t Aldryshegate[328] at an In,[329] and towarde Barnet he roade
apace. The people taryed from twoo a clocke tyll three, from three to
foure, styll askyng and criyng: Whan shall the plaie begyn? How long
shall we tarye? Whan the clocke stroke foure, all the people murmured
and sayed: Wherefore tarye we any longer? Here shall be no playe. Where
is the knaue, that hath beguyled vs hyther? It were almes to[330]
thruste a dagger throughe hys chekes, sayeth one. It were well done to
cutte of hys eares, sayeth an other. Haue hym to Newgat! sayeth one:
nay, haue hym to Tyburne! sayed an other. Shall wee loose our money
thus, saieth he? Shall wee bee thus beguiled, sayeth this man? shulde
this be suffered, saieth that man? And so muttrynge and chydyng, they
came to the gate to goe oute; but they coulde not. For it was faste
lockt, and Qualitees had the key away with him. Now begynne they a
freshe to fret and fume: nowe they swere and stare: now they stampe and
threaten: for the locking in greeued them more than all the losse and
mockery before: but all auayle not. For there muste they abide, till
wayes may be founde to open the gate, that they maye goe out. The
maidens that shoulde haue dressed theyr maisters suppers, they wepe and
crye; boyes and prentises sorow and lament; they wote not what to say,
whan thei come home.

For al this foule araye,
For al this great frai,
Qualites is mery ridyng on his waie.[331]

FOOTNOTES:

[324] Perhaps this, like Makeshift, was merely intended as a phrase to
disguise the real name of the person intended.

[325] Northumberland _Alley_ was in Fenchurch Street, and was notorious
for bowling-greens, gaming-houses, &c. Probably this is the locality
intended. See Cunningham's _Handbook to London_. 596 edit. 1848.

[326] _i.e._ a burlesque play.

[327] Orig. and Singer read _man_.

[328] Aldersgate. In the _Ordinary_, by W. Cartwright, Moth the
Antiquary says:--

"Yclose by _Aldersgate_ there dwelleth one Wights clypen _Robert Moth_;
now _Aldersgate_ Is hotten so from one that _Aldrich_ hight; Or else of
Elders, that is, ancient men; Or else of Aldern trees which growden
there; Or else, as Heralds say, from _Aluredus_."

[329] Inns were not so plentiful at this time as they afterward became.
Perhaps the establishment here referred to was the celebrated _Bell_
Inn, which was still standing in the time of James the First, and which
is mentioned by Taylor the Water-Poet in his _Pennile