_C. Custance._ Trupenie dyd promise me to runne a great pace,
My friend Tristram Trusty to set into this place.
Indeede he dwelleth hence a good stert[553] I confesse:
But yet a quicke messanger might twice since[,] as I gesse,
Have gone and come againe. Ah yond I spie him now. 5
_Trupeny_ [_enters with Trusty, whom he leaves behind_]. Ye are a slow
goer sir, I make God avow.
My mistresse Custance will in me put all the blame.
Your leggs be longer than myne: come apace for shame.
_C. Custance._ I can[554] thee thanke Trupenie, thou hast done right
wele.
_Trupeny._ Maistresse since I went no grasse hath growne on my hele, 10
But maister Tristram Trustie here maketh no speede.
_C. Custance._ That he came at all I thanke him in very deede,
For now have I neede of the helpe of some wise man.
_T. Trusty._ Then may I be gone againe, for none such I [a]m.
_Trupenie._ Ye may bee by your going: for no Alderman 15
Can goe I dare say, a sadder pace than ye can.
_C. Custance._ Trupenie get thee in, thou shalt among them knowe,
How to use thy selfe, like a propre man I trowe.
_Trupeny._ I go. [_Ex._]
_C. Custance._ Now Tristram Trusty I thank you right much.
For at my first sending to come ye never grutch. 20
_T. Trusty._ Dame Custance God ye saue, and while my life shall last,
For my friende Goodlucks sake ye shall not sende in wast.
_C. Custance._ He shal give you thanks.
_T. Trusty._ I will do much for his sake[!]
_C. Custance._ But alack, I feare, great displeasure shall be take.
_T. Trusty._ Wherfore? 25
_C. Custance._ For a foolish matter.
_T. Trusty._ What is your cause[?]
_C. Custance._ I am yll accombred with a couple of dawes.
_T. Trusty._ Nay weepe not woman: but tell me what your cause is G ii
As concerning my friende is any thing amisse?
_C. Custance._ No not on my part: but here was Sym Suresby[--]
_T. Trustie._ He was with me and told me so. 30
_C. Custance._ And he stoode by
While Ralph Roister Doister with helpe of Merygreeke,
For promise of mariage dyd unto me seeke.[555]
_T. Trusty._ And had ye made any promise before them twaine[?]
_C. Custance._ No I had rather be torne in pieces and flaine,
No man hath my faith and trouth, but Gawyn Goodlucke, 35
And that before Suresby dyd I say, and there stucke,
But of certaine letters there were suche words spoken.
_T. Trustie._ He tolde me that too.
_C. Custance._ And of a ring and token.
That Suresby I spied, dyd more than halfe suspect,
That I my faith to Gawyn Goodlucke dyd reiect. 40
_T. Trusty._ But there was no such matter dame Custance in deede?
_C. Custance._ If ever my head thought it, God sende me yll speede.
Wherfore I beseech you, with me to be a witnesse,
That in all my lyfe I never intended thing lesse,
And what a brainsicke foole Ralph Roister Doister is, 45
Your selfe know well enough.
_T. Trusty._ Ye say full true ywis.
_C. Custance._ Bicause to bee his wife I ne graunt nor apply,[556]
Hither will he com he sweareth by and by,
To kill both me and myne, and beate downe my house flat.
Therfore I pray your aide. 50
_T. Trustie._ I warrant you that.
_C. Custance._ Have I so many yeres lived a sobre life,
And shewed my selfe honest, mayde, widowe, and wyfe
And nowe to be abused in such a vile sorte,
Ye see howe poore Widowes lyve all voyde of comfort.
_T. Trusty._ I warrant hym do you no harme nor wrong at all. 55
_C. Custance._ No, but Mathew Merygreeke doth me most appall,[557]
That he woulde joyne hym selfe with suche a wretched loute.
_T. Trusty._ He doth it for a jest I knowe hym out of doubte,
And here cometh Merygreke.
_C. Custance._ Then shal we here his mind.