_Gammer._ Dame Chat, cholde praye the fair, let me have that is mine!
Chil not this twenty yeres take one fart that is thyne;
Therefore give me mine owne, and let me live besyde the.
_Chat._ Why art thou crept from home hether, to mine own doores to
chide me?
Hence, doting drab, avaunt, or I shall set the further! 5
Intends thou and that knave mee in my house to murther?
_Gammer._ Tush, gape not so on[700] me, woman! shalt not yet eate mee!
Nor all the frends thou hast in this shall not intreate mee!
Mine owne goods I will have, and aske the no[701] beleve,[702]
What, woman! pore folks must have right, though the thing you
aggreve. 10
_Chat._ Give thee thy right, and hang the up, with al thy baggers
broode!
What, wilt thou make me a theefe, and say I stole thy good?
_Gammer._ Chil say nothing, ich warrant thee, but that ich can prove
it well.
Thou fet my good even from my doore, cham able this to tel!
_Chat._ Dyd I, olde witche, steale oft[703] was thine? how should that
thing be knowen? 15
_Gammer._ Ich can no tel; but up thou tokest it as though it had ben
thine owne,
_Chat._ Mary, fy on thee, thou old gyb, with al my very hart!
_Gammer._ Nay, fy on thee, thou rampe, thou ryg, with al that take
thy parte!
_Chat._ A vengeance on those lips that laieth such things to my
charge!
_Gammer._ A vengeance on those callats hips, whose conscience is so
large! 20
_Chat._ Come out, hogge!
_Gammer._ Come out, hogge, and let have me right!
_Chat._ Thou arrant witche!
_Gammer._ Thou bawdie bitche, chil make thee cursse this night!
_Chat._ A bag and a wallet!
_Gammer._ A carte for a callet!
_Chat._ Why, wenest thou thus to prevaile?
I hold thee a grote, I shall patche thy coate! C iii
_Gammer._ Thou warte as good kysse my tayle!
Thou slut, thou kut, thou rakes, thou jakes! will not shame make
the hide [the]? 25
_Chat._ Thou skald, thou bald, thou rotten, thou glotton! I will no
longer chyd the,
But I will teache the to kepe home.
_Gammer._ Wylt thou, drunken beaste?
_Hodge._ Sticke to her, Gammer! take her by the head, chil warrant you
thys feast!
Smyte, I saye, Gammer! Byte, I say, Gammer! I trow ye wyll be
keene!
Where be your nayls? claw her by the jawes, pull me out bothe her
eyen. 30
Gogs bones, Gammer, holde up your head!
_Chat._ I trow, drab, I shall dresse thee.
Tary, thou knave, I hold the a grote I shall make these hands
blesse thee!
Take thou this, old hore, for amends, and lerne thy tonge well to
tame,
And say thou met at this bickering, not thy fellow but thy dame!
_Hodge._ Where is the strong stued hore? chil geare a hores marke! 35
Stand out ones way, that ich kyll none in the darke!
Up, Gammer, and ye be alyve! chil feygh[t] now for us bothe.
Come no nere me, thou scalde callet! to kyll the ich wer loth.
_Chat._ Art here agayne, thou hoddy peke? what, Doll! bryng me out my
spitte.
_Hodge._ Chill broche thee wyth this, bim father soule, chyll conjure
that foule sprete! 40
Let dore stand, Cock! why coms, in deede? kepe dore, thou horson
boy!
_Chat._ Stand to it, thou dastard, for thine eares, ise teche the, a
sluttish toye!
_Hodge._ Gogs woundes, hore, chil make the avaunte! take heede, Cocke,
pull in the latche!
_Chat._ Ifaith, sir Loose-breche, had ye taried, ye shold have found
your match!
_Gammer._ Now ware thy throte, losell, thouse paye[704] for al!
_Hodge._ Well said, Gammer, by my soule. 45
Hoyse her, souse her, bounce her, trounce her, pull out her throte
boule!
_Chat._ Comst behynd me, thou withered witch? and I get once on foote
Thouse pay for all, thou old tarlether! ile teach the what longs
to it!
Take the this to make up thy mouth, til time thou come by more!
_Hodge._ Up, Gammer, stande on your feete; where is the olde hore? 50
Faith, woulde chad her by the face, choulde cracke her callet
crowne!
_Gammer._ A Hodg, Hodg, where was thy help, when fixen had me downe?
_Hodge._ By the masse, Gammer, but for my staffe Chat had gone nye to
spyl you!
Ich think the harlot had not cared, and chad not com, to kill you.
But shall we loose our neele thus?
_Gammer._ No Hodge chwarde[705] lothe doo soo, 55
Thinkest thou chill take that at her hand? no, Hodg, ich tell
the no!
_Hodge._ Chold yet this fray wer wel take up, and our neele at home.
Twill be my chaunce else some to kil, wher ever it be or whome!
_Gammer._ We have a parson, Hodge, thou knoes, a man estemed wise,
Mast Doctor Rat; chil for hym send, and let me here his advise. 60
He will her shrive for all this gere, and geve her penaunce
strait;
Wese[706] have our neele, els Dame Chat comes nere within heaven
gate.
_Hodge._ Ye, mary, Gammer, that ich think best; wyll you now for him
send?
The sooner Doctor Rat be here, the soner wese ha an ende,
And here, Gammer! Dyccons devill, as iche remember well, 65
Of cat, and Chat, and Doctor Rat, a felloneus tale dyd tell.
Chold you forty pound, that is the way your neele to get againe.
_Gammer._ Chil ha him strait! Call out the boy, wese make him take the
payn.
_Hodge._ What, Co[c]ke, I saye! come out! What devill! canst not here?
_Cocke._ How now, Hodg? how does Gammer, is yet the wether cleare? 70
What wold chave[707] me to do?
_Gammer._ Come hether, Cocke, anon!
Hence swythe[708] to Doctor Rat, hye the that thou were gone,
And pray hym come speke with me, cham not well at ease.
Shalt have him at his chamber, or els at Mother Bees;
Els seeke him at Hob Fylchers shop, for as charde it reported, 75
There is the best ale in al the towne, and now is most resorted.
_Cocke._ And shall ich brynge hym with me, Gammer?
_Gammer._ Yea, by and by, good Cocke.
_Cocke._ Shalt see that shal be here anone, els let me have on the
docke.[709]
_Hodge._ Now, Gammer, shall we two go in, and tary for hys commynge?
What devill, woman! plucke up your hart, and leve of al this
glomming.[710] 80
Though she were stronger at the first, as ich thinke ye did find
her,
Yet there ye drest the dronken sow, what time ye cam behind her.
_Gammer._ Nay, nay, cham sure she lost not all, for, set thend to the
beginning,
And ich doubt not but she will make small bost of her winning.
The iii Acte. The iiii Sceane.