[_Aside_]
--Who's there?
SIR RALPH. Are ye a maid? No question, this is she
My man doth miss: faith, since she lights on me,
I do not mean till day to let her go;
For whe'er[417] she is my man's love, I will know [_Aside_
Hark ye, maid, if [a] maid, are ye so light,
That you can see to wander in the night?
MAL. Hark ye, true man, if true, I tell ye, no;
I cannot see at all which way I go.
SIR RALPH. Fair maid, is't so? say, had ye ne'er a fall?
MAL. Fair man, not so; no, I had none at all.
SIR RALPH. Could you not stumble on one man, I pray?
MAL. No, no such block till now came in my way.
SIR RALPH. Am I that block, sweet tripe; then, fall and try.
MAL. The ground's too hard a feather-bed; not I.
SIR RALPH. Why, how, and you had met with such a stump?
MAL. Why, if he had been your height, I meant to jump.
SIR RALPH. Are ye so nimble?
MAL. Nimble as a doe.
SIR RALPH. Bak'd in a pie.
MAL. Of ye.
SIR RALPH. Good meat, ye know.
MAL. Ye hunt sometimes?
SIR RALPH. I do.
MAL. What take ye?
SIR RALPH. Deer.
MAL. You'll ne'er strike rascal[418]?
SIR RALPH. Yes, when ye are there.
MAL. Will ye strike me?
SIR RALPH. Yes: will ye strike again?
MAL. No, sir: it fits not maids to fight with men.
SIR RALPH. I wonder, wench, how I thy name might know.
MAL. Why, you may find it, sir, in th'Christcross row[419].
SIR RALPH. Be my schoolmistress, teach me how to spell it.
MAL. No, faith, I care not greatly, if I tell it;
My name is Mary Barnes.
SIR RALPH. How, wench? Mall Barnes!
MAL. The very same.
SIR RALPH. Why, this is strange.
MAL. I pray, sir, what's your name?
SIR RALPH. Why, Sir Ralph Smith doth wonder, wench, at this;
Why, what's the cause thou art abroad so late?
MAL. What, Sir Ralph Smith! nay, then, I will disclose
All the whole cause to him, in him repose
My hopes, my love: God him, I hope, did send
Our loves and both our mothers' hates to end. [_Aside_.]
--Gentle Sir Ralph, if you my blush might see,
You then would say I am ashamed to be
Found, like a wand'ring stray, by such a knight,
So far from home at such a time of night:
But my excuse is good; love first by fate
Is cross'd, controll'd, and sundered by fell hate.
Frank Goursey is my love, and he loves me;
But both our mothers hate and disagree;
Our fathers like the match and wish it done;
And so it had, had not our mothers come;
To Oxford we concluded both to go;
Going to
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