so little regard in these costermonger times that
true valour is turned bear-herd: pregnancy is
made a tapster, and hath his quick wit wasted
in giving reckonings: all the other gifts apperti- 196
nent to man, as the malice of this age shapes
them, are not worth a gooseberry. You that are
old consider not the capacities of us that are
young; you measure the heat of our livers with 200
the bitterness of your galls; and we that are in
the vaward of our youth, I must confess, are
wags too.
Ch. Just. Do you set down your name in the 204
scroll of youth, that are written down old with
all the characters of age? Have you not a moist
eye, a dry hand, a yellow cheek, a white beard,
a decreasing leg, an increasing belly? Is not 208
your voice broken, your wind short, your chin
double, your wit single, and every part about
you blasted with antiquity, and will you yet call
yourself young? Fie, fie, fie, Sir John! 212
Fal. My lord, I was born about three of the
clock in the afternoon, with a white head, and
something a round belly. For my voice, I have
lost it with hollaing, and singing of anthems. 216
To approve my youth further, I will not: the
truth is, I am only old in judgment and under-
standing; and he that will caper with me for a
thousand marks, let him lend me the money, 220
and have at him! For the box o' the ear that
the prince gave you, he gave it like a rude prince,
and you took it like a sensible lord. I have
193 costermonger: commercial
194 bear-herd: one who leads about a tame bear
pregnancy: readiness of wit
196 reckonings: bills
202 vaward: vanguard
210 single: thin
220 marks: a mark was worth about thirteen shillings
