And all their courses, miss or hit,
Intended are for the shire-wit,
And so to be received. Their game
Is country sport, and hath a name
From the place that bears the cost,
Else all the fat i' the fire were lost.
Go, captain Stub, lead on, and show
What house you come on by the blow
You give sir Quintain, and the cuff
You scape o' the sand-bag's counterbuff.'
[Flourish.

STUB'S COURSE.

Acci. O well run, yeoman Stub!

Thou hast knock'd it like a club,
And made sir Quintain know,
By this his race so good,
He himself is also wood,
As by his furious blow.

RED-HOOD'S COURSE.

Fitz. Bravely run, Red-hood,
There was a shock

3 Go, captain Stub, lead on, and shew What house you come on by the blow You give sir Quintain, and the cuff

[Flourish.

You scape o' th' sand-bag's counterbuff.] The diversion here mentioned is thus described by Dr. Kennet: "They set up a post perpendicularly in the ground, and then placed a slender piece of timber on the top of it on a spindle, with a board nailed to it on one end, and a bag of sand on the other. Against this board they rode with spears. Dr. Plot writes, that he saw it at Deddington in Oxfordshire, where only strong staves were used which violently bringing about the bag of sand, if they made not good speed away, it struck them on the neck, and shoulders, and sometimes perhaps knocked them off their horses." Paroch. Antiq. WHAL.

To have buff'd out the blood
From aught but a block.

GREEN-HOOD'S COURSE.

[Flourish.

Acci. Well run, Green-hood, got between,
Under the sand-bag he was seen,

Lowting low, like a forester green.
Fitz. He knows his tackle, and his treen.

BLUE-HOOD'S COURSE.

[Flourish.

Acci. Give the old England yeoman his due,
He has hit sir Quintain just in the qu-
Though that be black, yet he is blue.
It is a brave patch and a new! [Flourish.

TAWNY-HOOD'S COURSE.

Fitz. Well run, Tawny, the abbot's churl,
His jade gave him a jerk,

As he would have his rider hurl

His hood after the kirk.

But he was wiser, and well beheft,
For this is all that he hath left. [Flourish.

MOTLEY-HOOD'S COURSE.

Fitz. Or the saddle turn'd round, or the girts

brake:

For low on the ground, woe for his sake!
The law is found.

Acci. Had his pair of tongues not so much good,
To keep his head in his motley hood,
[Safe from the ground?"]

[Flourish

4 [Safe from the ground.] A line is lost in this place, and I have merely put in brackets what I conceive the sense of it to have been.

RUSSET-HOOD'S COURSE.

Fitz. Russet ran fast, though he be thrown.
Acci. He lost no stirrup, for he had none.
Fitz. His horse it is the herald's weft.
Acci. No, 'tis a mare, and hath a cleft."
Fitz. She is country-borrow'd, and no vail,
Acci. But's hood is forfeit to Fitz-Ale.

Here ACCIDENCE did break them off, by calling them to the dance, and to the bride, who was drest like an old May-lady, with scarfs, and a great wrought handkerchief, with red and blue, and other habiliments: Six maids attending on her, attired with buckram bride-laces begilt, white sleeves, and stammel petticoats, drest after the cleanliest country guise; among whom mistress ALPHABET, master Accidence's daughter, did bear a prime sway.

The two bride-squires, the cake-bearer and the bowl-bearer, were in two yellow leather doublets, and russet hose, like two twin clowns prest out for that office, with livery hats and ribands.

Acci. Come to the bride; another fit

Yet show, sirs, of your country wit,
But of your best. Let all the steel
Of back and brains fall to the heel;
And all the quicksilver in the mine
Run in the foot-veins, and refine
Your firk-hum jerk-hum to a dance,
Shall fetch the fiddles out of France,

5 and hath a cleft.] This passage is quoted by Mr. Todd to illustrate the meaning of clefts, "a term in farriery for a disease of the pasterns." This is very innocently done; nevertheless, I would advise the substitution of another example, for the present is unluckily not to the purpose.

Fitz.

Acci.

Fitz.

Acci.

Fitz.

To wonder at the horn-pipes here,
Of Nottingham and Derbyshire.
With the phant'sies of hey-troll,
Troll about the bridal bowl,
And divide the broad bride cake,
Round about the bride's-stake.
With, Here is to the fruit of Pem,
Grafted upon Stub his stem,
With the Peakish nicety,

And old Sherewood's vicety.

The last of which words were set to a tune, and sung to the bagpipe, and measure of their dance; the clowns and company of spectators drinking and eating the while.

SONG.

Let's sing about, and say, Hey troll,
Troll to me the bridal bowl,

And divide the broad bride-cake,

Round about the bride's-stake.

With, Here is to the fruit of Pem,
Grafted upon Stub his stem,
With the Peakish nicety,
And old Sherewood's vicety.
But well danced Pem upon record,
Above thy yeoman, or May-lord.

Here it was thought necessary they should be broken off, by the coming in of a GENTLEMAN, an officer or servant of the lord lieutenant's, whose face had put on, with his clothes, an equal authority for the business.

Gent. Give end unto your rudeness: know at length

Whose time and patience you have urg'd, the
KING'S.

Whom if you knew, and truly, as you ought,
"Twould strike a reverence in you, ev'n to blushing.
That King whose love it is to be your parent!
Whose office and whose charge, to be your pastor!
Whose single watch defendeth all your sleeps!
Whose labours are your rests! whose thoughts

and cares

Breed your delights, whose business all your leisures!

And you to interrupt his serious hours

With light, impertinent, unworthy objects, Sights for yourselves, and savouring your own

tastes!

You are to blame. Know your disease, and cure it.
Sports should not be obtruded on great monarchs,
But wait when they will call for them as servants,
And meanest of their servants, since their price is
At highest, to be styl'd, but of their pleasures!
-Our King is going now to a great work,
Of highest love, affection, and example,
To see his native country, and his cradle,
And find those manners there, which he suck'd in
With nurse's milk, and parent's piety.

O sister Scotland! what hast thou deserved
Of joyful England, giving us this king!
What union (if thou lik'st) hast thou not made,
In knitting for Great Britain such a garland,
And letting him to wear it, such a king
As men would wish, that knew not how to hope
His like, but seeing him! a prince that's law
Unto himself; is good for goodness sake,
And so becomes the rule unto his subjects!
That studies not to seem or to shew great,
But be not drest for others eyes and ears,
With vizors and false rumours, but makes fame