ACT II., SCENE I.

A School.

Enter AMINADAB, with a rod in his hand, and BOYS with their books.

AMIN. Come, boys, come, boys, rehearse your parts, And then, ad prandium; jam, jam, incipe!

1ST BOY. Forsooth, my lesson's torn out of my book.

AMIN. Quae caceris chartis deseruisse decet. Torn from your book! I'll tear it from your breech. How say you, Mistress Virga, will you suffer Hic puer bonae[11] indolis to tear His lessons, leaves, and lectures from his book?

1ST BOY. Truly, forsooth, I laid it in my seat, While Robin Glade and I went into campis; And when I came again, my book was torn.

AMIN. O mus, a mouse; was ever heard the like?

1ST BOY. O domus, a house; master, I could not mend it.

2D BOY. O pediculus, a louse; I knew not how it came.

AMIN. All toward boys, good scholars of their times; The least of these is past his accidence, Some at qui mihi; here's not a boy But he can construe all the grammar rules. Sed ubi sunt sodales? not yet come? Those tardè venientes shall be whipp'd. Ubi est Pipkin? where's that lazy knave? He plays the truant every Saturday; But Mistress Virga, Lady Willow-by,[12] Shall teach him that diluculo surgere Est saluberrimum: here comes the knave.

Enter PIPKIN.

1ST BOY. Tardè, tardè, tardè.

2D. BOY. Tardè, tardè, tardè.

AMIN. Huc ades, Pipkin—reach a better rod— Cur tam tardè venis? speak, where have you been? Is this a time of day to come to school? Ubi fuisti? speak, where hast thou been?

PIP. Magister, quomodo vales?

AMIN. Is that responsio fitting my demand?

PIP. Etiam certè, you ask me where I have been, and I say quomodo vales, as much as to say, come out of the alehouse.

AMIN. Untruss, untruss! nay, help him, help him!

PIP. Quaeso, preceptor, quaeso, for God's sake do not whip me: Quid est grammatica?

AMIN. Not whip you, quid est grammatica, what's that?

PIP. Grammatica est, that, if I untruss'd, you must needs whip me upon them, quid est grammatica.

AMIN. Why, then, dic mihi, speak, where hast thou been?

PIP. Forsooth, my mistress sent me of an errand to fetch my master from the Exchange; we had strangers at home at dinner, and, but for them, I had not come tardè; quaeso, preceptor!

AMIN. Construe your lesson, parse it, ad unguem et condemnato to, I'll pardon thee.

PIP. That I will, master, an' if you'll give me leave.

AMIN. Propria quae maribus tribuuntur mascula, dicas; expone, expone.

PIP. Construe it, master, I will; dicas, they say—propria, the proper man—quae maribus, that loves marrow-bones—mascula, miscalled me.

AMIN. A pretty, quaint, and new construction.

PIP. I warrant you, master, if there be marrow-bones in my lesson, I am an old dog at them. How construe you this, master, rostra disertus amat?

AMIN. Disertus, a desert—amat, doth love—rostra, roast-meat.

PIP. A good construction on an empty stomach. Master, now I have construed my lesson, my mistress would pray you to let me come home to go of an errand.

AMIN. Your tres sequuntur, and away.

PIP. Canis a hog, rana a dog, porcus a frog, Abeundum est mihi. [Exit.

AMIN. Yours, sirrah, too, and then ad prandium.

1ST BOY. Apis a bed, genu a knee, Vulcanus, Doctor Dee: Viginti minus usus est mihi.

AMIN. By Juno's lip and Saturn's thumb It was bonus, bona, bonum.

2D BOY. Vitrum glass, spica grass, tu es asinus, you are an ass. Precor tibi felicem noctem.

AMIN. Claudite jam libros, pueri: sat, prata, bibistis, Look, when you come again, you tell me ubi fuistis. He that minds trish-trash, and will not have care of his rodix. Him I will be-lish-lash, and have a fling at his podix.

[Exeunt BOYS.

Enter YOUNG MASTER ARTHUR.

Y. ART. A pretty wench, a passing pretty wench. A sweeter duck all London cannot yield; She cast a glance on me as I pass'd by, Not Helen had so ravishing an eye. Here is the pedant Sir Aminadab; I will inquire of him if he can tell By any circumstance, whose wife she is: Such fellows commonly have intercourse Without suspicion, where we are debarr'd. God save you, gentle Sir Aminadab!

AMIN. Salve tu quoque! would you speak with me? You are, I take it, and let me not lie, For, as you know, mentiri non est meum, Young Master Arthur; quid vis—what will you?

Y. ART. You are a man I much rely upon; There is a pretty wench dwells in this street That keeps no shop, nor is not public known: At the two posts, next turning of the lane, I saw her from a window looking out; O, could you tell me how to come acquainted With that sweet lass, you should command me, sir, Even to the utmost of my life and power.

AMIN. Dii boni, boni! 'tis my love he means; But I will keep it from this gentleman, And so, I hope, make trial of my love. [Aside.]

Y. ART. If I obtain her, thou shalt win thereby More than at this time I will promise thee.

AMIN. Quando venis aput, I shall have two horns on my caput. [Aside.]

Y. ART. What, if her husband come and find one there?

AMIN. Nuncquam time, never fear, She is unmarried, I swear. But, if I help you to the deed, Tu vis narrare how you speed.

Y. ART. Tell how I speed? ay, sir, I will to you: Then presently about it. Many thanks For this great kindness, Sir Aminadab. [Exit.

AMIN. If my puella prove a drab, I'll be reveng'd on both: ambo shall die; Shall die! by what? for ego I Have never handled, I thank God, Other weapon than a rod; I dare not fight for all my speeches. Sed cave, if I take him thus, Ego sum expers at untruss.

[Exit.