHOOLMASTER.
But I say, where’s their women?
Enter five Countrywomen.
FOURTH COUNTRYMAN.
Here’s Friz and Maudlin.